"as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. The work is formally titled ""Variations on an Original Theme""; the word ""Enigma"" appears over the first six bars of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the ""original theme"", there is another overarching theme, never identified by Elgar, which he said ""runs through and over the whole set"" but is never heard. Later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with"
"... that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent the mood of the 'party' (the person) ... and have written what I think they would have written – if they were asses enough to compose"". He dedicated the work ""To my friends pictured within"". Probably the best known variation is ""Nimrod"", depicting Jaeger. Purely musical considerations led Elgar to omit variations depicting Arthur Sullivan and Hubert Parry, whose styles he tried but failed to incorporate in the variations. The large-scale work was received with general acclaim for its originality, charm and craftsmanship, and it established Elgar"
"""Legend of the Lake"" and ""Anglesey Seascapes"". In 2011, to coincide with his 60th birthday, a double CD of a selection of his orchestral works was released by Sain, including the substantial ""Enduring City"" celebrating the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city of New Bern. In 2012, he was selected to provide the arrangement of Elgar's ""Nimrod"" for the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games; it was played by 80 East London children, some of them beginners on their instruments and aged as young as 7, alongside a small number of London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) members. It"
"the field opens up to admit other kinds of connection with well-known themes. Elgar himself quoted many of his own works, including ""Nimrod"" (Variation IX), in his choral piece of 1912, ""The Music Makers"". On 24 May 1912 Elgar conducted a performance of the ""Variations"" at a Memorial Concert in aid of the family survivors of musicians who had been lost in the Titanic disaster. Frederick Ashton's ballet ""Enigma Variations (My Friends Pictured Within)"" is choreographed to Elgar's score with the exception of the finale, which uses Elgar's original shorter ending (see above), transcribed from the manuscript by John Lanchbery."
"In 1899 he wrote to his friend August Jaeger (the ""Nimrod"" of the Enigma Variations), ""Now as to Gordon: the thing possesses me, but I can't write it down yet."" After he completed his oratorio ""The Kingdom"" in 1906 Elgar had a brief fallow period. As he passed his 50th birthday he turned to his boyhood compositions which he reshaped into ""The Wand of Youth"" suites during the summer of 1907. He began work on a symphony and when he went to Rome for the winter he continued work on it, finishing the first movement. After his return to England"
"I saw, and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory."" All three of the large-scale works follow the traditional model with sections for soloists, chorus and both together. Elgar's distinctive orchestration, as well as his melodic inspiration, lifts them to a higher level than most of their British predecessors. Elgar's other works of his middle period include incidental music for ""Grania and Diarmid"", a play by George Moore and W. B. Yeats (1901), and for ""The Starlight Express"", a play based on a story by Algernon Blackwood (1916). Of the former, Yeats called Elgar's music ""wonderful in"
"by Henry Wood on 14 September 1901. The work was dedicated to F. Ehrke, M.D. Andante, 4/4, G major <score> \relative c' { \key g \major \time 4/4 </score> A performance will take around three and a half minutes. Elgar scored ""Chanson de Nuit"" (and ""Chanson de Matin"") for a small orchestra consisting of one flute, one oboe, two clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, the string section, and a harp. The work is most well known in its original form (Violin & Piano) and the composer's orchestral version. Other noteworthy arrangements are for cello and piano, for viola and piano"
"the music for Josephine Decker's 2018 feature film, ""Madeline’s Madeline"". In 2018, the British Broadcasting Corporation with Coretet, the Philips Collection, the Royal Philharmonic Society and the University of Delaware commissioned Shaw to write two works, ""Second Essay, Echo"" and ""Third Essay: Ruby"". These received their world premiere, performed by the Calidore String Quartet, at the Cadogan Hall, London on 16 July 2018 in the BBC Proms, where they followed her 2016 work ""First Essay, Nimrod"". According to Shaw, ""Nimrod"" was composed while listening to a recording of Marilynne Robinson's book ""The Givenness of Things"" and then in the 2016"
