Solemn Prelude "In memoriam" (from 'For the Fallen')

Today, November 13th is Remembrance Sunday in Great Britain.

Starting on Friday, I've been uploading pieces dealing with Veteran's Day and Remembrance Day, and this upload will conclude the group. Though not an "official piece" for Remembrance Sunday, there is little that could be more fitting and appropriate than this.

Solemn Prelude "In memoriam" is taken from "The Spirit of England. Op. 80" by Edward Elgar. (1857-1934). It is one of the composer's most significant works, and consists of three movements: I - The Fourth of August, II - To Women, and III - For the Fallen.

An anonymous "contemporary" reviewer wrote that the new work "contains some of Elgar's most vigorous and inspiring, if not some of his most inspired, work." But an earlier writer, Basil Maine, correctly distinguishes between the tone of "The Spirit of England" and that of other imperialist Elgar works: "The conception is grandiose, but not as the Pomp and Circumstance Marches are. It moves along with no less splendour, but with a more austere deliberation."

"Solemn Prelude" is an impressive and imposing march. At times it is somber and funereal, and at other times, it is majestic and triumphant, full of grandeur of the highest order.

The splendid arrangement was done by Harvey Grace (1874–1944). He was a chorister at Romsey Abbey, studied under Madeley Richardson at Southwark Cathedral, and became Organist of St. Mary Magdelene, Munster Square, London. He was editor of The Musical Times and a noted author and adjudicator. He became organist at Chichester Cathedral in 1931, and remained until 1937 when he was
appointed Commissioner of the School of English Church Music. Grace's years at Chichester coincided with a new awareness of liturgical solemnity; plainsong was used regularly at some of the weekday services from May 1936.

The score is attached below, as well as a photo of Elgar, of Grace, and of Chichester Cathedral, from the outside and of the Hill organ.