Origins: Land of Hope and Glory

Subject: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Ceeltic-End Singer
Date: 08 May 98 - 11:41 AM

Can anyone supply me with the lyrics for "Land of Hope and Glory" please? I was trying extensively to find it in the datbase and failed. For those of you who don't know the first line is:

"Land of hope and glory, mother of the free."

I think it was written by Elgar but has become a rather English jingoism. (The Conservative Party sing it at their national conference)

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Allan C.
Date: 08 May 98 - 01:07 PM

Check it out. Words and music at:

http://ingeb.org/folksonk.html

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: aldus
Date: 08 May 98 - 01:15 PM

Is God Bless America Jingoism, or Waltzing Matilda or The Maple Leaf Forever or Scotland The Brave or The Patriot Game.........just asking . seems a rather strident description of a rather lovely song.

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Frank Phillips
Date: 08 May 98 - 02:41 PM

I vaguely remember a quarter of a century ago hearing some members of the Calgary Saracen's Rugby club sing the melody to this song. However the words consisted of "Lloyd George knew my father, Father knew Lloyd George" repeated as many times as neccessary to match the melody.

Try this a few times and you'll gain new appreciation for the original words, jingoistic or not.

Frank Phillips

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Pete M
Date: 10 May 98 - 04:28 PM

Just out of interest, Elgar wrote the music (Pomp and Circumstance March No 1, Op 39 in D major) not the words which were penned by A C Benson. And for the record I agree with Aldus, its no more jingoistic than any other "National" song (though I think "Advance Australia Fair" would be a more valid comparison than Waltzing Matilda)

Pete M

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: aldus
Date: 11 May 98 - 02:01 PM

Actually, Advance Australia Fair never struck me as in any way likle the others..it is not terribly moving and the words are a huge yawn... I was just thinking of things that automatically remind one of certain countries..none of the songs I did mention are National Anthems,but they are all Stirring pieces of music...that is why Advance Australia Fair was not Part of the list.

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: steve t
Date: 11 May 98 - 08:04 PM

Wow. I just read the Maple Leaf Forever. You think you understood your parents and grandparents and then...

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: aldus
Date: 19 May 98 - 08:44 AM

STEVE; I"m not sure what your commemt means... I always thougt "The Maple Leaf Forever" was a pretty good song and a wonderful tune.... The words suited the time.. WOLF the dauntless hero... planted firm Britanias Flag etc... Well we can"t have history tell the facts if the facts are out of fashion...it is not my grandparents I have difficulty understanding...it is us.....

Subject: Land of Hope and Glory
From: GUEST,Louis Lee
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 12:42 AM

Dear Sirs,

I would like to find the complete lyrics of Sir Edward Elgar's classis "Land of Hope and Glory". Would you pleaee help me?

Yours faithfully,

Louis Lee

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 12:59 AM

It appears that there are not a lot of lyrics--Click here! for guitar tab plus all the lyrics I found on other sites.

Subject: Lyr Add: LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY (A. C. Benson)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 05:15 AM

LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY
(A. C. Benson)

Dear Land of Hope, thy hope is crowned.
God make thee mightier yet!
On Sov'ran brows, beloved, renowned,
Once more thy crown is set.
Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long;
By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained,
Thine Empire shall be strong.

Land of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet.

Thy fame is ancient as the days,
As Ocean large and wide:
A pride that dares, and heeds not praise,
A stern and silent pride:
Not that false joy that dreams content
With what our sires have won;
The blood a hero sire hath spent
Still nerves a hero son.

(From Modern History Sourcebook: British Imperialistic Anthems - Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory, and more)

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Land of Hope and Glory
From: IanC
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 07:11 AM

Written by A. C. Benson (1862-1925)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Wolfgang
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 10:32 AM

We had a couple of threads asking for the lyrics to this song, but none of them was so (how to put it?) 'interesting' in its development besides providing the lyrics as this old thread: Land of hope and glory

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Land of Hope and Glory
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 May 03 - 04:52 AM

Only the chorus to "Land of Hope and Glory" is sung to Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance No. 1". An independent song sung by Clara Butt (rec. in 1912) is comprised of the 1st verse and chorus. Listen to it at
Vintage Audio: Land of Hope and Glory.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 04:25 AM

This site explains authorship:

The music is Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 of 1902. During World War I, it was used as the theme for part of a poem by A. C. Benson (1862-1925) [the homosexual Catholic convert son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, if memory serves right], by the music hall star Marie Lloyd. It was immediately adopted as perhaps the second most sung national song after God Save the King. Perhaps the reason was that it can be sung with much more gusto.

Subject: RE: Origins: Land of Hope and Glory
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 06:36 AM

"Land of Hope and Glory" is at The Virtual Gramophone (click here).

Performer heading: Lyric Quartet (Vocal group) / Macdonough, Harry, 1871-1931 / Werrenrath, Reinald, 1883-1953
Performer: Edward Hamilton, baritone ; Lyric Quartet, mixed quartet with orchestra
Title: Land of hope and glory, or, [Pomp and circumstance] / A. C. Benson, lyrics ; Edward Elgar, music
Composer heading: Benson, Arthur Christopher, 1862-1925 / Elgar, Edward, 1857-1934
Generic Label: Berliner
Transcribed Label: Victor Record
Sub Label: His Master's Voice
Recorded: [28 Oct 1914] , London, England by Gramophone
Released [ca Jan 1915]

Subject: RE: Origins: Land of Hope and Glory
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 05:07 AM

Elgar is reputed to have hated having his music "borrowed".

Subject: RE: Origins: Land of Hope and Glory
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 08 Sep 24 - 04:51 PM

Some more research from the BBC
[speech recognition; my punctuation]

,,, the idea of 'land of hope and glory mother of the free' - this is very much part of the times but also part of Elgar's own ideology. In fact within days of the outbreak of the first world war Elgar had written to Benson asking for new words - "My dear Benson could you write another stanza or perhaps two for Land Of Hope And Glory befitting the times we are in? The people have adopted our effort as the second national anthem and it does good but the words are not quite apropos of the moment."

This has often been taken to understand that Elgar was retreating from a kind of aggressive imperialism but in fact it turns out that Elgar was actually asking for something that had to do with revenge and vengeance towards Germany. Benson pushed back and said "I'm not really interested in revenge especially at this stage. Bullying should not be met with bullying."
But even though Elgar wanted to change the words and Benson did write new words they never caught on and that's partly because of Clara Butt again. Because she was giving patriotic concerts all the way through the first world war and of course she was singing the original words.

Home of Hope and Glory
Sunday Feature   - BBC Radio 3 - September 2024

BBC Proms presenter Katie Derham delves into the fascinating history and legacy of 'Land of Hope and Glory', a piece of music that feels particularly close to home.

The lyrics to 'Land of Hope and Glory' - arguably the most quintessentially English piece of music ever - were perhaps written under Radio 3 presenter Katie Derham’s roof. For 15 years the Derhams have been making a home in the Sussex residence previously occupied by the Bensons, that famous Victorian family of writers, philosophers, and an Archbishop of Canterbury. One of the sons - Arthur Christopher Benson - was the poet responsible for penning rousing words to Edward Elgar’s stately music.

The song has endured, of course - becoming a symbol of patriotism and pride that's still sung at the Last Night of the Proms. But couplets that appear to celebrate Britain's empire ("God who made thee mighty / Make thee mightier yet") have their critics. In this documentary, Derham opens up her home to delve into the fascinating, infamous history of this iconic composition.

With contributions from:
- Jessica Duchen, novelist, librettist & classical music critic
- Eamon Duffy, Benson historian & Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge
- Sir Mark Elder, British conductor who first conducted the Last Night of the Proms in 1987
- Daniel Kidane, British composer whose piece "Woke" opened the Last Night Of The Proms in 2019
- Nalini Ghuman, Elgar expert & musicologist whose research focuses on nationalism and identity
- Daniel Grimley, Professor of Music at the University of Oxford
- Andrew Neill, former Chairman of the Elgar Society

Presenter: Katie Derham
Producer: Fiona Clampin
Exec Producer: Jack Howson
Mix Engineer: Olga Reed
Additional Instrumental Music by: Thomas Scott

44 minutes

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022jyr

Subject: RE: Origins: Land of Hope and Glory
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Sep 24 - 08:20 PM

"...arguably the most quintessentially English piece of music ever..."

Good grief. The words of the infamous chorus do not represent the sentiments of most Brits I know (who are many). I've heard "quintessentially English" applied to Holst's Jupiter, to Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia, to Britten's Sea Interludes and to a host of other pieces. It's a tired cliche, nowt else.

Subject: RE: Origins: Land of Hope and Glory
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Sep 24 - 08:31 PM

Mind you, having said that, I'll be singing along very lustily next Saturday in front of the telly as I always do. As an avowed atheist, I'm a bit like that in any funeral I go to (sadly, more frequently than ever these days). I'll join in with no prayer, listen to no Bible reading, etc., but if How Great Thou Art is on the menu I'm easily going to be the loudest bugger in the church!