"Sailing Westward" 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 (collectively 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, Wembley Park, on 21 July 1924. The song descriptively commemorates the adventurous English sea-captains who sailed to ''"... chase the setting sun ... westward, thro' the thund'ring gales"''. Elgar used the same music for four other songs in the set: ''" The Islands"'', ''"Gloriana"'' ( Queen Elizabeth I), ''"The

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

"'' (for South Africa) and ''"Indian Dawn"''. This song was arranged by the composer as an accompanied

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 ...

for SATB.

References

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

Recordings

* The CD "The Unknown Elgar" has ''Sailing Westward'' and '' The Immortal Legions'', Tudor Choir directed by Barry Collett, with Ken Burley (piano) PEARL SHE CD 9635

External links

* {{Authority control Songs by Edward Elgar 1924 songs British Empire Exhibition World's fair music