Graduation Day Memories with Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 1
The Backstory
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major, Op. 39 No. 1
I'm Edward Elgar, and this is the backstory of my Pomp and Circumstance March No 1. You'll learn how it first met an audience in Liverpool in 1901, and how a London crowd two days later demanded not one encore but two. On this site my fellow composers and I also teach you to recognize our pieces the moment they begin, so come and give the Trainer a go .
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Borrowed From Shakespeare
I took the title from Shakespeare's Othello, from a speech in the third act where a soldier says goodbye to the splendour of army life. It's a rather sad place to find a name for a march that sounds so cheerful. I always said that "Pomp and Circumstance" was merely a generic name for the set of marches, and I never meant it as the title of one tune. So when someone asks me about the "Pomp and Circumstance" piece, my honest first question is which one they mean.A Busy Man of Forty-Four
I wrote this march in 1901, when I was 44 years old. By then I was becoming a national figure, thanks to my Enigma Variations in 1899 and The Dream of Gerontius in 1900. My wife Alice kept my business affairs and my social calendar in order, which was a bigger job than any symphony. Without her, I suspect I would have missed most of my own concerts.A Present for Liverpool
I dedicated the march to my friend Alfred E. Rodewald and to the Liverpool Orchestral Society. It was first played on 19 October 1901 at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. The same concert also included March No. 2, so the audience got a double helping of marching on their first evening. Hearing both pieces side by side was a good way to see that I had started something larger than a single tune.Who Held the Baton?
People have argued over who conducted that first performance in Liverpool. One biographer wrote in 1984 that Rodewald did it, but later research says otherwise. The Liverpool Mercury of 21 October 1901 reports that I conducted the march myself, while Rodewald took the rest of the programme. I'm inclined to trust the newspaper, since it was written while the evening was still fresh.The Audience Rose and Yelled
Just two days after Liverpool, Marches Nos. 1 and 2 were played at a London promenade concert under Henry Wood. He remembered that the audience "rose and yelled", which is not how people usually react to an orchestra. They wanted the march again, and then once more, and Wood said it was the only time an orchestral piece got a double encore at the Proms. I was very glad to hear that London liked it as much as Liverpool did.Not a Small Band
I scored the march for a large orchestra, because a grand occasion needs plenty of players. There are two piccolos adding a bright sparkle at the top, and four horns giving the tune a warm, broad sound. Two harps, three timpani and a percussion section with bass drum, cymbals and jingles fill out the rest. When all of them play together, the sound is huge but never muddy, and that was exactly what I wanted.One of a Family
People sometimes think this is a single piece called "Pomp and Circumstance", but it's really the first of a set. I finished five marches, and many years later Anthony Payne completed a sixth. Boosey & Co. published them as my Opus 39, and the score of the first one is dated 1902. So this march is the eldest child, and by far the most famous one.The Tune Gets Words
In 1902 I used the big middle tune again in my Coronation Ode for King Edward VII, with words by A. C. Benson. The story goes that the king himself suggested setting the tune to words, though nobody has found solid proof of it. The coronation was postponed because the king fell ill, so I made the music into a separate song, "Land of Hope and Glory". Clara Butt sang it for the first time in June 1902, and the public took to it at once.A Fixture at the Proms
That famous tune is now a regular part of the Last Night of the Proms. The whole march has been played at every Proms season since 1944. I find it touching that a piece from 1901 still gets a room full of people singing along. It's a very British ritual, and I'm pleased to have supplied the music for it.Graduation Day, Quite by Accident
I never wrote this march for graduations, and the idea would have surprised me. It began on 28 June 1905 at Yale, when I received an honorary doctorate and the march was played. Since then, in Canada, the Philippines and the United States, the middle tune has been played as students walk in to collect their diplomas. By then I had been knighted, in July 1904, but I think having my music played at so many graduations is the honour I'd have enjoyed most.---
Looking back, I'm still a little surprised by how far this march has travelled from the hall where it was first played in 1901. It began in Liverpool that October, and within days a London audience liked it so much that it was played again, and then once more. A few years later, in 1905 at Yale, it was played on the day I received an honorary doctorate. That was the start of its life at graduations, something I never planned when I wrote it. The big tune from the middle section has since become a way for many people to mark the end of one chapter and the start of the next. Did you enjoy learning about the backstory of Pomp and Circumstance March No 1? I hope it gives you something new to listen for the next time you hear it. There is still plenty more to explore, from the way I built the march to the other marches that share its name. If you'd like to keep going, please click on the links provided and carry on exploring Pomp and Circumstance March No 1.