It was first performed in the Queen's Hall, London, on 7 December 1914, with the recitation by Cammaerts' wife Tita Brand, and the orchestra conducted by the composer.
On 15 August 1918, Carillon and Le drapeau belge were performed with success at a popular concert in Prospect Park, Brooklyn,[1] with the recitations by the Belgian dramatic artist Carlo Liten.
Elgar's friend and candid biographer, Rosa Burley, recalled: I ventured to suggest that he should not tie himself to the metre of the words, as he would have to do if the piece were treated as a song or choral item, but that he should provide an illustrative prelude and entr'actes as background music for a recitation of the poem.
Miss Burley was present at the premiere by Tita Brand at Queen's Hall, and related how it had to be arranged for her state to be hidden from the audience: ...unfortunately Mme Brand-Cammaerts was enceinte[4] and in order to conceal this fact an enormous bank of roses was built on the platform over which her head and shoulders appeared rather in the manner of a Punch and Judy show.
[6] An obvious characteristic of the music is the downward scale of four notes in the bass (B♭, A, G, F), which is a repeated accompaniment (ostinato) through the whole of the introduction before the first words are recited.