Pomp and Circumstance Marches
The marches were dedicated to his friends including composer Granville Bantock and organists George Robertson Sinclair, Ivor Atkins and Percy Hull.
Elgar took the phrase "Pomp and Circumstance" from Act 3, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Othello: Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife, The royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
I hear the Nation march Beneath her ensign as an eagle's wing; O'er shield and sheeted targe The banners of my faith most gaily swing; Moving to victory with solemn noise, With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.
Wood remembered that the audience "...rose and yelled... the one and only time in the history of the Promenade concerts that an orchestral item was accorded a double encore.
In 1902 the tune was re-used, in modified form, for the "Land of hope and glory" section of his Coronation Ode for King Edward VII.
Elgar accepted, and Sanford made certain he was the star of the proceedings, engaging the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the College Choir, the Glee Club, the music faculty members, and New York musicians to perform two parts from Elgar's oratorio The Light of Life and, as the graduates and officials marched out, "Pomp and Circumstance" March No.
[15][16] The introduction leads to a new theme: strong pairs of beats alternating with short notes, and a bass which persistently clashes with the tune.
A little rhythmic pattern is played by the strings, then repeated high and low in the orchestra before the section is concluded by a chromatic upward scale from the woodwind.
The bridging section between this and the well-known Trio has rhythmic chords from the brass punctuating high held notes from the wind and strings, before a fanfare from trumpets and trombones leads into the theme with which the march started.
[17] The famous, lyrical "Land of Hope and Glory" trio follows (in the subdominant key of G), played softly (by the first violins, four horns and two clarinets) and repeated by the full orchestra including two harps.
What follows is a repetition of what has been heard before, including a fuller statement of the Trio (this time in the 'home' key of D) in which the orchestra is joined by organ as well as the two harps.
The instrumentation is: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, bass clarinet in A, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in F, 2 cornets in A, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani (3), percussion (2 side drums,[18] triangle, glockenspiel & jingles, bass drum & cymbals), and strings.
After a loud call to attention from the brass, a simple staccato theme, tense and repetitive, is played quietly by the strings, being gradually joined by other instruments before building up to an abrupt climax.
The second theme, confidently played by horns and clarinets, with contrasting triple and duple rhythms, is one which was sketched by Elgar a few years before: this is developed and ends with flourishes from the strings and brass joined by the glockenspiel.
The opening staccato theme returns, concluded by a quiet swirling bass passage, which leads into the Trio section (in the tonic major key of A) which consists of a delightfully simple tune in thirds played by the woodwind (flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons), answered conclusively by the strings and brass.
It begins with a dark subdued quick march led by low clarinets, three bassoons and the horns (with drum-beats inserted between the notes of the tune), before a vigorous theme (with brass alone at the first beats), erupts from the full orchestra.
The instrumentation is: piccolo (with 3rd flute), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B♭, bass clarinet in B♭, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in A, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani (3), percussion (side drum, bass drum & cymbals), 2 harps, and strings.
4 also acquired words: a patriotic poem by A. P. Herbert with the refrain beginning "All men must be free" was used as "Song of Liberty".
As Diana's veil was lifted and the couple bowed and curtsied to Queen Elizabeth II, the opening notes sounded and continued as they walked down the aisle of St Paul's Cathedral out to the portico and the waiting crowds.
The bass clarinet, contrabassoon, trombones and tuba are held "in reserve" for the repeat, when the first violins join the violas with the tune.
The Trio starts quietly in a similar way to the introduction of his First Symphony: just a moving bass line and a tune, also in the same key (A♭).
The re-statement of the opening employs the same instruments of the orchestra, but is this time started as soft as possible for just four bars before a quick crescendo restores its spirit to as it was in the beginning.
There is more development before a big return of the Trio theme, in the home key of C, and a triumphant ending which might bring to mind the conclusion of Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King.
Also included was an article titled "Circumstantial Evidence" by the Elgar authority Christopher Kent from the August 1997 Musical Times explaining the sketches.
Kent believed that Elgar's compositional thoughts and time were by then engaged with the Third Symphony and The Spanish Lady, and that the main theme for the march was "unpromising".
Payne felt there was not enough in the sketches to complete the march, but three pages of score in Elgar's handwriting were discovered at the Royal School of Church Music Colles Library marked "P&C 6".
Payne observed in the programme notes that "Nowhere else in the Pomp and Circumstance marches does Elgar combine compound and duple metres in this way".
The instrumentation is: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B♭, bass clarinet in B♭, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in B♭, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani (4), percussion (side drum, cymbals, bass drum, jingles, glockenspiel), and strings.
