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Anglo-Canadian Music of the First World War

Sheet music cover art for "Soldier Lad," 1914, wartimecanada.ca.

Music was an important part of wartime culture for all countries involved in the First World War. Between 1914 and 1918, thousands of songs were composed by and sung for civilians on the home front and soldiers fighting in the trenches. This online exhibit explores popular music on the home front in Canada during the First World War. Listen to sound recordings and view sheet music cover art while learning more about the main themes and messages expressed in Anglo-Canadian popular songs, as well as some of the purposes music held for Canadians on the home front. The map and timeline features included in this website reveal changes in the production, content, and reception of music over the course of the war. In both an aural and visual sense, music was significant to the First World War experience on the home front in Canada.  

161st Canadian Infantry Battalion brass band photograph, October 1917, wartimecanada.ca.

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Website Header Image:

 

Morris Manley. "Good Luck to the Boys of the Allies." Toronto: Morris Manley, 1915. wartimecanada.ca.

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