Uploaded June 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
"I Vow to Thee, My Country" is a British patriotic song, created in 1921, when a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice was set to music by Gustav Holst.The origin of the lyric is a poem by diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, which he wrote in 1908 while posted to the British Embassy in Stockholm. Then called Urbs Dei (The City of God) or The Two Fatherlands, the poem described how a Christian owes his loyalties to both his homeland and the heavenly kingdom. The lyrics were in part based upon the motto of the Spring family, from whom Spring Rice was descended.The first verse, as originally composed, had an overtly patriotic stance, which typified its pre-World War I era.
In 1912, Spring Rice was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America, where he influenced the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain in the war against Germany. After the United States entered the war, he was recalled to Britain. Shortly before his departure from the US in January 1918, he re-wrote and renamed Urbs Dei, significantly altering the first verse to concentrate on the huge losses suffered by British soldiers during the intervening years. According to Sir Cecil's granddaughter, the three verses were never intended to appear together. The original poem consisted of verses 2 and 3, the amended poem of verses 1 and 3.
The first verse, and the rarely sung second verse, refer to the United Kingdom, and particularly to the sacrifice of those who died during the First World War. The last verse, starting "And there's another country", is a reference to God's kingdom. The final line is based on Proverbs 3:17, which reads "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" in the King James Version.
"I Vow to Thee, My Country" is a British patriotic song, created in 1921, when a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice was set to music by Gustav Holst.The origin of the lyric is a poem by diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, which he wrote in 1908 while posted to the British Embassy in Stockholm. Then called Urbs Dei (The City of God) or The Two Fatherlands, the poem described how a Christian owes his loyalties to both his homeland and the heavenly kingdom. The lyrics were in part based upon the motto of the Spring family, from whom Spring Rice was descended.The first verse, as originally composed, had an overtly patriotic stance, which typified its pre-World War I era.
In 1912, Spring Rice was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America, where he influenced the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain in the war against Germany. After the United States entered the war, he was recalled to Britain. Shortly before his departure from the US in January 1918, he re-wrote and renamed Urbs Dei, significantly altering the first verse to concentrate on the huge losses suffered by British soldiers during the intervening years. According to Sir Cecil's granddaughter, the three verses were never intended to appear together. The original poem consisted of verses 2 and 3, the amended poem of verses 1 and 3.
The first verse, and the rarely sung second verse, refer to the United Kingdom, and particularly to the sacrifice of those who died during the First World War. The last verse, starting "And there's another country", is a reference to God's kingdom. The final line is based on Proverbs 3:17, which reads "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" in the King James Version.
![National Anthem: Czech Republic - Kde domov můj [Remastered]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/e12rGRO4JuA/mqdefault.jpg "National Anthem: Czech Republic - Kde domov můj [Remastered]
Kde domov můj is the national anthem of the Czech Republic (Czechia) , written by the composer František Škroup and the playwright Josef Kajetán Tyl.
The piece was written as a part of the incidental music to the comedy Fidlovačka aneb Žádný hněv a žádná rvačka (Fidlovačka, or No Anger and No Brawl). It was first performed by Karel Strakatý at the Estates Theatre in Prague on December 21, 1834. The original song consists of two verses (see below). Although J. K. Tyl is said to have considered leaving the song out of the play, not convinced of its quality, it soon became very popular among Czechs and was accepted as an informal anthem of a nation seeking to revive its identity within the Habsburg Monarchy.
Soon after Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, the first verse of the song became the Czech part of the national anthem, followed by the first verse of the Slovak song Nad Tatrou sa blýska. The songs reflected the two nations concerns in the 19th century when they were confronted with the already fervent national-ethnic activism of the Germans and the Hungarians, their fellow ethnic groups in the Habsburg Monarchy. Because of the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the First Republic, official translations were made into Hungarian and German as well.")
