Britons, Strike Home! Explained

Britons, Strike Home! is a British patriotic song, originally an air written for a theatrical production by Henry Purcell in 1695. It was popular during the various wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Origin

In the last year of Purcell's life, he wrote the music for an October 1695 adaptation of John Fletcher's tragedy, Bonduca, called Bonduca, or the British Heroine. Purcell's score has the "Z number" Z 574 and ranks amongst his finest music for the theatre,[1] In the play, the Ancient British general, Charatach is trying to rouse the army of Queen Bonduca against the Romans. He appeals to their god Divine Andate and finally commands, Now Sing, ye Druids. The Druids take up the theme with a duet, To Arms, To Arms! followed by a solo and Druid chorus, Britons, Strike Home![2] In 1728, the tune was used as Air LIX in The Beggar's Opera by John Gay.[3]

Lyrics

Purcell's original lyrics

(Solo by the Chief Druid, repeated by the chorus of Druids)

Lyrics composed during the Invasion Scare of 1803–1805

See also: British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05. There are a further five verses.[4]

Notable uses

Notes and References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=E7E8AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Britons+strike+home%22+purcell&pg=PA123 Curtis Alexander Price
  2. Book: Adams, Martin . 1995 . Henry Purcell: The Origins and Development of His Musical Style . Cambridge University Press . 334–335 . 978-0521431590 .
  3. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25063/25063-h/25063-h.htm The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Beggar's Opera
  4. John Ashton (1884), English caricature and satire on Napoleon I: Volume I, London: Chatto & Windus, p. 164–146
  5. Book: Holmes, Richard . Soldiers: Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors . Harper Press . 2011 . 476. 9780007225699 .
  6. Book: Ellet, Elizabeth . Women of the American Revolution . February 2009 . 1 . Applewood Books . Bedford, Massachusetts . 179. 9781429016766 .
  7. Book: Philippart, John . The East India Military Calendar: Containing the Services of the General and Field Officers of the Indian Army . 3 . Kingbury, Parbury and Allen . London . 1826.
  8. Book: Hague, William . William Pitt the Younger: A Biography . Harper Collins . 2005 . 0-00-714720-1 . 415.
  9. Book: Alison, Archibald . History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution . IV . Baudrey's European Library . Paris . 1841 . 19.
  10. Book: Hoffman, Frederick . A Sailor of King George . John Murray . London . 1901 . Battle of Trafalgar . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053955/http://www.munseys.com/diskseven/kigo.htm . 4 March 2016 . Blackmask Online . 8 February 2013 .
  11. Book: Rosenfeld, Gavriel D. . 2005 . The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism . Cambridge University Press . 0-521-84706-0 . 62–63.