Coronation March

Writing his march for the coronation of George V in Westminster Abbey in 1911, Elgar avoided the Pomp and Circumstance model he had so successfully developed during the last ten years. Perhaps he felt it was too military in character for such a great state occasion iin a cathedral setting. Certainly, the beginning of the work – based on material left over from a ballet the composer had abandoned eight years earlier – is more solemn than festive. As it develops, however, it assumes more and more of the majesty and brilliance one would expect from such an occasion until it reaches it characteristically nobilmente grand ending.