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King's Messenger 

A 3000 year old poem by Confucius, with a family connection

 

King’s Messenger was commissioned for the 1994 European Brass Band Championship. The work takes its title from a poem by Confucius, and the composer’s interest in the poem arose in part because the Odes of Confucius are believed to be the oldest authenticated songs in existence, but the poem also had a personal resonance with Lloyd's immediate family as his father and grandfather had both served as military couriers, carrying sensitive wartime intelligence information. 

 

His father Major William Lloyd was an Admiralty Courier, carrying top-secret code books to Royal Navy warships and submarines during World War Two.  His grandfather Captain Walter Lloyd carried out reconnaissance and gathered military intelligence during the Mount Lebanon Civil War of 1860, while serving on HMS Leopard.

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