Songs of War

The incessant media coverage of the war as if it were a Superbowl requiring play-by-play assessments ad nauseum is beginning to wear a little thin. So is the second-guessing of arm-chair warriors. Enough, I say. Turn off the sound and play some background music to give the war the theatricality the media are so desperately trying to impart to it.

Watching the British take on the civilian-terrorizing Iraqis of Basra? Try Rule Britannia a compilation of British patriotic songs from the height of empire, including "Land of Hope and Glory," "Jerusalem" (Bring me my bow of burning gold!/Bring me my arrows of desire!/Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!/Bring me my chariot of fire!) and, of course, "Rule Britannia."

Watching the troops struggle through opaque sandstorms? Or just an endless stream of "nattering nabobs of negativism?" Try Haydn's Missa in angustiis - loosely translated, "Mass in a time of fear". Written in 1798 when Napoleon, who was still General Bonaparte, was on the loose in the Mediterranean with a large fleet full of troops heading no-one-knew-where. Everyone in Europe felt certain they were to be his next target. The Mass reflects the uncertainty and fear of its times. Ironically, as Haydn finished the mass, news arrived that the British fleet had found the French ships anchored off Egypt and destroyed them, presumably stranding Bonaparte and his army in the Middle East. He renamed it "The Nelson Mass" in honor of Horatio Nelson, the architect and hero of the victory. Little did he know that Napoleon the Emperor would be visited on Austria and the rest of Europe in a few short years, with a vengeance.

Germans are always good for some war music. Just about any of Beethoven's symphonies would do, but Eroica is especially violent. He began it as a tribute to Napoleon, but became so disillusioned with him when he declared himself Emperor that he scratched the original title out with such vehemence he broke his pen. (So legend has it.) The anger comes through in the music.

Article Author: Sydney Smith

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