The Spirit of England the tone of "The Spirit of England" and that of other imperialist Elgar works: "The conception is grandiose, but not as the "Pomp and Circumstance" Marches are. It moves along with no less splendour, but with a more austere deliberation." The Spirit of England The Spirit of England, Op. 80, is a work for chorus, orchestra, and soprano/tenor soloist in three movements composed by Edward Elgar between 1915 and 1917, setting text from Laurence Binyon's 1914 anthology of poems "The Winnowing Fan". The work acts as a requiem for the dead of World War I and is dedicated "to the
Pomp and Circumstance Marches they are directed to play the passage ""sul G"" on the same string, for the sake of the tone-colour, and the accompaniment is from the harps, low strings and bassoons. The grand tune is repeated, as we expect, by the full orchestra; the opening march section returns; the grand tune is repeated once more, in the "home" key of G major; and the last word is had by a re-statement of the opening rhythmic patterns. The march prepares the audience for its end as surely as a train pulling into a station, with the violins, violas, and cellos ending on