"A Song of Union" is a poem written by Alfred Noyes, and set to music by the English composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

. It was one of the songs (also known as the ''"

Pageant of Empire The Pageant of Empire was name given to various historical pageants celebrating the British Empire which were held in Britain during the early twentieth century. For example there was a small Pageant of Empire at the town of Builth Wells in 1909. I ...

"'') written to be performed in the ''

'' at the British Empire Exhibition on 21 July 1924, though this particular song was not performed at the Pageant. This was the only one that the composer wrote as a

part-song A part song, part-song or partsong is a form of choral music that consists of a song to a secular or non-Liturgy, liturgical sacred text, written or arranged for several voice type, vocal parts. Part songs are commonly sung by an SATB choir, but ...

, though two others "'' Sailing Westward''" and "'' The Immortal Legions''" were later arranged as part-songs. The song is in the form of a confident march, beginning with the symbolic ''"stars that wheel around the Sun"'' and finally celebrating the union of the realms of Empire with ''"Love binds all our hearts in one"''. Although some of the songs in ''"Pageant of Empire"'' were associated with particular countries, this song celebrates the union of the whole Empire, and has no particular reference to what was at that time the Union of South Africa. The music is taken from the central section of Elgar's "''

Empire March An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

''", written for the same occasion.

References

*Foreman, Lewis (ed.),''Oh, My Horses! Elgar and the Great War'' (Elgar Editions, Rickmansworth, 2001). , pp. 282–284 *Richards, Jeffrey, ''Imperialism and Music: Britain 1876-1953'' (Manchester University Press, 2002).

Recordings

* The CD with the book ''Oh, My Horses! Elgar and the Great War'' has many historical recordings, including ''A Song of Union'' in a 1975 recording by the Kensington Choir and Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leslie Head. The book includes the lyrics on pages 283-284

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Song of Union, A Songs by Edward Elgar 1924 songs World's fair music British Empire Exhibition