The Anthems

The Anthems, also known as the Rosson Anthems are a series of musical works composed by Rosso Wexe (known as Rosso) during his late-lifetime (~1310-1334). He is believed to have composed many hundreds of works, intended to be played at Royal Weddings and Funerals. He is widely renowned as one of the greatest composers in history. He invented many instruments, including the early piano, to create the sounds he envisoned.

At each royal wedding (of an heir apparent), and at the death of a monarch, a set of works specifically chosen by Rosso is played by the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Rupertland (RSOR). Rosso includes instructions on how to build the instruments, how to play them, lyrics (in some cases, but not always), etc.

The works are extremely strictly guarded by the Empirical Archives, and the RSOR is only given one set of works (one for weddings and one for funerals) to prepare for in advanced at a time. The Empirical Archives refuses to say how many works are in the entire Rosso collection, but it is known to number many hundreds of works. The Empirical Archives said in 2015 that we will certainly not run out of works within our lifetimes.

Most recently, the set of nine funeral songs titled Ma Fleur was played at the funeral of King Wilfrid in 2014. The most recent set of wedding works were played at Queen Ruberta III's wedding to Prince Armio Rodriquez in 2011.

The funeral songs are not always particularly sad, sometimes they are a celebration of life, however they are sometimes existential (as seen in 2014's Ma Fleur). The wedding songs are normally content and joyous.