Land of Hope and Glory
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.

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

Contents 1 Usage 1.1 Proposed anthem for England 2 Composition 2.1 Lyrics 3 "Wider still and wider" 4 Conservative Party Anthem 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Usage

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

[edit] Proposed anthem for England

England currently has no agreed 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. There are calls for this to be changed,^[1][2] however, and 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.^[3]

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]} "Land of Hope and Glory" is used as the national anthem of England at the Commonwealth Games.^[4]

"Land of Hope and Glory" is sung by English fans at home England rugby Union games in Twickenham after the home and away National Anthems have been sung. "Land of Hope and Glory" is sung by the crowd as the teams assemble for kick off.

[edit] Composition

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 Madame 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.

[edit] Lyrics

[edit] "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]

[edit] Conservative Party Anthem

The song is the party anthem of the UK Conservative Party.

[edit] 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"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 1911 performance sung by Clara Butt from www.firstworldwar.com
• Library and Archives Canada
• Anthem4England.co.uk