Fanfare Band

Land of Hope and Glory 

by Edward Elgar

Grade 2 | 3 Mins

Elgar’s five Pomp and Circumstance Marches were written between 1901 and 1930, the first four being written in the decade before 1910, the composer’s greatest creative period. He had already written pieces in march form but Pomp and Circumstance was an unprecedented effort to give symphonic status to the march.

 No 1 is undoubtedly the most popular of the five and he described the trio tune as ‘…a tune that will knock ’em – knock ’em flat’. King Edward VII told Elgar that the tune would ‘go round the world’ if words were fitted to it. Elgar took the hint and included it (with slight rhythmic changes) in his Coronation Ode of 1902, with words by A. C. Benson. At the request of publishers Boosey and Hawkes, Benson afterwards wrote a modified version of the middle verse that could be sung as a separate piece. Thus was born Land of Hope and Glory which is now, of course, an integral part of the annual Last Night of the Proms, when the audience (with varying degrees of success!) sing the words along to the original march.