Resurgam ("I Shall Rise Again")
Eric Ball (1903 – 1989) was a British composer. He was born in Gloucestershire and his musical roots were in the Salvation Army. He became the conductor of the International Staff Band of the Salvation Army in 1942. After the death of his sister in 1944, Ball became involved in ‘secular’ banding. He was a prolific composer and arranger for brass band.
The Brass Band became a recognised and popular ensemble as a result of the industrial revolution. Brass instruments saw a rapid development in the nineteenth century and more people were able to own them and this put them in the hands of the working classes. Men who worked in industry (mills, collieries and the motor industry) became the subject of social reform and one of the enriching pursuits encouraged, among others, was to learn to play brass instruments and to play in brass bands.
The music (written in 1950) is described as a ‘tone poem’ – poetry in music. In this case, the poetry, or prose, is religious and reads;
“But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be an affliction, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.”
He dedicated the music to Elsa, his sister-in-law, whose untimely death in 1944 caused him great distress.