"work for ""too frequent reliance on sequences"" and an over-idealised depiction of the female characters. Reed thought that the principal themes show less distinction than some of Elgar's earlier works. Elgar himself thought ""Falstaff"" the highest point of his purely orchestral work. The major works for voices and orchestra of the twenty-one years of Elgar's middle period are three large-scale works for soloists, chorus and orchestra: ""The Dream of Gerontius"" (1900), and the oratorios ""The Apostles"" (1903) and ""The Kingdom"" (1906); and two shorter odes, the ""Coronation Ode"" (1902) and ""The Music Makers"" (1912). The first of the odes, as"
"The Wand of Youth The Wand of Youth Suites No. 1 and No. 2 are works for full orchestra by the English composer Edward Elgar. The titles given them by Elgar were, in full: The Wand of Youth (Music to a Child's Play) First Suite, Op. 1a (1869–1907) and The Wand of Youth (Music to a Child's Play) Second Suite, (Op. 1b). As a boy Elgar composed some tunes for use in a play staged by the young members of the Elgar family. He noted the tunes down in a sketchbook and in 1907, four decades later, he arranged the"
"Orchestra. On 17 January, Elgar has just completed a rehearsal of his incidental music to ""Grania and Diarmid"" with the orchestra, when Reed approached him, introduced himself, and asked whether he gave lessons in harmony and counterpoint. Elgar said ""My dear boy, I don't know anything about those things"". They did not become personal friends at that time; however, their paths continued to cross in the course of their work. Reed was a founding member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1904. His physical appearance was quite similar to that of Elgar's close friend August Jaeger (the ""Nimrod"" of the"
"Edward Elgar's ""Enigma Variations: Variation IX ""Nimrod"""" holds for the British. ""Adagio for Strings"" can be heard on many film and game soundtracks. The work is extremely popular in the electronic dance music genre, notably in trance. Artists who have covered it include William Orbit, Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Mark Sixma, Bastille, and Lucas & Steve. An adaptation for erhu, piano and guitar was recorded by classical pianist and electronic music composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, for his 1989 album ""Beauty"". eRa included this song in their album ""Classics"". Adagio for Strings Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel"
"The Music Makers (Elgar) The Music Makers, Op. 69, is a work for contralto or mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was dedicated to """"my friend Nicholas Kilburn"""". It was first performed at the Birmingham Festival on 1 October 1912, conducted by the composer, with Muriel Foster as the soloist. The text of the work is the 1874 poem ""Ode"" by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, which Elgar set in its entirety. He had been working on the music intermittently since 1903, without a specific commission. The words of the poem no doubt appealed to Elgar's nature, as it celebrates"
"The Dream of Gerontius The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory. Elgar disapproved of the use of the term ""oratorio"" for the work (and the term occurs nowhere in the score), though his wishes are not always followed. The piece is widely regarded as Elgar's finest choral work, and some consider it his masterpiece. The"
"lived in the house until 1898, when the Elgars moved to Storridge. It was during the 'Forli' years that Elgar composed many of his works, including, among others, ""The Black Knight"" (1892), ""Sursm Corda"" (1894), and in 1898 the ""Variations on an Original Theme"" that gained him his international reputation. Malvern Link Malvern Link is an area of Malvern, Worcestershire, England to the north and east of Great Malvern. The centres of Malvern Link and Great Malvern are separated by Link Common, an area of open land that is statutorily protected by the Malvern Hills Conservators. In 1900 Malvern Link"
"second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 ""Pathétique"". Elgar disclosed to Dora that the opening bars of ""Nimrod"" were made to suggest that theme. ""Can't you hear it at the beginning? Only a hint, not a quotation."" This variation has become popular in its own right and is sometimes used at British funerals, memorial services, and other solemn occasions. It is always played at the Cenotaph, Whitehall in London at the National Service of Remembrance. A version was also played during the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997 and at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games."
