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Land of Hope and Glory |
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"Land of Hope and Glory" is a traditional British patriotic song.
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Usage as the national anthem of England
Land of Hope and Glory has long been traditionally played amidst much flag-waving at the climax of the Last Night of the BBC Proms.
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). 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.[2][3] 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
The music to which the words below are set is the trio theme from Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1.[5] Words were designed for 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.[5] 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, (which accompanies the trio section of the March) is the part which is sung today, the first and third having faded into obsolescence.
Lyrics
- Dear Land of Hope, thy hope is crowned.
- God make thee mightier yet!
- On Sov'reign brows, beloved, renowned,
- Once more thy crown is set.
- Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
- Have ruled thee well and long;
- By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained,
- Thine Empire shall be strong.
- Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
- How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
- Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;
- God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.
- God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.
- Thy fame is ancient as the days,
- As Ocean large and wide:
- A pride that dares, and heeds not praise,
- A stern and silent pride:
- Not that false joy that dreams content
- With what our sires have won;
- The blood a hero sire hath spent
- Still nerves a hero son.
"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.[6]
See also
- God Save the Queen
- Rule Britannia - a patriotic British anthem
- Jerusalem - a patriotic English hymn
- Pomp and Circumstance Marches
References
- ^ Anthem 4 England - Land of Hope and Glory
- ^ http://anthem4england.co.uk/
- ^ http://www.republic.org.uk/blog/?p=47
- ^ BBC survey on English national anthem
- ^ a b Know Britain - Land of Hope and Glory
- ^ 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
