SATB Choir
SKU:
HL.14023538
Composed
by Thomas Augustine Arne.
Arranged by Vincent
Novello. Music Sales
America. Classical.
Octavo. Music Sales
#NOV400030. Published by
Music Sales
(HL.14023538).
UPC:
884088826178.
6.75x10.5x0.026
inches.
Vincent
Novello was a British
composer and Organist who
gave the Novello
publishing company its
first embryonic form.
Here he arranges Rule,
Britannia! for Voice SATB
with Piano accompaniment
to introduce some
contrapuntal interest in
the verse.When 18th
century British composer
Thomas Arne included his
song Rule, Britannia! in
a masque based on the
life of Alfred the Great
that was presented at
Cliveden, the country
home of Frederick, Prince
of Wales, he could not
have imagined that more
than two hundred seventy
years later his ditty
would be known throughout
the British Isles and
beyond. Rule, Britannia!
is widely used in the
Royal Navy and British
Army and is featuredeach
year at the Last Night of
the Proms in the Royal
Albert Hall as a national
sing-along.At the time of
writing, the Dutch
actually 'ruled the
waves,' so this song was
more an exhortation than
a status report. The
lyrics were also a
statement of civil
liberty. Since Cromwell's
time, Britain had had a
standing army which could
be turned against the
native population. A
standing navy, however,
existed solely to protect
the nation from invaders,
protecting a free
populace.