- Elgar composed the first two marches in 19011 and sold them to Boosey & Hawkes. The publisher then commissioned Elgar to supplement these and create a set of six. Elgar completed a total of five marches, with a sixth unfinished at his death.2
- The title is from Shakespeare’s Othello III.iii:
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
From Othello, Act III
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
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!
- As an epigram to the score, Elgar included this adapted quote from Lord de Tably’s March of Glory.3
Like a proud music that draws men on to die
From March of Glory
Madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy,
A measure that sets heaven in all their veins
And iron in their hands.
I hear the Nation march
Beneath her ensign as an eagle’s wing;
O’er her shield and sheeted targe
The banners of my faith most gaily swing,
Moving to victory and solemn noise,
With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.
Sources
- Diana McVeagh, “Elgar, Sir Edward,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed September 18, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008709.
- Richard Smith, “Elgar – His Music: Pomp and Circumstance Marches Nos. 1-5, op 39,” The Elgar Society, accessed September 18, 2019, http://www.elgar.org/3pomp.htm.
- Ibid.