Dr. Arne and Rule, BritanniaCummings, William Hayman
History
Dr. Arne and Rule, Britannia
Cummings, William Hayman
Arne, Thomas Augustine, 1710-1778
When our great Prince, with his choice band
Arriv'd from o'er the azure main,
Heav'n smil'd with pleasure on the land,
And guardian angels sing this strain:
Go, brave hero; brave hero, boldly go,
And wrest thy sceptre from thy foe.
A striking proof of the general popularity of the music of the Ode is
the quotation made from it by Handel in 1745-6, when he composed the
"Occasional Oratorio" to commemorate the suppression of the Rebellion.
The words "war shall cease, welcome peace" are set to music, evidently
intentionally taken from the song of the day, "Rule, Britannia":
[Music: war shall cease, ... wel-come peace]
We may note here that the music of the beautiful recitative, "Ah me,
what fears oppress my throbbing heart?" followed by the air, "Guardian
angels now descend," first printed in the 1754 "Alfred" libretto, is
modelled on Handel's recitative, "O worse than death," and air, "Angels
ever bright and fair," composed in 1749 and performed in March, 1750.
No doubt "Rule, Britannia" was heard in Germany very soon after its
first performance at Cliefden. A copy of the Ode in vocal score,
with harpsichord accompaniment, was published in Hanover with the
brief-title "Rule Britannia Frey Uebersetzt, Hanover, Gedruckt bey J.
L. Lamminger Hofbuchdrucker." The German words, freely translated from
the English, are as follow:
Britannia, aus des Meeres Schoos,
stieg auf des Schöpfers Wink hervor.
Dir zog hochahndend dein Genius das Loos,
und jubelnd sang ein Engelchor:
Herrsch' Britannia! der weite Ocean
sey deinem Scepter untherthan.
There are five more verses which need not be reproduced. The
publication is undated, and gives no name of poet or composer.
Subsequently the same publisher issued a more complete edition with
the original English words and a German translation. The title-page
is "Rule, Britannia am Höchsterfreulichen Geburtsfeste Ihro Majestat
der Königinn Charlotte den 18. Januar 1799 auf dem Grossen Königlichen
Schlosstheater vom Herrn Schauspiel-Director Ignaz Walter nach der von
I. G. F. Brauer versuchten Uebersetzung gesungen."
Beethoven showed his appreciation of the Air of "Rule, Britannia" by
using it not only for a pianoforte piece with variations in 1804,
but also by incorporating it in the Battle Symphony, "Wellingtons
Sieg, oder Schlacht bei Vittoria," which was performed at a concert
in Vienna, in 1813, given for the benefit of the soldiers wounded at
Hanau, and again in 1814 during the Vienna Congress, conducted by the
composer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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