SOME seldom heard and some rediscovered pieces of music will be played at a concert to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

The concert in St Michaels Church, Bugle Street will feature renowned pianist and broadcaster David Owen Norris, the Hartley Sinfonia and vocal group Octurnal.

Musical rarities include Wellington’s Victory by Beethoven, which features “musket and cannon fire” and The Siege of Badajoz (another of the Duke’s victories) by Samuel Wesley, the son of noted hymn-writer Charles Wesley. David discovered the Wesley piece celebrating the battle of the Peninsular War while researching Wellington in the British Library. It is not published and this will be it's first modern-day performance.

The Duke of Wellington's family home in Hampshire was Strathfield Saye and that is the title of the another piece to be performed along with a hymn penned by the Duke’s father, Lord Mornington, Here in Cool Grot and Mossy Cell.

To even things up the Sinfonia will play of Beethoven’s third symphony, the Eroica, which was originally dedicated to Napoleon before he betrayed his democratic principles by declaring himself emperor. Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro – a piece favoured by French revolutionaries will also be included.

The concert has been organised by the University of Southampton and takes place on Saturday, June 13 at 6.30pm in St Michael’s Church in Bugle Street, just a stone’s throw from the Duke of Wellington pub. which is hosting, a Waterloo-themed week, starting with the concert and ending with a quiz on Sunday, June 21, when there will be battle of Waterloo-themed round and the pub's hanging baskets - which have earned prizes in previous Southampton in Bloom contest - will have a red them in tribute to the victorious redcoats.

Admission to the concert is free but there will be a retiring collection in aid of the church.

There will be a pre-concert talk, at 5.45pm, by historian Chris Woolgar, who is playing a central role in various Waterloo events organised by the university this month.

The battle brought to a conclusion more than two decades of warfare across the globe; its conclusion was met with widespread rejoicing – the 19th century equivalent of VE Day – and its consequences were to shape the pattern of Europe and international relations for the next 100 years.

Napoleon’s escape from Elba in late February 1815 threatened the peace of Europe once again and the allied powers of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia almost immediately engaged to defeat him in person and put in the field four massive armies in order to do. Chris will explore how this happened and the role that the Duke of Wellington was to play in this and in the peace that followed.