The Fringes of the Fleet
Encyclopedia
The Fringes of the Fleet is a booklet written in 1916 by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

 (1865-1936). The booklet contains essays and poems that Kipling wrote about nautical subjects in World War I.

It is also the title of a song-cycle written in 1917 with music by the English composer Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...

 and lyrics from poems in Kipling's booklet.

Kipling's Booklet

In 1915 Kipling was commissioned by the Daily Telegraph to write a series of six articles on his view of life in less well-known aspects of the defence of the nation on its seas. These were given the general title "The Fringes of the Fleet", and had three sub-titles "The Auxiliaries", "Submarines" and "Patrols", and published between 20 November and 2 December. Each was prefaced by a short poem which did not have a title itself.

Immediately afterwards the poems and essays were re-published in a booklet called "The Fringes of the Fleet".
  • 1. The Auxiliaries - I
The text opens with a poem which starts with the words "In Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...

 a boat was laid, / Mark well what I do say!"
, later given the title "The Lowestoft Boat" and a subtitle "(East Coast Patrols of the War)".
  • 2. The Auxiliaries - II
The text opens with a poem which starts "Dawn off the Foreland - the young flood making / Jumbled and short and steep - ", later titled "Mine Sweepers".
  • 3. Submarines - I
The text opens with a poem which resembles the shanty "Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies". The original and final title, "Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...

 Ladies"
, was for security reasons at the time changed to "Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

 Ladies"
.
  • 4. Submarines - II
The text opens with a very short poem (two verses of four lines) titled "Tin Fish". The poem starts "The ships destroy us above / And ensnare us beneath."
  • 5. Patrols - I
The text opens with a poem entitled "A Song in Storm", which starts with the words "Be well assured that on our side / Our challenged oceans fight."
  • 6. Patrols - II
The final article begins with a poem later called "The North Sea Patrol".

Elgar's Songs

In January 1916 Lord Charles Beresford
Lord Charles Beresford
Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford GCB GCVO , styled Lord Charles Beresford between 1859 and 1916, was a British Admiral and Member of Parliament....

 requested Elgar to make songs of some of the verses in Kipling's booklet: Elgar chose four of them, and appropriately set them for four men's voices.

Elgar gave different titles to three of the four poems
  • The Lowestoft Boat
    The Lowestoft Boat
    "The Lowestoft Boat" is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling , and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1917, as the first of a set of four war-related songs on nautical subjects for which he chose the title "The Fringes of the Fleet"....

    used the words of the poem of the same name
  • Fate's Discourtesy - the poem "A Song in Storm". The words "Fate's discourtesy" appear in the refrain to all three verses. Edward German
    Edward German
    Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...

     set the same poem to music for voice and piano in 1916, giving it the title of the first phrase "Be well assured".
  • Submarines
    Submarines (poem)
    "Submarines" is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling , and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1917, as the third of a set of four war-related songs on nautical subjects for which he chose the title "The Fringes of the Fleet"....

    - the poem "Tin Fish".
  • The Sweepers
    The Sweepers
    "The Sweepers" is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling , and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1917, as the fourth of a set of four war-related songs on nautical subjects for which he chose the title "The Fringes of the Fleet"....

    , - the poem "Mine Sweepers
    Minesweeper (ship)
    A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

    "
    .


The work was dedicated by the composer "...to my friend Admiral Lord Beresford". The first performance was, at Elgar's suggestion, part of a wartime variety show at the London Coliseum on 11 June 1917, and the singers were baritones Charles Mott
Charles James Mott
- Biography :Charles James Mott was born in Hornsey, North London, the son of Henry Isaac Mott, a surveyor's clerk, and Eliza Brockley, a singing teacher. He was one of a large family. His early music was as a choirboy at St. James' Church in Muswell Hill...

 (following his performance in "The Starlight Express
The Starlight Express
"The Starlight Express" is a children's play by Violet Pearn, based on the imaginative novel "A Prisoner in Fairyland" by Algernon Blackwood, with songs and incidental music written by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1915.- Production :...

"
), Harry Barratt
Harry Barratt
Harold "Harry" Barratt was an English football player and manager.-Playing career:Barratt's entire professional playing career was spent with Coventry City. He joined the club in 1935, left for a short spell with non-league Cheltenham Town, then returned to Coventry in 1937 and played there...

