The Merrymakers: Miniature Overture

The one piece by Eric Coates that we all know – even if we are not all aware of its title or of the name of the composer – is By the Sleepy Lagoon, which is and always has been the signature tune for the BBC’s long-running “Desert Island Discs.” Other familiar, or once familiar, Coates pieces include The Damnbusters March, the recording of which sold a quarter of a million copies in the first two years after “The Damnbusters” film was first screened in 1954, Calling All Workers, which became the signature tune for “Music while You Work” in 1940, and the Knighstbridge March , which was adopted for another popular BBC programme, “In Town Tonight,” in the 1930s.

Written in 1922, The Merrymakers is not as familiar as those later pieces but is no less entertaining and no less characteristic of the composer. Although it is modestly described on the title page as a “miniature overture” and, indeed, lasts less than five minutes, it lacks nothing in melodic interest. Like Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches – which seem to have been a model – it contrasts a bustling main theme with broader, more lyrical material. In this case, however, there is no pomp and little circumstance. The opening theme is more playful than military and the contrasting melody, introduced by woodwind and repeated by strings, is more cheerful than hymnlike – although, when it is recalled, after a short pause towards the end, there’s just a touch of ceremony added to it to offset the brilliantly scored little coda.