• Composition: 1942. Extracted from the music for the film The First of the Few.
• First Performance: 2 January 1943. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Liverpool Philharmonic Crchestra, Sir William Walton conductor.
• Duration: About 8 minutes
• Craggs Catalogue Number: C45a
• Instrumentation: 2 flutes (second doubling piccolo), 1 or 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 or 2 bassoons – 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba – timpani, percussion (side drum, cymbals, bell) – harp – strings
A note in the score reads: “Optional 2nd oboe and 2nd bassoon parts have been added by Vilem Tausky, with the composer’s authorization.”
• Manuscript: Frederick R. Koch Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Manuscript FRKF 607. Autograph full score. 32 pages.
• Publication: Oxford University Press. Study score, 1961, 019 3683504. Score and parts are available on hire.
• Arrangements:
Prelude, arranged for organ solo, by Dennis Morrell.
Publication: Oxford University Press. Score, 1966, 019 3744725 (discontinued). Also included in A Walton Organ Album, 1996, 019 3758709.
[Purchase online from SheetMusicPlus.com: A Walton Organ Album]
Prelude, arranged for military band, by Rodney B. Bashford.
Publication: Boosey and Hawkes. Score, 1966, QMB 273, and parts.
[Purchase online from SheetMusicPlus.com: Unidentified materials, arr. Bashford]
Fugue, arranged for military band, by J. L. Wallace.
Publication: Boosey and Hawkes. Score, 1970, QMB 288, and parts. Discontinued.
Arranged for brass ensemble, by Elgar Howarth, 1977.
Instrumentation: Piccolo trumpet, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones, tuba – timpani, 2 percussion
Publication: Oxford University Press. Score and parts are available on hire.
Arranged for brass band, by Crees.
Instrumentation: 3 piccolo trumpets, 3 trumpets, flugelhorn, 4 horns, 3 trombones, 2 euphonium, 2 tuba – tmipani, percussion
Publication: Oxford University Press. Score and parts are available on hire.
• Recordings:
| Orchestra | Conductor | Year | Compact Disc | Timing |
| Hallé Orchestra | Sir William Walton | 1943 | EMI Classics 63381 | 8’14” |
| Philharmonia Orchestra | Sir William Walton | 1963 | EMI Classics 65007 | 7’58” |
| Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Sir Charles Groves | 1969 | EMI Classics 67222 | 7’19” |
| Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields | Sir Neville Marriner | 1990 | Chandos CHAN 8870 | 8’38” |
| Florida Philharmonic Orchestra | James Judd | 1991 | Harmonia Mundi 907070 | 7’00” |
| English Northern Philharmonia | Paul Daniel | 1996 | Naxos 8.553869 | 7’41” |
| The Band of the Scots Guards [arr. Bashford/Wallace] | Major R. J. Owen | 2002 | SRC 107 | 8’03” |