, Frederick Henry
Frederick Henry
Frederick Henry may refer to:People* Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, , Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel* Frederick Henry , Roman Catholic bishop in Calgary, Canada...

 and Frederick Stewart
Frederick Stewart
Frederick or Fred Stewart may refer to:*Frederick Stewart , Australian businessman, politician and government minister*Frederick Stewart , Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong...

. The show ran for four weeks with two performances a day and was a great success. In the production the curtain rose on a seaport scene, outside a public house, with the four singers in rough-and-ready merchant-seamen's clothes, seated around a table.
  • "Inside the Bar
    Inside the Bar
    ”Inside the Bar" is a song written in 1917 by the English composer Edward Elgar, with words by Sir Gilbert Parker.It was published by Enoch & Sons in 1917....

    "


The song Inside the Bar
Inside the Bar
”Inside the Bar" is a song written in 1917 by the English composer Edward Elgar, with words by Sir Gilbert Parker.It was published by Enoch & Sons in 1917....

, with words by Sir Gilbert Parker
Gilbert Parker
Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker, 1st Baronet PC , known as Gilbert Parker, Canadian novelist and British politician, was born at Camden East, Addington, Ontario, the son of Captain J. Parker, R.A....

, was subsequently added to the cycle and performed by the same singers at the same theatre exactly two weeks later. The songs were so popular that later that year Elgar conducted the songs around British provincial music-halls (Stoke
Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke or Stoke town, is a component town of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, England....

, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

, and Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...

), with Charles Mott (who had been called up) replaced by George Parker.

For reasons which Elgar did not understand at the time, when they returned to the Coliseum at the end of that year, Kipling appeared and objected to his songs being performed at music-halls. Kipling was upset by the report that his son John was missing.

Elgar's singer, Charles Mott, was later killed in France in May 1918.

Recordings

  • The first recording was made on 4 July 1917, with singers Charles Mott, Frederick Henry, Frederick Stewart and Harry Barratt, and Elgar conducting a 'Symphony Orchestra'. This acoustic recording was made for The Gramophone Company and appeared under the H.M.V. label, on discs D453-4.

  • Songs and Piano Music by Edward Elgar "The Fringes of the Fleet" performed by Peter Savidge (baritone) with Mark Bamping, William Houghton and Edward Whiffin (chorus), and David Owen Norris
    David Owen Norris
    -Life:Norris was born in 1953. He studied music at Keble College, Oxford where he was organ scholar; he is now an Honorary Fellow of the college. After leaving Oxford, he studied composition, and worked at the Royal Opera House as a repetiteur...

     (playing on Elgar's 1944 Broadwood piano)
  • Elgar: War Music Paul Kenyon, Stephen Godward, Simon Theobald, Russell Watson (baritones), Barry Collett (conductor), Rutland Sinfonia
  • The CD with the book Oh, My Horses! Elgar and the Great War has many historical recordings including the 1917 recording of Fringes of the Fleet with Charles Mott
    Charles James Mott
    - Biography :Charles James Mott was born in Hornsey, North London, the son of Henry Isaac Mott, a surveyor's clerk, and Eliza Brockley, a singing teacher. He was one of a large family. His early music was as a choirboy at St. James' Church in Muswell Hill...

    , Frederick Henry
    Frederick Henry
    Frederick Henry may refer to:People* Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, , Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel* Frederick Henry , Roman Catholic bishop in Calgary, Canada...

    , Frederick Stewart
    Frederick Stewart
    Frederick or Fred Stewart may refer to:*Frederick Stewart , Australian businessman, politician and government minister*Frederick Stewart , Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong...

     and Harry Barratt
    Harry Barratt
    Harold "Harry" Barratt was an English football player and manager.-Playing career:Barratt's entire professional playing career was spent with Coventry City. He joined the club in 1935, left for a short spell with non-league Cheltenham Town, then returned to Coventry in 1937 and played there...

     (baritones), conducted by Elgar
  • Roderick Williams/Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra/Tom Higgins (Somm) SOMMCD243 This recording by the Guildford
    Guildford
    Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...

     Philharmonic was billed as the first fully professional orchestral performance in over 90 years.

See also

  • The song Big Steamers
    Big Steamers
    Big Steamers is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1911 as one of his twenty-three poems written specially for C. R. L. Fletcher's "A School History of England". It appears in the last chapter of the book...

    , written in 1918, on a related subject with words by Kipling and music by Elgar

External links

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