Thomas Augustine Arne: Rule Britannia - Score/Parts: Orchestra: Score and Parts

Vincent Novello was a British composer and Organist who gave the Novello publishing company its first embryonic form. Here he arranges Rule Britannia! for Voice SATB with Piano accompaniment to introduce some contrapuntal interest in the verse.When 18th century British composer Thomas Arne included his song Rule Britannia! in a masque based on the life of Alfred the Great that was presented at Cliveden the country home of Frederick Prince of Wales he could not have imagined that more than two hundred seventy years later his ditty would be known throughout the British Isles and beyond. Rule Britannia! is widely used in the Royal Navy and British Army and is featuredeach year at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall as a national sing-along.At the time of writing the Dutch actually ‘ruled the waves ’ so this song was more an exhortation than a status report. The lyrics were also a statement of civil liberty. Since Cromwell’s time Britain had had a standing army which could be turned against the native population. A standing navy however existed solely to protect the nation from invaders protecting a free populace.

When 18th century British composer Thomas Arne included his song Rule Britannia! in a masque based on the life of Alfred the Great that was presented at Cliveden the country home of Frederick Prince of Wales he could nothave imagined that more than two hundred seventy years later his ditty would be known throughout the British Isles and beyond. Rule Britannia! is widely used in the Royal Navy and British Army and is featured each year at theLast Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall as a national sing-along.At the time of writing the Dutch actually ‘ruled the waves ’ so this song was more an exhortation than a status report. The lyrics were also astatement of civil liberty. Since Cromwell’s time Britain had had a standing army which could be turned against the native population. A standing navy however existed solely to protect the nation from invaders protectinga free populace.Rule Britannia! has been quoted extensively by other composers among them Beethoven Wagner Strauss and Arthur Sullivan. Thomas Arne also penned a version of God Save The King which came to be the Britishnational anthem.This version is arranged by contemporary composer and friend Eaton Fanning who made changes to the famous semiquaver flourishes.

Bantock has arranged Where the Bee Sucks for unaccompanied Voice SSA. He scores a single statement of the first quatrain and devotes the remainder of the piece to expressing the ‘under the blossom that hangs on the bow’theme.Thomas Arne English composer Violinist and Keyboard player was a major figure in 18th century English theatre music and the composer of Rule Britannia among many other songs. The song Where The Bee Sucks was writtenin 1740 for the Drury Lane production of The Tempest and it has never gone out of the repertoire since that time. Composer conductor and educator Granville Bantock’s (1868 1946) oeuvre is reaching new audiences throughrenewed interest in the performance of his works. He was an energetic and creative personality who was key in founding the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and championing the music of Jean Sibelius in his day.