On 11 November 1919, King George V presided over the inaugural Remembrance Day, a yr after the tip of World Warfare I. That preliminary ceremony of remembrance centred on a two-minute silence at 11am.
‘The primary stroke of 11 produced a magical impact,’ reported The Manchester Guardian that day. ‘The tram vehicles glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume… and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched again upon their masses and stopped additionally, seeming to do it of their very own volition.’
Silence stays an essential a part of as we speak’s Remembrance Day, marked by the prolonged musical programme of the day, which has remained unchanged since 1930. From Elgar’s evocative Nimrod, to the British Nationwide Anthem ‘God Save The King‘, we current a information to the music of remembrance.
Greatest Remembrance Sunday music
Rule, Britannia! – Thomas Arne
One of many fixtures of the Final Night time of the Proms, Rule, Britannia! can also be carried out on the Remembrance Day service. First heard in 1745, Thomas Arne’s patriotic piece sprang from the period of empire and naval may.
The Britannia of James Thomson and David Mallett’s poem initially referred to the Roman title for England and Wales. With its rousing refrain, it has remained well-liked and has popped in music by Beethoven, Wagner and Sullivan.
Coronary heart of Oak – William Boyce
‘Coronary heart of oak are our ships, coronary heart of oak are our males,’ begins the chorus of William Boyce’s Coronary heart of Oak, the official march of the UK Royal Navy. With music by Boyce (not Arne, as as soon as thought), its textual content is by David Garrick, one of many famend British actors of the 18th century.
It’s a jaunty, uplifting quantity, written in 1759 for Garrick’s pantomime Harlequin’s Invasion celebrating British victories in opposition to the French.
The Minstrel Boy – Thomas Moore
Poet Thomas Moore wrote this track in remembrance of his buddies who fought and have been killed within the Irish Rebel of 1798. Set to the melody of an previous Irish air referred to as The Moreen, The Minstrel Boy grew to become a well-liked track among the many Irish troopers who fought within the American Civil Warfare and, later, World Warfare I.
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Males of Harlech
Historically attributed to the seven-year siege of Harlech Fortress within the 1460s – the longest in British historical past – Males of Harlech stays a patriotic Welsh anthem. The rousing tune is usually performed at memorial providers of British Military regiments related to Wales.
It’s used as a sluggish march by the Welsh Guards and is taken at a faster tempo by the Royal Regiment of Wales.
Skye Boat Music
A barely unlikely selection for the Remembrance Day ceremony, on condition that the determine whom it celebrates was as soon as public enemy primary (if, that’s, you have been English and Protestant…).
The ‘Skye Boat Music’ lyrics, which have been written by Sir Harold Boulton within the Eighteen Eighties, inform of the escape of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) to the island of Skye after the failure of the Jacobite rebel in 1745. The tune, in the meantime, is an previous Scottish air.
We named the ‘Sky Boat Music’ one of many greatest Scottish songs ever
Isle of Magnificence – Thomas Haynes Bayly
This track, by English poet Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1839), is usually credited with being the supply for the now frequent expression: ‘Absence makes the guts develop fonder,’ a line which seems mid-way via the track.
Dafydd y Garreg Wen (David of the White Rock) – David Owen
Legend has it that the composer David Owen wrote this haunting track whereas on his deathbed, on the age of simply 29. The phrases are autobiographical, telling the story of the dying composer from White Rock (the title of the farm the place Owen lived).
In 1923 Dafydd y Garreg Wen grew to become the primary ever Welsh language track to be performed on the BBC.
Oft within the Stilly Night time – John Andrew Stevenson
A former chorister of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and vicar-choral of St Patrick’s, Irish composer Sir John Andrew Stevenson (1761-1833) wrote a substantial quantity of choral music, songs, glees and catches.
He additionally printed dozens of ‘symphonies and accompaniments’ to poet Thomas Moore’s assortment of Irish melodies, of which his easy and affecting piano accompaniment to ‘Oft within the Stilly Night time’ is however one.
Flowers of the Forest – Conventional
This Scottish folks tune commemorates the defeat of James IV’s military on the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The unique phrases are misplaced, however the melody was recorded in 1615. Immediately, essentially the most generally used phrases for ‘Flowers of the Forest’ are these by Jean Eliot (b1727), who initially printed her textual content anonymously.
Her poem was believed to be the unique, however Robert Burns and others suspected it was an imitation and tracked down the creator together with Sir Walter Scott and Allan Ramsey. Many pipers as we speak refuse to carry out this track besides at funerals and memorial providers, as a result of reverence through which it’s held.
