On 9 June 1727 Lediard devised a special performance in honour of the 68th birthday of George I which was repeated three times; the king unfortunately died two weeks after the event. The spectacle, entitled "The Joy and Happiness of the British Nation," involved a lengthy sung prologue with illuminations and an epilogue with fireworks ignited within the opera theatre. The entertainments were set to music by Georg Philipp Telemann with trumpets, horns and drums played from the galleries which contrasted with the flutes and violins that accompanied the Roman gods and nymphs on stage for the prologue. At the base of a large sculpture of George I, suitably attired singers portrayed Britain, Ireland, France, America and the House of Hanover. In the epilogue gods of water and wind were joined by personifications of the rivers Thames and Isis, with the backdrop changing from the dreaming spires of Oxford to the night sky over London with ships on the river. A "Martial Symphony" ended with the firing of 45 cannons heralding the firework display, after which all the windows and skylights in the theatre had to be opened to release the smoke.
