Pomp and Circumstance Marches

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The Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Op. 39 are a series of five marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar.

The title is taken from Act III of Shakespeare's Othello:

"Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,

The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,

The royal banner, and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!".^[1]

The best known of the set is the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. It had its premiere, conducted by the composer, in Liverpool in October 1901, along with the more reserved No. 2, and the audience demanded two encores. No. 1 was dedicated to the Liverpool Orchestral Society. In 1902 the tune was recycled, in modified form, for the Land of Hope and Glory section of his Coronation Ode for King Edward VII. The words were further modified to fit the original tune, and the result has since become a fixture at the Last Night of the Proms, and an English sporting anthem.

The formula having proved successful, Elgar composed three more, performed in 1905, 1907 and 1930. No. 4 is as upbeat and ceremonial as No. 1, containing another big tune in the central section, while the other three are more wistful. In World War II, No. 4 also acquired words: a patriotic verse by A. P. Herbert beginning "All men shall be free." ^[2]

Elgar left sketches for a sixth Pomp and Circumstance march, and these sketches were turned into a performing version by the English composer Anthony Payne in 2006.

In the United States, March No. 1 is sometimes known simply as "the graduation song," and is associated with graduation ceremonies. It was first played at such a ceremony on June 28, 1905, at Yale University, where the Professor of Music Samuel Sanford had invited his friend Elgar to attend commencement and receive an honorary Doctorate of Music. 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. 1. The tune soon became de rigueur at American graduations.^[3]