Term 4 Week 4: Guy Fawkes and Fireworks Music

This is the Houses of Parliament.  

Follow this link to a website about the gun powder plot.

This week, on November 5th, Guy Fawkes is celebrated in Great Britain,  and also in New Zealand. It commemorates the failed attempt of a group of men to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in 1605. They wanted to  kill King James and all his family and politicians who supported him.  Even though he wasn't the leader of the group,  Guy Fawkes was in charge of the explosives, and he was the one found with the barrels of gun powder.  King James was so pleased that the plot was discovered that he ordered a big celebration with bonfires every year. 

Guy Fawkes

 Ever since then,  children have made effigies of Guy Fawkes (dressed up dummies - now called 'guys') and burnt them on a large bonfire. Children used to makes these guys then take them round their town and ask for a penny (one cent) for their guy.  They would then use this money to buy crackers to let off at the time of their bonfire. 

This is a photo from a New Zealand newspaper in 1932 of a young boy taking his guy around the streets to collect pennies to buy crackers.

A Guy Fawkes effigy  - Follow this link to another story about the gunpowder plot.

Today, people seldom make guys - or have bonfires - to commemorate Guy Fawkes.  Many people buy fireworks and let them off in their back yard. There are a lot of people who want to ban fireworks because of safety issues - for animals, people, and property. It tends to be the fire service's busiest night of the year! 

This is a link  a New Zealand site  with the story behind Guy Fawkes, and includes safety tips and how to make sure animals are kept safe.

And another link to Kiwi Kids News Guy Fawkes article 

 

The New Zealand Fire Service have these safety hints for using fireworks.

Here's a Horrible Histories short video about the gunpowder plot led by Guy Fawkes.

This is a simple story - with animation - that tells the history of the gunpowder plot, and how we came to celebrate Guy Fawkes night.

This is a short video about Guy Fawkes by some children who are learning English in Czechoslovakia. 

This is a slide show with captions - if you are a good reader, you will get a good idea of the story of Guy Fawkes from this link.

 

A Guy Fawkes Nursery Rhyme 

 Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,  'twas his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the King.

-------

Fireworks Music (144 years after Guy Fawkes)

The Allegro  (La Réjouissance) is the fourth movement from Music for the Royal Fireworks, by George Frideric Handel.  It was composed in 1749.  Rejouissance is a French word and it means rejoicing.  (We've already learnt a bit about Handel in Term 2.) 

 King George II *of  Great Britain asked Handel especially to compose music for an outdoor concert and  fireworks display in Green Park, London, to celebrate the end of a war that England had been involved in (The War of Austrian Succession).   

There were very few outdoor concerts then. So many people were interested in this performance that there was a three hour traffic jam (horses and carriages) on London Bridge as twelve thousand people made their way to the rehearsal a week before hand. The actual  event  one week later was not entirely successful – the day was rainy, many of the fireworks didn’t go off,  part of the staging pavilion caught fire, and two people died.

King George had insisted that Handel write the music for percussion, brass and woodwind instruments only – no strings  at all – and Handel followed these instructions for this special performance. Later, Handel rewrote the music for another indoor performance to include violins - so both he and the King got their own way.

This is a recording of the entireMusic for the Royal Fireworks. Can you see that the instruments look a little different to the ones you usually see in orchestras? These are ones that the musicians might have played in Handel's time. 

(*George II was the great-grandson of King James I)

Test your knowledge of instruments of the orchestra with this quiz.