Rule, Britannia!

"Rule, Britannia!" is a patriotic British national song, originating from the poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson, and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740. The song was included in Alfred, a masque about Alfred the Great co-written by Thomson and David Mallet and first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales, to celebrate the accession of King George I and the birthday of the Princess Augusta.

History

This most popular of all British national airs was first heard in London in 1745 and achieved instant popularity. It quickly became so well known that the composer Handel quoted it in his Occasional Oratorio in the following year, when it was sung with the words "War shall cease, welcome peace!" Predictably "Rule, Britannia!" was seized upon by the Jacobites and James Thomson's words were altered to be anti-Jacobite.

The song reflects Britons' pride in the fact that they were afforded more freedoms than residents of other nations. In 1745, Britain, although far from being a modern liberal democracy, was well on the way to developing its constitutional monarchy, with the royal prerogative having been decisively curbed by the Bill of Rights of 1689. This was in marked contrast to the Royal Absolutism still prevalent in Europe—most especially in France, which was then Britain's arch-enemy. Britain and France were at war for much of the century. The French Bourbons were undoubtedly the prime example of "haughty tyrants", whose "slaves" Britons should never be.

A second and related reference, obvious to the audience at the time, was to its naval power as a protection against home-grown tyrants. An island nation with a strong navy to defend it could afford to dispense with a standing army—and since the time of Cromwell, a standing army was conceived in the British public consciousness as a threat and the source of tyranny.

At the time it appeared, the song was not a celebration of an existing state of naval affairs, but an exhortation for the future. It recalls the era when, under Alfred the Great, English ships were more than a match for those of the Danes. Although the Netherlands, which in the 17th century presented a major challenge to English sea power, was obviously past its peak by 1745, Britain did not yet "rule the waves". The time was still to come when the Royal Navy would be an unchallenged dominant force on the oceans, protecting Britain and her burgeoning Empire from "haughty tyrants" and "foreign strokes". The jesting lyrics of the mid 1700s would assume a material and patriotic significance by the end of the 19th century.

The melody was the theme for a set of variations for piano by Ludwig van Beethoven (WoO 79) and he also used it in "Wellington's Victory", Op. 91. Arthur Sullivan, Britain's leading composer during the reign of Queen Victoria, quoted from "Rule, Britannia!" on at least three occasions in music for his comic operas written with W. S. Gilbert and Bolton Rowe. In Utopia Limited, Sullivan used airs from "Rule, Britannia!" to highlight references to Great Britain. In The Zoo (written with Rowe) Sullivan applied the tune of "Rule, Britannia!" to an instance in which Rowe's libretto quotes directly from the patriotic march. Finally, to celebrate the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, Sullivan added a chorus of "Rule, Britannia!" to the finale of H.M.S. Pinafore, which was playing in revival at the Savoy Theatre. The part of the tune's refrain that defiantly repeats "never, never, never", may have provided the theme on which Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations are based.

"Rule, Britannia!" is traditionally performed at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms, normally with a guest soloist (past performers have included Jane Eaglen, Thomas Hampson Felicity Lott, and Bryn Terfel who famously sang a verse in Welsh). However, in recent years the inclusion of the song and other patriotic tunes has been much criticised—notably by Leonard Slatkin—and the presentation has been occasionally amended.

Lyrics

When Britain first at Heav'n's command

Arose from out the azure main;

This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sang this strain;

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves: