This is an appropriate time to recall a particular concert in honour of the Queen on her visit to Malta in 1954.
The Societa' Filarmonica Nazionale La Valette put up a special programme to welcome Queen Elizabeth II. The concert dated 3rd May 1954, under the baton of Maestro Giuseppe Camilleri, took place in Piazza Regina, Valletta at 7.00pm. On the front cover of the programme is a photo of the young Queen.
The choice of pieces played is very interesting. After God save the Queen, the first piece was that by Alessandro Vessella (1860-1929), a Rhapsody entitled Britannia. Alessandro Vessella, an Italian born in Campania, was a well respected composer, director and teacher. He taught composition for bands in the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and was author of educational works such as Studi di Strumentazione per Banda. He directed several Bands and travelled with them not only all over Italy, but also to Germany (1894) and England (1903).
A note in the programme says that Britannia 'was dedcated to H.M. King Edward VII and performed for the first time in England in the Hall of St George, Windsor Castle, in the presence of the Royal Family on the 15th of June 1903, by the Municipal Band of Rome under the baton of the composer'.
In 1922 Vessella was in Malta organising and directing the La Valette Band between 16 May and 20 June (See Treccani sv Alessandro Vessella). This choice of the Rhapsody Britannia therefore was not only one dedicated to a British monarch but also recalls the presence of Vessella as leader of the La Valette Band. The Band was clearly proud of him as Mro Vincenzo Ciappara, a later bandmaster, also thought fit to write a March in memory of Vessella.
Another noteworthy piece presented on this occasion is that by Maestro Giuseppe Camilleri (1903-1976), who was at the time director of the Banda La Valette. He composed a piece for the occasion - Invocation dedicted specifically to H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. This included a chorus sung by the girls from the Royal Naval School of Tal-Handaq, girls from the Government Seondary school of Valletta, and members of the Hamrun Parish Choir. Guseppe Camilleri was bandmaster of La Valette between 1937 and 1968.
The poem 'Invocation' was written by poet and author George Zammit (1908-1990). Giuseppe Camilleri and George Zammit collaborated in other works, among which a three act opera Monna Bianca (1936) for which George Zammit wrote the libretto in Italian. (see Joseph Vella Bondin, The Great Maltese Composers pp.668-670)