"joined by Emily Barker, Ben Marwood and Jim Lockey, as well as his regular backing band the Sleeping Souls. LSO On Track (an orchestra of 80 young musicians from ten East London boroughs together with 20 LSO members) then performed Edward Elgar's ""Nimrod"" from the ""Enigma Variations"", accompanied by extracts from the BBC Radio ""Shipping Forecast"", and maritime images on the big screens, while the audience held up blue sheeting to simulate the sight of the ocean. This performance celebrated Britain's maritime heritage and geographical ""isles"" status. The ceremony began at 9pm after a one-minute '60 to 1' countdown film"
"is true that performances are rare, particularly outside England. The self-quotations inevitably bring to mind Strauss's ""Ein Heldenleben"", but with different intent; Elgar is depicting the artist not as hero but as bard. The Music Makers (Elgar) The Music Makers, Op. 69, is a work for contralto or mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was dedicated to """"my friend Nicholas Kilburn"""". It was first performed at the Birmingham Festival on 1 October 1912, conducted by the composer, with Muriel Foster as the soloist. The text of the work is the 1874 poem ""Ode"" by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, which"
"work is the ""Lyric Symphony"" (1923), a seven-movement piece for soprano, baritone and orchestra, set to poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore (in German translation), which Zemlinsky compared in a letter to his publisher to Mahler's ""Das Lied von der Erde"" (though the first part of Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder is also a clear influence). The work in turn influenced Alban Berg's ""Lyric Suite"", which quotes from it and is dedicated to Zemlinsky. Other orchestral works include the large-scale symphonic poem ""Die Seejungfrau"" (The Mermaid), based on the tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. It premiered in 1905"
"(1886), John Liptrot Hatton's ""Hezekiah"" (1877), Joseph Barnby's ""Rebekah"" (1870), William Cusins's ""Gideon"" (1871), Alfred R. Gaul's ""The Holy City"" (1882), Charles Gounod's ""Redemption"" (1882) and ""Mors et Vita"" (1885) (produced expressly for the British public), and Sir John Stainer's ""The Crucifixion"" (1887). Arguably the last of the great English Victorian composers to emerge was Edward Elgar (1857–1934), who during the 1890s produced his ""Caractacus"" and ""King Olaf"" cantatas, the ""Enigma Variations"" in 1899, and the revolutionary ""Dream of Gerontius"" in 1900. Between 1880 and 1887 the London Guildhall School of Music was established. The Royal College of Music, originating"
"Chanson de Nuit Chanson de Nuit, Op. 15, No. 1, is a musical work composed by Edward Elgar for violin and piano, and later orchestrated by the composer. Its first publication was in 1897, though it is considered that it was almost certainly written in 1889 or 1890. It has invited comparison with, and has been said to be a finer work than its more popular ""companion"" piece, ""Chanson de Matin"", Op. 15, No. 2. The orchestral version of the work was published in 1899, and first performed, together with ""Chanson de Matin"", at a Queen's Hall Promenade Concert conducted"
"August Jaeger August Johannes Jaeger (1860 – 1909) was an Anglo-German music publisher, who developed a close friendship with the English composer Edward Elgar. Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Jaeger met Elgar through his employment at the London music publisher Novello. His advice and friendship became invaluable to Elgar, causing the composer to rework many famous musical passages, including the finale to his ""Variations on an Original Theme"" (""Enigma Variations"") and the climax of ""The Dream of Gerontius"". Jaeger has been immortalized in the famous ninth variation ""Nimrod"" from the first above-mentioned work, recalling a conversation on the slow movements of"
"was coupled with the sound of Nolan's own pocket watch, which he recorded and sent to Zimmer to be synthesised. Additional music was provided by Lorne Balfe, Andrew Kawczynski, Steve Mazzaro, and Benjamin Wallfisch. ""Nimrod"" from Edward Elgar's ""Enigma Variations"" is part of the theme, which was slowed down to six beats per minute with added bass notes to avoid it sounding sentimental. Instrumentation included a double bass and fourteen cellos played in high register. King relayed to Zimmer the sound of a boat engine, which served as a reference for the tempo. Zimmer visited the Dunkirk set for inspiration,"
"Dream Children (Elgar) Dream Children, Op 43 is a musical work for small orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar. There are two movements: These two pieces were written in 1902, when Elgar was approaching the peak of his fame and popularity. Unusually for Elgar they were not written to any commission. Michael Kennedy suggests that they may have been retrieved from the unused material for a symphony celebrating General Gordon which Elgar had been working on since 1898. They are not complete symphonic movements (the first movement takes a little over three minutes to perform and the second a little over"