Nimrod – Edward Elgar
Probably the most well-known of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, written in 1899, ‘Nimrod’ is a musical depiction of the composer’s buddy Augustus Jaeger. ‘Jaeger’ in German means ‘Hunter’, and Nimrod within the Bible is described as ‘the mighty hunter’ – therefore the title.
Jaeger, who labored for the music writer Novello, was an in depth buddy of Elgar’s and a continuing supply of encouragement and sort phrases. The heat of their friendship is mirrored on this calm, reflective variation in E flat main, which (deliberately) additionally has a touch of the second motion of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata to it.
Dido’s Lament – Henry Purcell
Whereas the ‘Skye Boat Music’ (see earlier) celebrates the swift journey of a ship in the direction of its vacation spot, Dido’s Lament is a heartbroken response to the sight of a ship disappearing away over the horizon.
The ship in query belongs to Aeneas who, after a short fling with Dido in Carthage, is reminded to pursue his future and head on his manner. She, left behind and completely grief stricken, avows to kill herself. Heard on the finish of 1689 opera Dido and Aeneas, the Lament, whose phrases start ‘When I’m laid in earth’ is arguably essentially the most well-known, and stylish, music Purcell ever wrote.
We named Dido’s Lament one of many the saddest items of classical music
Solemn Melody – Sir Henry Walford Davies
Greatest identified for the hymn tune ‘God be in my head’, composer, lecturer and educator Sir Henry Walford studied composition with each Parry and Stanford on the Royal Faculty of Music and was organist at London’s Temple Church for 21 years.
String quartets, a few cantatas and a 74-minute oratorio are amongst works now largely forgotten, though his touching Solemn Melody, scored initially for organ and strings, has endured.
He was made Grasp of the King’s Musick after Elgar’s demise in 1934, by which era he was well-known because the presenter of the favored radio sequence ‘Music and the Odd Listener’, first aired in 1926.
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O Valiant Hearts – Charles Harris
Charles Harris (1865-1936) earned a doctorate from Oxford and served as vicar of Colwall, a small city in Herefordshire. His solely lasting contribution to music was the rousing hymn tune ‘The Supreme Sacrifice’, setting the phrases ‘O Valiant Hearts’ by poet Sir John Stanhope Arkwright. We named it as one of many greatest hymns for Remembrance Sunday
The tune’s title is taken from the ebook The Supreme Sacrifice and different Poems in Time of Warfare which options Arkwright’s verse.
The Final Submit
One of the vital universally recognisable tunes of Remembrance Day is The Final Submit, a bugle name performed at providers throughout the UK and the Commonwealth, with its distinctive lingering second observe.
It initially marked the tip of a sentry inspection on the shut of the day and its use as an act of remembrance seems to have begun within the mid nineteenth century.
The piece is now longer than it as soon as was, prolonged from 45 seconds to 75. It’s integral to the Remembrance service on the Whitehall Cenotaph.
Beethoven’s Funeral March No. 1 – Johann Heinrich Walch
The majestic, elegiac tone of this brass band march has earned its place at many a state funeral, together with that of King Edward VII. There’s a gentler major-key trio on the coronary heart of an in any other case sombre, succinctly written work.
For a few years misattributed to Beethoven, it’s now believed to be the handiwork of Johann Heinrich Walch (1776-1855). He was a German musician well-known for his marches, which additionally embody the Pariser Einzugsmarsch.
O God, Our Assist in Ages Previous – phrases by Isaac Watts, music by William Croft
William Croft wrote his ‘St Anne’ tune whereas he was organist on the Church of St Anne, Soho, however the lyrics to ‘O God, Our Assist in Ages Previous’ we all know as we speak wasn’t added till 1719.
The tune has been included into works by Handel, Arthur Sullivan, and Vaughan Williams, and continues to be one of many best-known hymns ever written.
Reveille
One other bugle name, the Reveille typically follows The Final Submit. Whereas the latter displays on the fallen, evoking sundown and the tip of the earthly life, the ‘Reveille’ symbolises dawn and resurrection.
It was historically used to wake navy forces and its title comes from réveiller, the French phrase for ‘get up’.
God Save the Queen
The nationwide anthem of the UK takes a key position in Remembrance Day actions throughout the Commonwealth.
Though God Save The Queen has obscure origins – generally attributed to composer John Bull, c1619, and even Purcell – the primary printed recognisable model dates from 1744.
The anthem, when performed within the presence of the Queen on the Royal Albert Corridor’s Pageant of Remembrance, is enriched by the Royal Albert Corridor’s grand organ.
