Fight for Right

"Fight for Right" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar, with words taken from the epic poem The Story of Sigurd the Volsung by William Morris.

The song had been suggested to Elgar by the English tenor Gervase Elwes and was dedicated to Members of the Fight for Right Movement. Its premiere performance was as one of the musical items at a mass meeting of Fight for Right on 21 March 1916 at Queens Hall, London, when the soloist was Gervase Elwes. It was published by Elkin in 1916.

There are nine introductory bars of music, followed by the first four lines of the poem sung Quasi recit. ad lib. The next two lines are accompanied a tempo, then repeated as a chorus.

Lyrics

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FIGHT FOR RIGHT

Quasi recit. ad lib.

When thou hearest the fool rejoicing, and he saith, 'It is over and past,

And the wrong was better than right, and hate turns into love at the last,

And we strove for nothing at all, and the Gods are fallen asleep;

For so good is the world a-growing that the evil good shall reap:'

a tempo

Then loosen thy sword in the scabbard and settle the helm on thine head,

For men betrayèd are mighty, and great are the wrongfully dead.

Chorus

Then loosen thy sword in the scabbard and settle the helm on thine head,

For men betrayèd are mighty, and great are the wrongfully dead.

Recordings

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"The Unknown Elgar" includes "Fight for Right" performed by Stephen Holloway (bass), with Barry Collett (piano)

References

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Michael Kennedy, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968) ISBN 0-19-315414-5

External links

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Fight for Right: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

v t e Edward Elgar
List of compositions
Incidental	Diarmuid and Grania (1901) The Crown of India (1911–12) The Starlight Express (1915–16) The Sanguine Fan (1917)
Symphonies	Symphony No. 1 (1907–08) Symphony No. 2 (1909–11) Symphony No. 3 (1932–34; completed by Payne in 1997)
Orchestral	The Wand of Youth (1869–1907) Powick Asylum Music (1879–1884) Sevillana (1884) Froissart (1890) Sursum corda (1894) Serenade for Strings (1894) Three Bavarian Dances (1898) Enigma Variations (1899) Cockaigne Overture (1900–01) Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901–30) Dream Children (1902) Introduction and Allegro (1904–05) In the South (Alassio) (1904–05) Elegy (1909) Falstaff (1913) Sospiri (1914) Carillon (1914) Polonia (1915) Une voix dans le désert (1915) Le drapeau belge (1917) Nursery Suite (1930) The Severn Suite (1930)
Concertante	Violin Concerto (1901–10) Romance (1910) Cello Concerto (1918–19)
Chamber	Duett for trombone and double bass (1887) Idylle (1883) Salut d'Amour (1888) Chanson de Nuit (1897) Chanson de Matin (1899) La Capricieuse (1891) Violin Sonata (1918) String Quartet (1918) Piano Quintet (1918–19)
Keyboard	Organ Sonata (1898) Concert Allegro (1901)
Choral	The Black Knight (1889–93) From the Bavarian Highlands (1895–96) The Dream of Gerontius (1899–1900) The Kingdom (1901–06) Coronation Ode (1902) The Apostles (1902–03) The Music Makers (1912) The Spirit of England (1915–17)
Vocal	"The Language of Flowers" (1872) "The Self Banished" (1875) "A War Song" (1884) Seven Lieder "Like to the Damask Rose" (1892) "Queen Mary's Song" (1889) "A Song of Autumn" (1892) "The Poet's Life" (1892) "Through the Long Days" (1885) "Rondel" (1894) "The Shepherd's Song" (1892) "Is she not passing fair?" (1886) "As I laye a-thynkynge" (1888) "The Wind at Dawn" (1888) "After" (1900) "A Song of Flight" (1900) Sea Pictures "Sea Slumber Song" "In Haven" "Sabbath Morning at Sea" "Where Corals Lie" "The Swimmer" (1897–99) "Dry those fair, those crystal eyes" (1899) "Always and Everywhere" (1901) "Come, Gentle Night!" (1901) "In the Dawn" (1901) "Speak, Music!" (1901) "There are seven that pull the thread" (1901) "In Moonlight" ((1904) "Follow the Colours" (1907) "Pleading" (1908) "A Child Asleep" (1909) "Oh, soft was the song" (1910) "Was it some Golden Star?" (1910) "Twilight" (1910) "The Chariots of the Lord" (1914) "Fight for Right" (1916) "Inside the Bar" (1917) "The Blue Mountains" (1924) "The Immortal Legions" (1924) Pageant of Empire (1924) "XTC" (1930)
Other topics	Dorabella Cipher Elgar Birthplace Museum The Elgar Sisters Elgar Society Elgar Uplands Elgar (film)
Family	August Jaeger Alice Elgar
Category

v t e William Morris
Stories	Golden Wings and Other Stories (1856)
Poetry	"The Haystack in the Floods" (1858) "Masters in This Hall" (1860) The Earthly Paradise (1870) The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1876)
Novels	A Dream of John Ball (1888) The House of the Wolfings (1889) The Roots of the Mountains (1889) News from Nowhere (1890) The Story of the Glittering Plain (1891) The Wood Beyond the World (1894) Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair (1895) The Well at the World's End (1896) The Water of the Wondrous Isles (1897) The Sundering Flood (1897)
Paintings	Oxford Union murals (1857-1859) (co-creator)
Morris & Co.	Tristram and Isoude stained glass panels Strawberry Thief Adoration of the Magi tapestry Holy Grail tapestries William Morris textile designs William Morris wallpaper designs
Printing	Kelmscott Press List of works by the Kelmscott Press Golden Type
Museums	William Morris Gallery William Morris Society
Related	Jane Morris (wife) Jane Alice Morris (daughter) May Morris (daughter) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Arts and Crafts movement Influence on Tolkien Red House Kelmscott Manor Kelmscott House "Fight for Right" (1916 song) The Love School (1975 series) Desperate Romantics (2009 series)

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