Review

Edward Elgar
Land of Hope and Glory: for Brass Quintet and Organ

Arranged by Damiano Drei


Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2023
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass
Secondary Genre: Chamber Music

Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, was written in 1901 and premiered in Liverpool in October that year and played two days later at a London Promenade Concert, where it proved to be hugely successful. The trio section includes the tune now known as Land of Hope and Glory, which was subsequently included in the Coronation Ode, Op. 44 that Elgar wrote for the coronation of King Edward VII in June 1902. However, because of the King’s sudden illness (appendicitis), the event was postponed until August, and for some reason, it appears that the Ode was not included at that time. Its first performance was in Sheffield in October 1902. The first London performance was in June 1903.

The title ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ comes from Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, Act 3 Scene 3. Othello returns to Venice to a hero’s welcome as the general who has won a great victory against the City’s enemies, but he reflects sadly on the disconnect between the ‘pomp’ of his military success and the ‘circumstance’ of his private life, his marriage being sabotaged by the envious Iago, who has convinced him that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful. Elgar, however, prefaced the score with lines from a poem by Lord de Tabley (The March of Glory): ‘Like a proud music that draws men on to die, madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy’. This obviously has nothing to do with the issues of jealousy and inter-racial marriage that Shakespeare had so insightfully presented.

The arrangement is in b-flat and is suitable for ‘moderately advanced performers’. Range for the trombone part which is given in bass clef is F – a-flat1. Trumpet 1 tops out at d2 (transposition). When the familiar tune enters at m. 54 it is played by trumpets 1 and 2 and trombone, followed in m. 57 by horn and 2nd trumpet. Trombone has the melody again from mm. 62-69. The piece ends fortissimo on a unison e-flat.

Damiano Drei is a trombone player, and founder of the Quintet ‘Romagna Brass’. He teaches at the City Music School in Ravenna, Italy.