Britten notes in a letter to William Plomer on 10 Jul 1957 that he had for the last 24 hours been writing a 'National Anthem for Malay'.
25 Jul 1957
The work was commissioned by the chief minister of Malaysia on 19 Jun 1957 through Britten's publisher Boosey and Hawkes. The work was composed 9-10 Jul 1957 and revised on 25 Jul 1957. The revisions consist of a 13-bar passage inserted into the middle of the original anthem, plus some changes to the military band arrangement. The anthem was rejected by the chief minister of Malaysia and never performed in the composer's lifetime. An orchestration of the work by Tazul Tajuddin was performed at the Cadogan Hall, London, on 14 November 2007.
3 items
Material has been microfilmed and is available as follows:
Composition sketch: A28, frames 516 - 520
Piano score: A28, frames 521 - 526
Full score: A28, frames 527 - 535
Archive
https://www.bpacatalogue.org/archive/BBM-malaysian_national_anthem