Saturday night was the
Last Night of the Proms. This is a more than 100-year-old tradition of closing the BBC Proms with an evening of some edgy new music, followed by patriotic songs of yesteryear, closed by the National Anthem.
As a transplanted USan, I can think of no national event in America that rivals the Last Night of the Proms. Imagine the Royal Albert Hall full of a mixture of revelers and people in formal evening dress. Many of them carry flags on poles to be waved during the last few pieces of the night: Union Flags, of course, but flags of nations and regions all over the world: English, Scottish, Ulster, Welsh, Pink Union Flags (for the gay contingent), Australian, New Zealand, Cornish, even a couple of US and European Union flags were seen. No vuvuzelas, thank God, but a few air horns that might be let off at suitable intervals. Then the (American) soprano, dressed as Britannia in a headdress and magnificent gown, emerges and sings
Rule, Britannia, while the (Czech) conductor wields the baton. Unfortunately, she only sings the first two verses; I here reproduce all six verses of the original:
When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."
The nations, not so blest as thee,
Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall;
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves.
Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
More dreadful, from each foreign stroke;
As the loud blast that tears the skies,
Serves but to root thy native oak.
Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves.
Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame:
All their attempts to bend thee down,
Will but arouse thy generous flame;
But work their woe, and thy renown.
Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves.
To thee belongs the rural reign;
Thy cities shall with commerce shine:
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves.
The Muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coast repair;
Blest Isle! With matchless beauty crown'd,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves. "
No one today would hold that any of this patriotic song any longer has validity in our current national life. We no longer rule the waves: we are about to cancel a £5 billion program to build two aircraft carriers after more than £1 billion of contracts have already been let. The ships were to be built in Scotland, which is no-go territory for the Conservatives. Thus, £4 billion will be saved by scrapping the ships.
In addition, after all the nibblings away of our liberty by Labour, the line that "Britons never will be slaves" has a very hollow ring to it indeed.
After that, we have
Jerusalem, the Parry setting of Blake's poem:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills
Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold
Bring me my chariot of fire
I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
'Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land
Now the terse answer to the first stanza is "No, they didn't, no, he wasn't, no, it didn't, and no, it wasn't." The Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev'd Colin Slee, has banned the singing of
Jerusalem in Southwark Cathedral on the premise that it has become an anthem for the far right British nationalists. But reading the poem does make one think that there is something that can be done with our society if only we get the tools to do it. We can build a city of peace—even a country of peace; what we need is the will and the tools with which to do it. That is something that we may all do, together, as a country. So I love to hear and sing
Jerusalem, His Reverence the Dean notwithstanding.
Then, we have
Land of Hope and Glory—a more triumphal patriotic hymn one could hardly ever sing:
Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still, and wider, shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!
Truth and Right and Freedom, each a holy gem,
Stars of solemn brightness, weave thy diadem.
Tho' thy way be darkened, still in splendour drest,
As the star that trembles o'er the liquid West.
Throned amid the billows, throned inviolate,
Thou hast reigned victorious, thou has smiled at fate.
Land of Hope and Glory, fortress of the Free,
How may we extol thee, praise thee, honour thee?
Hark, a mighty nation maketh glad reply;
Lo, our lips are thankful, lo, our hearts are high!
Hearts in hope uplifted, loyal lips that sing;
Strong in faith and freedom, we have crowned our King!
So God made us mighty, and we ask God to make us mightier yet? Hubris, I reckon. The days when the United Kingdom was mighty have, I'm afraid, long passed. This hymn was premiered at the Proms of (I think) 1905, and Elgar was extremely proud of the music. You have probably heard it at a high school or university graduation as it's formally called Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, and was suggested to Elgar as a good fit for the coronation by King Edward VII. Of course, the second line is quite inappropriate nowadays, as many British citizens are not "born of thee" but are Brits by naturalisation or adoption.
Land of Hope and Glory regularly vies with
Jerusalem when the question of a National Anthem for England comes up.
Now why have I gone through all of this? The philosophical idea of
patriotism implies exclusivity; that is, when you are patriotic you can be patriotic only to one country. But I am a citizen of two countries (though I live in England), and patriotism in the United States is on an entirely different scale than patriotism here. Normally we have a quiet sort of patriotism, with minimal flag-waving, very little singing of patriotic songs, and only a little kerfuffle on St. George's Day, the feast-day of the Patron Saint of England. There is no patron saint of the United Kingdom: each of the constituent countries has its own patron saint: Dafydd in Cymru (David in Wales, I mean), Andrew in Scotland, Patrick in Ireland, and George in England. Nationhood in the UK is confused with separatism and is somewhat suspect.
When I listen to
The Last Night of the Proms, for some reason, I feel stirring in my heart the sentiment that, for good or ill, I have cast my lot in with the United Kingdom and her rich history and traditions.
Jerusalem, in particular, puts me in mind of a better, brighter United Kingdom that is just out of our reach, but which we can grasp and make a reality with teamwork, and effort, and trust in ourselves and in God.
The National Anthem ends the Last Night of the Proms. There is no official National Anthem of the United Kingdom; as is the case of much of our constitutional arrangements, it's simply the convention that
God Save the Queen is our National Anthem:
God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.
O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all.
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen
Nor on this land alone,
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore:
Lord make the nations see
That men should brothers be,
And form one family
The wide world o'er
The second verse is not sung very much these days. The fourth verse is often sung instead of the second to conclude the anthem. I think that it's a beautiful sentiment, and perhaps needs more currency than it now gets.
Brits often express surprise that I know the words to
God Save the Queen. I would no sooner forget the lyrics of my adopted nation's anthem than I would forget the lyrics to
The Star Spangled Banner.
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