"War Music (poem) War Music is the working title of British poet Christopher Logue's long-term project to create a modernist poem based on Homer's ""Iliad"", begun in 1959. It was originally the name of the first volume of that project, uniting the separately completed ""Patrocleia"" (Book 16), ""GBH"" (Books 17/18) and ""Pax"" (Book 19), which was published in 1981. In 2001 the further sections ""Kings"" and ""The Husbands"" were added, covering Books 1-4. It was followed by two additional sections, ""All Day Permanent Red"" (2003) and ""Cold Calls"", the latter of which won the 2005 Whitbread Poetry Award. These were"
"Julian Lloyd Webber. Romance for bassoon (Elgar) The Romance, in D minor, Op 62, is a short work for bassoon and orchestra by Edward Elgar. It exists also in a transcription for cello and orchestra made by the composer. Both the bassoon and cello versions date from 1909-10. It is also published with the orchestral part reduced to a piano accompaniment. The Romance was composed for the principal bassoonist of the London Symphony Orchestra, Edwin F James, who gave the first performance in February 1911 at Hereford, with the composer conducting. The cello transcription remained unplayed until 1985. The work"
"of both the Enigma theme and the proposed ""larger theme"", and the associated texts have obvious ""dark"" connotations. Hans Westgeest has argued that the real theme of the work consists of only nine notes: G–E–A–F–B–F–F–A–G. The rhythm of this theme (in time, with a crotchet rest on the first beat of each bar) is based on the rhythm of Edward Elgar's own name (""Edward Elgar"": short-short-long-long, then reversed long-long-short-short and a final note). Elgar meaningfully composed this short ""Elgar theme"" as a countermelody to the beginning of the hidden ""principal Theme"" of the piece, i.e. the theme of the slow"
"Variations"" (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, ""The Dream of Gerontius"" (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. In his fifties, Elgar composed a symphony and a violin concerto that were immensely successful. His second symphony and his cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity and took many years"
"The Black Knight (Elgar) The Black Knight, Op. 25 is a symphony/cantata for orchestra and chorus written by Edward Elgar in 1889–93. The librettist borrows from Longfellow's translation of the ballad ""Der schwarze Ritter"" by Ludwig Uhland. Basil Maine, a leading Elgar biographer, believes the purpose of the work is to create a close mix of vocal and instrumental tones. Elgar’s need to organize the loose format of the cantata by shaping it to a more rigid form is also apparent. For example, Elgar divides the text into four contrasting scenes corresponding to the four movements of a typical symphony."
"to revitalise our musical culture"". The Symphony, in four movements, takes about 55 minutes in performance. The first recording was made for the NMC label by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis, in October 1997, four months before the first public performance. Subsequent recordings have been made by: Symphony No. 3 (Elgar/Payne) Edward Elgar's Third Symphony Op. 88 (posth.) was incomplete at the time of his death in 1934. Elgar left 130 pages of sketches which the British composer Anthony Payne worked on for many years, producing a complete symphony in 1997, officially known as ""Edward Elgar: the"
"Part II, just before Gerontius's vision of God. Each of the two parts is divided into distinct sections, but differs from the traditional oratorio in that the music continues without significant breaks. Elgar did not call the work an oratorio, and disapproved when other people used the term for it. Part I is approximately 35 minutes long and Part II is approximately 60 minutes. Part I: Part II: The work begins with an orchestral prelude, which presents the most important motifs. In a detailed analysis, Elgar's friend and editor August Jaeger identified and named these themes, in line with their"
"of the second interlude, a piano C major chord in the brass and a hushed roll on the side-drum portray Falstaff's death. The work ends with a very brief version of Prince Hal's theme showing, in the composer's words, that ""the man of stern reality has triumphed."" In 1912 the Leeds Festival commissioned Elgar to write a new work to be performed the following year. Before the première Elgar told a reporter, ""I have, I think, enjoyed writing it more than any other music I have composed and perhaps for that reason it may prove to be among my better"
"minutes) fitted conveniently on one side of a disc. The suites have continued to be recorded on CD, often in tandem with other shorter pieces by Elgar such as the ""Nursery Suite."" Mono Stereo The Wand of Youth The Wand of Youth Suites No. 1 and No. 2 are works for full orchestra by the English composer Edward Elgar. The titles given them by Elgar were, in full: The Wand of Youth (Music to a Child's Play) First Suite, Op. 1a (1869–1907) and The Wand of Youth (Music to a Child's Play) Second Suite, (Op. 1b). As a boy Elgar"