Festival Te Deum

For the composition by Benjamin Britten, see Festival Te Deum (Britten).
For Sullivan's later Te Deum, see Te Deum Laudamus (Sullivan).

Prince Edward, c. 1870

The Festival Te Deum is the popular name for an 1872 composition by Arthur Sullivan, written to celebrate the recovery of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) from typhoid fever. The prince's father, Prince Albert, had died of typhoid fever in 1861, and so the prince's recovery was especial cause for celebration.

The Festival Te Deum was first performed on 1 May 1872 at The Crystal Palace in a special "Thanksgiving Day" concert organised by the Prince's brother, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was a friend of Sullivan's and commissioned the piece. Sullivan was allowed to dedicate the work to the prince's mother, Queen Victoria: an unusual honour.[1] The soloist was Therese Titiens, who had been the soprano soloist in Sullivan's earlier The Prodigal Son.[2]

  1. ^ Jacobs, p. 75
  2. ^ Introduction at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive