''HMS Queen Elizabeth March'', composed by
WO2 bandmaster John Morrish RM,
was the winning composition for the 2012 Royal Marines Band Service March Competition, sponsored by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance. The
march
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...
was written for the first of the new generation of
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
''Queen Elizabeth''-class aircraft carriers.
''HMS Queen Elizabeth March'' is a lively march, with many references to nautical themes. The opening
fanfare
A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets (including fanfare trumpets), French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introdu ...
captures the size and magnificence of the aircraft carrier with the main theme having references to the March Past of the Royal Navy, ''
Heart of Oak
"Heart of Oak" is the official march of the Royal Navy. It is also the official march of several Commonwealth navies, including the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was the official march of the Royal Australian Navy, but ...
''. The trio pays homage to the 20th-century
battleship
A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
, the only other ship to hold this name, by trying to recreate the old style Royal Navy ship’s siren. This is then followed by a grandioso featuring the trio theme, a sea shanty effect from the
woodwind
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments.
Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...
, and a
trombone
The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...
counter melody, with a hint of ''
Rule, Britannia!
"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by th ...
''
''HMS Queen Elizabeth March'' premiered at the Deal Memorial Bandstand concert in 2012, at the launching ceremony of the supercarrier and has been performed at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272.
Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
and
Horse Guards Parade
Horse Guards Parade is a large Military parade, parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at British national grid reference system, grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the K ...
ground by the massed bands of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines.
{{Reflist
British military marches
2012 compositions