:''This is not to be confused with the poem by

Gilbert Frankau Gilbert Frankau (21 April 1884 – 4 November 1952) was a popular British novelist. He was known also for verse (he was a war poet of World War I), including a number of verse novels, and short stories. He was born in London into a Jewish fami ...

.'' ''The Voice of the Guns'' (1917) is a British military march composed by Kenneth Alford during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. It was written as a tribute to British artillerymen serving in the war, hence its name, though later became widely adopted by the entire British army. The piece is generally arranged for a full

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, o ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, though

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

versions have also been composed.

Maurice Jarre Maurice-Alexis Jarre (; 13 September 1924 – 28 March 2009) allmusic Biography/ref> was a French composer and conductor. Although he composed several concert works, Jarre is best known for his film scores, particularly for his collaborations wit ...

's score used an arrangement for piccolos (in lieu of fifes) with drums within his overture for "Lawrence Of Arabia", and he also rearranged the piece for a military band, assembled from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which segues in an out of fragmentary motifs from the 'Lawrence' theme, later during the film. It is to be remarked that Jarre's arrangement of the march is quite different from the original, and it does not utilize the original 6-bar introduction. The song starts out with three brief musical phrases, followed by a segue into the main triumphant, fast-moving marching theme which remains throughout the rest of the piece. The full version of the piece generally lasts about three minutes, though longer and shorter arrangements have also been made. An arrangement of it was famously used in

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's film ''

Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

'' (1962), to represent British Empire military power. Its most notable use in the film occurs during the scene when Lawrence (

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old V ...

) and

General Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...

(

Jack Hawkins John Edward Hawkins, CBE (14 September 1910 – 18 July 1973) was an English actor who worked on stage and in film from the 1930s until the 1970s. One of the most popular British film stars of the 1950s, he was known for his portrayal of mil ...

) discuss strategy while descending the stairs of the British army headquarters in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

. Today the piece remains a popular selection for marching bands and orchestras. In 1983 the quick march of the Royal Artillery, "British Grenadiers" (in use by the regiment since 1762) was extended, by Lt. Col. Stanley Patch, to include the Trio section from "The Voice Of The Guns", in honour of the Royal Artillery's Captain General, Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. The tune ''British Grenadiers'' used by the Royal Artillery bands differs from that of the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

only by having different horn parts; other than that they are identical. Its association with the Royal Artillery predates the formation of the Grenadier Guards Regiment, and the Royal Artillery were the first British regiment to use the French ''grenate'', or grenade. The Royal Artillery were also the first British regiment to adopt the grenade as a badge symbol.

External links

MIDI sequence of piano version
by the John Horn High School Wind Symphony {{DEFAULTSORT:Voice Of The Guns British military marches 1917 compositions Songs with music by Kenneth J. Alford