Why is Pomp and Circumstance Always Played at Graduations?

Author: Matt Blitz / Source: Today I Found Out

Nathan K. asks: How did Pomp and Circumstance get to be the tune always played at graduations?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students march across a stage in a gown and a squared hat to receive a piece of paper that says they’ve completed a particular phase in their education.

This school graduation will undoubtedly be marked by cheering, proud adults, and, particularly in North America, the playing of the seminal marching tune So, why is Pomp and Circumstance played at seemingly every graduation?

We should probably kick things off by discussing the name itself- “pomp and circumstance” simply is a phrase for a ceremony or display of splendor or stateliness. It comes from the Latin “pompa,” meaning “procession,” and “circumstantia,” meaning “standing around.” A procession of standing around doesn’t make much sense until one follows the evolution of the meaning “circumstantia.” In the 13th century, the word was used in reference to “a particular detail, matter of small consequence.” But a century later, in the 1300s, somehow it literally reversed its meaning to be defined as “something of great importance or accomplishment.”

Like so many other phrases, the credit for the first to coin this one is generally given to William Shakespeare, though in many cases it is thought he was just using existing phrases that we simply don’t have earlier surviving examples of today. Whatever the case, in Act 3, Scene 3 of his 1604 play “Othello,” the title character notes

Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th’ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

From there, the phrase seemed to take on an almost sarcastic quality, often used as a way to make fun or point to the belief that someone or something thinks of themselves as overly important.

Flash forward three centuries later, in 1901, one Edward Elgar had already made a name for himself as one of the premier English musical composers of his day. Despite this, as so many musicians and artists before him, Elgar was struggling financially, unable to translate critically-acclaimed works into money-making successes.

Knowing that people love a good military march, he composed two (of what would end up being five) marches that he called “Pomp and Circumstance,” pulling the title from the line in Othello.

As for the most famous of these, March No. 1, legend has it that Elgar told…

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