Land of Hope and Glory.html



"Land of Hope and Glory" is a traditional British patriotic song, with music by Sir Edward Elgar and words by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.

Usage

Land of Hope and Glory has long been traditionally sung amidst much flag-waving at the climax of the Last Night of the BBC Proms.

Proposed anthem for England

Main article: National anthem of England

England currently has no agreed upon national anthem, with God Save the Queen, the national anthem of the United Kingdom, often being used in sporting events in which England competes separately from the other Home Nations.

At international rugby league matches, England often sang Land of Hope and Glory as their national anthem (but since the 2005 internationals switched to God Save the Queen).^{citation needed} The song is also used as the national anthem of England at the Commonwealth Games.¹ England has no official national anthem, and usually just adopts the United Kingdom's official anthem, God Save the Queen during sporting events, though there are calls for this to be changed.²³ A 2006 survey conducted by the BBC suggested that 55% of the English public would rather have Land of Hope and Glory than God Save the Queen as their national anthem.⁴

Composition

Edward Elgar wrote the music

The music to which the words of the refrain "Land of hope and glory, &c" ⁵ below are set is the Trio theme from Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1.⁶ The words were fitted to the melody on the suggestion of King Edward VII who told Elgar he thought the melody would make a great song. When Elgar was requested to write a work for the King's coronation, he worked the suggestion into his Coronation Ode, for which he asked the poet and essayist A. C. Benson to write the words.⁶ The last section of the Ode uses the march's melody.

Due to the King's illness, the coronation was postponed. Elgar created a separate song, which was first performed by Clara Butt in June 1902. In fact, only the first of the seven stanzas of the Ode's final section was re-used, as the first four lines of the second stanza below. This stanza is the part which is popularly sung today.

Lyrics

A. C. Benson wrote the words

"Wider still and wider"

The writing of the song is contemporaneous with the publication of Cecil Rhodes' will — in which he bequeathed his considerable wealth for the specific purpose of promoting "the extension of British rule throughout the world", and added a long detailed list of territories which Rhodes wanted brought under British rule and colonised by British people. The reference to the extension of the British Empire's boundaries may reflect the Boer War, recently won at the time of writing, in which Britain gained further territory, endowed with considerable mineral wealth.⁸

See also

• God Save the Queen
• Rule Britannia - a patriotic British anthem
• Jerusalem - a patriotic English hymn
• Pomp and Circumstance Marches
• I Vow to Thee, My Country

References

1. ^ Anthem 4 England - Land of Hope and Glory
2. ^ http://anthem4england.co.uk/
3. ^ http://www.republic.org.uk/blog/?p=47
4. ^ BBC survey on English national anthem
5. ^ It is only the music of the refrain that is in the first Pomp and Circumstance March. The words and music for the two Solo verses was written and composed specially for the published song and is not even in the Coronation Ode.
6. ^ ^{a b} Know Britain - Land of Hope and Glory
7. ^ The original "Sov'ran", sometimes (for better understanding) printed "Sov'reign" = "Sovereign"
8. ^ Frederik S. Wilson, "The Culture of Colonialism", p. 135

External links

• 1911 performance sung by Clara Butt from www.firstworldwar.com
• Library and Archives Canada
• Anthem4England.co.uk
• Performance at the Royal Albert Hall