When In Flagrante was originally formed, one of the first songs we learned was called The Rose. Eamonn O’Dwyer https://www.eamonnodwyer.com composed a beautiful arrangement especially for us and it has remained a favourite of ours and we often include it in our performances.
What is it about the rose makes it endearing and powerful?
The Rose Song
The Rose was written by Amanda Broom and made famous by Bette Midler, who sang it in the closing credits of the film of the same name. It has been covered by many artists, including Conway Twitty and Westlife and, of course our local choir, In Flagrante.
Amanda Broom said she heard a song called Magdalena on the radio and loved the line “Your love is like a razor. My heart is like a scar” and though she didn’t agree with the sentiment at the time, words just rushed into her head and as soon as she reached home, she sat at her piano and The Rose was written in ten minutes
The Rose for Rugby
From the first international rugby match in 1871 against Scotland, England has had the Red Rose emblem. It’s not known why rugby chose the red rose rather than the three lions passant guardant as other sports. It was suggested that it was believed (mistakenly) to represent the English monarchy and therefore England. The story goes back to the Wars of the Roses (1455 – 1485).
However, it was the House of Lancaster that had the red rose which was merged with the House of York’s white rose making the royal English rose red and white. Elizabeth I, who was from the House of Lancaster, continued to use the red rose, so this maybe why the error occurred.
The Rose of Shakespeare
The famous line from Romeo & Juliet “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” where Juliet argues that if Romeo had another name rather than Montague, he would still be handsome and Juliet’s love and he wouldn’t be a Montague and then she could marry him. Short clip of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUbaVt7l2f4
The Rose of In Flagrante
Our local choir is blooming and if you can’t wait for us to perform The Rose live at one of our concerts, you can see and hear a clip of a previous rendition. Keep watching for when we next perform and come and hear us, or indeed, join us to sing.