“When words are not enough”

Sounds and silences are integral to the history and memory of the First World War. The aural landscape of the conflict was formed from the time of the war itself, where soldiers' songs, music hall tunes and classical compositions embroidered wartime memories into the emotional tapestry of the ways in which the conflict was remembered. Few examples of sound recordings remain from the war itself. In public remembrance rituals during the immediate post-war years soldiers' songs were replaced by the silence of mourning and religious music. It is the persistence of this musical tradition by the community of serving soldiers which places the songs and melodies at the highest peak of Britain's aural landscape of 1914–18. In 2003, the work of the composer Cecil Coles was used for the title music of The First World War. The popular music of the First World War is still present in contemporary Britain.