Royal Composer Dom and The Musical King

When not getting married and reforming religion, King Henry VIII was something of a music man. Not perhaps the Andrew Lloyd Webber of his day but a manuscript commonly known as The Henry VIII Songbook, held in the British Library Collection, offers proof of his musical skills.

It includes 20 songs and 13 instrumental pieces ascribed to ‘The KyngeH.viii’. Many are original compositions, others arrangements of music by other musicians.

It’s not Henry but composer, drummer, percussionist, and music producer, Dominic Sales who is writing the music for York Theatre Royal’s community production Sovereign, which lists Henry VIII among its cast of characters.

Has the king’s musical output influenced Dom’s music for the Tudor-set, Sovereign?

“I knew of the Songbook and that does influence you in a way, such as music when the king’s royal progress arrives in York,” says Dom, who composed for a previous York community play In Fog and Falling Snow staged at the National Railway Museum.

That production led to the formation of the Theatre Royal Choir as the producers wanted a community musical element to the show. To lead it, Dom suggested as musical director Maddie Hudson, whom he knew as an MD in musical theatre. Eight years later, the choir is flourishing and Maddie is MD for Sovereign.

Sovereign is being staged outdoors at King’s Manor with limited space ruling out a band on site so Dom’s backing track will accompany the choir, which has a major role to play as the people of York tell the story. Half of the 60-strong choir will sing on alternate performances.

Not a great fan of what he calls “heavily computerised tracks”, Dom is using lute, harp, and strings on his Sovereign track with a baroque recorder player performing live. There will be live drumming for the scene of the King’s arrival in York.

Also part of the period’s musical life are madrigals which Don knows only too well, having sung in a madrigal group as a child.

“I hated it but had to go as part of my education which required me to go and sing madrigals every Saturday morning. It was awful but I suppose in that respect I’ve got a little bit of knowledge about the secular songs that were written around that time.”

These days half of Dom’s musical life is spent playing and the other half writing. He plays – as a drummer and percussionist – in orchestras for West End musicals and is drummer with the legendary Pasadena Roof Orchestra which specialises in 1920s and 1930s music and with which he’s toured all over the world.

Sovereign is staged outdoors at King’s Manor in York, 15-30 July