I Vow to Thee, My Country

About this arrangement

Gustav Holst’s tune from Jupiter in The Planets, set in 1921 to Cecil Spring Rice’s poem and sung at many school assemblies and remembrance services. It is in 3/4 and begins on a pickup of two quavers (eighth notes), “I”, joined by a curved line. The tune spans more than an octave, from middle C to the E above the next C, so the hand moves often. New rhythms: the dotted crotchet on “vow”, and the dotted quaver and semiquaver (sixteenth note) on “thee, my”. The third line drops low and quiet, the fourth climbs back, and lines 5 and 6 repeat lines 1 and 2. The left hand plays chords.

Practice tip: Learn lines 1 and 2 first: they come back as lines 5 and 6, so a third of the piece is a repeat. Give the dotted crotchet on “vow” its full length, then let the quick “thee, my” spring off it.

The words

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love; the love that asks no question, the love that stands the test, that lays upon the altar the dearest and the best; the love that never falters, the love that pays the price, the love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

A short history

Cecil Spring Rice was a British diplomat. Around 1908 or 1912 he wrote a poem about two countries, his own and the kingdom of heaven, and in January 1918, as he was leaving his post as ambassador in Washington, he rewrote its first verse. The new verse turned from battle to love and sacrifice, after the great losses of the First World War. He died a few weeks later.

Holst found that the words fitted the big tune from Jupiter, part of his orchestral suite The Planets, and in 1921 made a version for voices and orchestra. It was first sung that year at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London, where he taught music. In 1926 he made it into a hymn tune for the book Songs of Praise and called it “Thaxted”, after the Essex village where he lived.

Holst died in 1934 and Spring Rice in 1918, so music and words are both out of copyright in Australia.

Quick facts

Tune

Gustav Holst, 1921 (“Thaxted”, from Jupiter in The Planets)

Words

Cecil Spring Rice, 1918

Key

C major

Time signature

3/4

Length

24 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Broadly, crotchet = 80

Difficulty

Level 5: A wider range (piece 169 of 201)

Type

National song

Hands

Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left

Copyright

Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers