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Photos taken shortly after the All-Night Christmas Vigil this year, music composed by John Tavener, as commissioned by the Prince of Wales to commemorate his great-great-aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, performed by the The Holst Singers.
"2003.03.01 Telegraph:
Prince pays tribute to royal victim of Bolshevik purge
Grand duchess who was hurled down a mine is honoured at Windsor. Caroline Davies reports
The Prince of Wales paid tribute yesterday to his great-great-aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, who was murdered by the Bolsheviks 85 years ago.
She and other members of the royal family were hurled down a half-flooded mine shaft and hand grenades were thrown after them.
Ten years after she was beatified by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Prince held a concert at Windsor Castle to raise funds for the Holy Convent of Saints Martha and Mary of Mercy in Moscow, which she founded.
The highlight of the concert, which featured sacred Russian Orthodox music, was the performance of a piece by Sir John Tavener, which the Prince commissioned in memory of the Grand Duchess and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Two hundred guests heard Elizabeth: Full of Grace performed at St George's Chapel.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth, known as "Ella", was born in 1864, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. She married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. She adopted the Russian Orthodox faith in 1891 and became a nun after her husband was killed by an assassin's bomb in the Kremlin in 1905.
She gave away all her jewellery, sold her other possessions and founded the convent and hospital where she lived until the Bolsheviks arrested her.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was murdered in Alapayevsk on July 18, 1918, a day after the murders of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, including the Tsarina, her sister Alexandra.
She and other members of the family were blindfolded and thrown down a 200ft shaft and the grenades dropped in. The shaft was then closed.
They died a lingering death. Peasants told of hearing the victims singing psalms inside the shaft for several hours.
A year later Russian investigators reopened the shaft and found the Grand Duchess's body on a ledge 50ft from the top. Two unexploded grenades lay nearby.
The Grand Duchess was holding an icon of Jesus to her chest. Her body was taken to Palestine and she was buried in the Church of St Mary Magdalene of Gethsemane. Her statue is one of 10 representing Christian martyrs unveiled on the west front of Westminster Abbey by the Queen in 1998.
Sir John was asked to compose the piece because of his links to the Russian Orthodox Church, which he joined in 1977, and because of his reputation as an intensely religious composer.
He is best known for Song for Athene, which was sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and for his setting of William Blake's mystical poem, The Lamb.
Elizabeth: Full of Grace was performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra from St Petersburg, with choristers from St George's Chapel and Westminster Cathedral.
Afterwards the Prince hosted a private dinner at the castle, where guests included Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Michael of Kent.
Proceeds from the evening also went to the Mariinsky Theatre, of which the Prince is patron."
"2003.03.01 Telegraph:
Prince pays tribute to royal victim of Bolshevik purge
Grand duchess who was hurled down a mine is honoured at Windsor. Caroline Davies reports
The Prince of Wales paid tribute yesterday to his great-great-aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, who was murdered by the Bolsheviks 85 years ago.
She and other members of the royal family were hurled down a half-flooded mine shaft and hand grenades were thrown after them.
Ten years after she was beatified by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Prince held a concert at Windsor Castle to raise funds for the Holy Convent of Saints Martha and Mary of Mercy in Moscow, which she founded.
The highlight of the concert, which featured sacred Russian Orthodox music, was the performance of a piece by Sir John Tavener, which the Prince commissioned in memory of the Grand Duchess and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Two hundred guests heard Elizabeth: Full of Grace performed at St George's Chapel.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth, known as "Ella", was born in 1864, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. She married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. She adopted the Russian Orthodox faith in 1891 and became a nun after her husband was killed by an assassin's bomb in the Kremlin in 1905.
She gave away all her jewellery, sold her other possessions and founded the convent and hospital where she lived until the Bolsheviks arrested her.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was murdered in Alapayevsk on July 18, 1918, a day after the murders of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, including the Tsarina, her sister Alexandra.
She and other members of the family were blindfolded and thrown down a 200ft shaft and the grenades dropped in. The shaft was then closed.
They died a lingering death. Peasants told of hearing the victims singing psalms inside the shaft for several hours.
A year later Russian investigators reopened the shaft and found the Grand Duchess's body on a ledge 50ft from the top. Two unexploded grenades lay nearby.
The Grand Duchess was holding an icon of Jesus to her chest. Her body was taken to Palestine and she was buried in the Church of St Mary Magdalene of Gethsemane. Her statue is one of 10 representing Christian martyrs unveiled on the west front of Westminster Abbey by the Queen in 1998.
Sir John was asked to compose the piece because of his links to the Russian Orthodox Church, which he joined in 1977, and because of his reputation as an intensely religious composer.
He is best known for Song for Athene, which was sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and for his setting of William Blake's mystical poem, The Lamb.
Elizabeth: Full of Grace was performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra from St Petersburg, with choristers from St George's Chapel and Westminster Cathedral.
Afterwards the Prince hosted a private dinner at the castle, where guests included Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Michael of Kent.
Proceeds from the evening also went to the Mariinsky Theatre, of which the Prince is patron."
Categories:
Martyrs
