Te Deum Laudamus (Sullivan)

Te Deum Laudamus (Sullivan)

Arthur Sullivan's Te Deum Laudamus—A Thanksgiving for Victory, usually known as the Boer War Te Deum, is a choral work composed by Sullivan in the last few months of his life. It was commissioned on behalf of Dean and Chapter of London's St. Paul's Cathedral by the cathedral's organist, Sir George Martin, as part of a grand service to celebrate the expected British victory in the Boer War.

The Boer War Te Deum was first performed at St. Paul's Cathedral on June 8, 1902, eight days after the official ending of the war, and 18 months after the deaths of both Sullivan and Queen Victoria. The piece was composed for chorus, brass, strings and organ, and features as a recurring theme the melody of Sullivan's hymn tune "St. Gertrude", his setting for "Onward Christian Soldiers."