Works quoting the UK National Anthem.

Started by John H White, Thursday 03 May 2012, 16:22

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John H White

  In this year of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubillee I thought it might be appropriate to attempt a list of all the works by both sung and unsung composers in whch the tune of God Save The King/Queen is made use of. This is all I can recall so far:-
(1) Beethoven's "Battle Symphony" ending with a fast fugue on the above tune.
(2) Geoge Onslow's string quartet, Op. 9 No.1 uses it for a set of variations in the 2nd movement.
(3) Heinrich Marscher's Grande Ouverture Solenne of 1842, celebrating the birth of the future King Edward VII, is based largely on God Save the Queen.
       I'm sure there are lots more instances of the uses that composers down the years have put to this well known melody. No doubt other members of this forum will be able to fill in a few.

alberto

Verdi's "Inno delle Nazioni". Rarely performed, fairly recorded.

edurban

Weber: Jubel Overture

Raff: Jubel Overture

David

Jimfin

Sullivan's unfinished "The Emerald Isle" (in the number 'I am the Lord Lieutenant and')
the same composer's "Victoria and Merrie England (also written for a diamond jubilee)

But I must confess I know far more instances of "Rule, Britannia!" being quoted, it seeing to lend itself more to musical play

albion

Johann Strauss I - Huldigung der Königin Victoria von Grossbritannien (Walzer), Op. 103 (1838)

Splendid!

;D

jerfilm


albion

Quote from: jerfilm on Thursday 03 May 2012, 17:07
Surely there must be an Elgar.......

J

He did his patriotic war-time duty on behalf of Poland (Polonia, Op.76 - a seriously underrated score), but didn't utilise the British anthem in any composition (besides making the well-known arrangement of it for chorus and orchestra in 1902).

:)

jerfilm

Quote(besides making the well-known arrangement of it for chorus and orchestra in 1902).


Oh sure, John, that's surely what I was thinking of......  I think I was also thinking of the Coronation Ode but didn't that contain an elaborate arrangement of Land of Hope and Glory??

Jerry

albion

Quote from: jerfilm on Thursday 03 May 2012, 17:51I think I was also thinking of the Coronation Ode but didn't that contain an elaborate arrangement of Land of Hope and Glory??

Yep!

Two other examples are:

Alexander Mackenzie - Youth, Sport, Loyalty, overture, Op.90 (1922) - national anthem used in the final section (presumably to define 'Loyalty')

Joseph Holbrooke - Triumphal March, for chorus and orchestra, Op.23b (published 1917) - national anthem quoted at the beginning and later in counterpoint, also using Rule Britannia as well ...

:)

albion

Then again, Mackenzie had already brazenly displayed his monarchist credentials (as it were) by using the tune in the closing pages of his Jubilee Ode (For Fifty Years Our Queen), Op.36 (1887).

;)

John H White

   Many thanks folks for all your interesting contrbutions to this list. I've since remembered that Clementi, who like Handel before him took on British Nationality after settling in England, made use of God save the King in his "Great National Symphony". By the way, the main subject of the adagio of Haydn's Symphony No 98 starts off very much like that tune, Haydn having been so impressed with it that he was moved to write his famous Emporer Hymn as an anthem for his native Austria.

ahinton

Sorabji: Toccata Seconda, for piano solo (only a very small and incidental quote, but it's there nontheless, although it's hardly done out of any sense of patriotism)...

Christo

The real news being, of course, that there is a national anthem.  :)

TerraEpon

There's plenty more if you wanna get into film music, though I can't think of any off hand (and of course, Rule Britannia is probably exponentially more quoted).

I assume Ives's Variations on America doesn't count (and didn't Beethoven write a variations on it?)

BerlinExpat

"God save the King" crops up in Carlisle Floyd's "Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair", and refers to George III!