of 'Pomp and Circumstance'
This year Yale will mark its 304th Commencement, and it will also pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of a graduation tradition that began at the University and has spread throughout the nation.
The work "Pomp and Circumstance," now a standard part of many high school and college graduations, was first performed during a graduation at Yale in 1905.
That year, the work's composer, Edward Elgar, was given an honorary doctorate of music at Yale's graduation, then held in Woolsey Hall. In honor of the acclaimed British composer, the chorus from Elgar's "Light of Life" was performed during the ceremony by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra with accompaniment on the Newberry Organ, and his "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D Major" was performed as the graduates recessed.
Soon afterward, other prestigious universities made the music part of their graduation ceremonies, including Princeton in 1907, Chicago in 1908, Columbia in 1913, Vassar in 1916 and Rutgers in 1918. By the 1920s, it attained widespread use.
In honor of the tradition's 100th anniversary, University organist Thomas Murray will play "Pomp and Circumstance" on the Newberry Organ as part of the recession at each presentation of the Baccalaureate Address in Woolsey Hall. The tune, incidentally, takes its name from a line lauding military fanfare in Shakespeare's "Othello": "Pride, Pomp and circumstances of glorious war!" It is one of four works by Elgar that bears the name.
This year's Commencement Weekend will take place Saturday-Monday, May 21-23. Highlights will include presentations of the Baccalaureate Address by President Richard C. Levin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and at 9:30 and 11 a.m. on Sunday; Senior Class Day at 2 p.m. on Sunday on Old Campus, featuring a talk by U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, presentation of academic and teaching prizes, and other activities and traditions; and University Commencement Exercises at 10:30 a.m. on Monday on Old Campus. Individual degrees and other awards will be presented at ceremonies hosted by the residential colleges and professional schools.
For a complete schedule of Commencement weekend activities, visit the website at www.yale.edu/commencement.
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