Vincent Novello

Rule, Britannia

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 contrapuntalinterest 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 ofWales, 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 isfeaturedeach 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. Thelyrics 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 frominvaders, protecting a free populace.