Imperial March, Op.32

Not counting those in his vocal works - like the brilliant Triumphal March in Caractacus - Elgar wrote eight orchestral marches. The best known of them are, of course, the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches that appeared at various dates from 1901. The earliest of all, earlier even than Caractacus, was the Imperial March, written to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. For those who know the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, its idiom will be familiar enough in the proudly virile outer sections at least. In the middle section, on the other hand, instead of the broadly noble melody that was to become customary in the later works - in the “Land of Hope and Glory” manner - Elgar inserts a cheerful, almost dance-like episode to offset the more formal splendour around it. Performed four times between April and July 1897 (in a concert of massed bands at the Crystal Palace, in the Queen’s Hall, at a Royal Garden Party and at a State Concert), the Imperial March clearly appealed to the mood of the time. It was one of the composer’s earliest successes.