Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber says the coronation music was an ‘antidote’ for him (Picture: Getty/Facebook)
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has spoken about using composing King Charles’s Coronation music as a way of coping after his son’s death.
The Oscar-winning composer announced in March that his eldest son, Nicholas, had died at the age of 43.
His tragic news came shortly after Nicholas, who was also a composer, had been moved to a hospice where he was ‘battling’ gastric cancer.
In a later essay for The New York Times, he recalled his final moments with his son.
Making a joyful noise is also for him
‘Nothing’s worse for a parent than the death of a child,’ he stated.
Over recent months, Lord Lloyd Webber worked closely with Charles to put together the anthem for his and Queen Camilla’s coronation, which Lord Lloyd Webber attended in Westminster Abbey on May 7.
The award-winning composer arranged Make A Joyful Noise for the occasion (Picture: PA)
The 75-year-old drew on the words of Psalm 98 for his music and came up with Make A Joyful Noise.
Lord Lloyd Webber has now said that writing the piece was like an ‘antidote’ after his loss.
‘Obviously writing the anthem, because it’s joyful, it was a wonderful thing to do as a kind of antidote to what I knew was going on in my private life,’ he said.
‘Music is my life. Music is what I do,’ he told the Daily Telegraph ahead of the historic event.
Nicholas, left, died in March, aged 43 (Picture: Facebook)
‘The music and what I may have written for the coronation, I do obviously have the thought of my son in my mind and there will be a moment when I’m in the abbey, I know, as there was the other day, when I’m thinking of my lovely Nick. And thinking that making a joyful noise is also for him.’
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The historic Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla took place in Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6 – with celebrations continuing into the bank holiday Monday.
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Lord Lloyd Webber is also hoping for the anthem to now be sung at other celebrations such as weddings and christenings.
After the coronation, Make A Joyful Noise was released as a single to raise money for the Royal British Legion and Age UK.
Of course, the music received the monarch’s seal of approval.
Lord Lloyd Webber worked closely with Charles on the music (Picture: Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Ahead of the occasion, Lord Lloyd Webber shared Charles’s requirements.
‘To be asked to write anything for this has just been an extraordinary honour,’ Lord Lloyd Webber began on The One Show.
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Revealing more details, he continued: ‘He (the King) said he wanted something written by Solomon, if possible, and he was talking about the wisdom of Solomon and I thought, because of the moment it happens at the coronation, that would be the best to go for, something joyful.’
The Phantom of the Opera composer said he sent a rough early version of the tune to the King.
‘I got a message back saying he was very pleased by it,’ Lord Lloyd Webber shared.
‘He was quite moved by it.’
He thought about Nicholas while inside Westminster Abbey.
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