Ode to Newfoundland

"Ode to Newfoundland" is the official provincial anthem of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It was composed by Governor Sir Cavendish Boyle in 1902 as a four-verse poem titled Newfoundland. On December 22, 1902 it was sung by Frances Daisy Foster at the Casino Theatre of St. John's during the closing of the play Mamzelle. The original score was set to the music of E. R. Krippner, a German bandmaster living in St. John's but Boyle desired a more dignified score. It was then set to the music of British composer Sir Hubert Parry, a personal friend of Boyle, who composed two settings. On May 20, 1904 it was chosen as Newfoundland's official national anthem (national being understood as a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire on par with Canada, South Africa, Australia and other former British colonies). This distinction was dropped when Newfoundland joined the Canadian Confederation in 1949. Three decades later, in 1980, the province re-adopted the song as an official provincial anthem, the first province to do so. The "Ode to Newfoundland" is still sung at public events to this day as a tradition. Traditionally only the first and last verse is sung.