Post by erik on Feb 20, 2021 18:21:40 GMT -5
The first legitimate masterpiece of Sir Edward Elgar, a neo-Classical work in the tradition of Mozart, is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Elgar: SERENADE FOR STRINGS IN E MINOR, OP. 20
Until the last decade and a half of the 19th century, England had not produced a composer of any substance since the era of the German-born émigré George Frideric Handel or his English contemporary Henry Purcell; and this was the Baroque era of the late 17th/early 18th century. This changed, however, when Edward Elgar came onto the scene at the end of the 1880’s. Ironically, however, most of Elgar’s influences came not from his native England, but from continental Europe (as would be the case with the earliest names in American music), such as Brahms, Schumann, and Beethoven; and it was over a period of a decade or so that Elgar was able to develop his own style. What is believed to be Elgar’s first legitimate masterpiece, the Serenade For Strings In E Minor, published and first performed in 1892, is believed to be a reworking of fragments of an orchestral suite he had composed several years earlier. Like similar serenades of the previous two decades by both Tchaikovsky and Dvorak, it can be argued that Elgar’s was closely modeled off of Mozart’s beloved Serenade No, 13, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”, whose orchestration is entirely string-based. It is structured in three movements (Allegro Placevole; Larghetto; Allegretto) that result in a work lasting twelve minutes, making the work very neo-Classical in nature. Following its first performance at the Worcester Ladies’ Orchestral Class in the spring of 1892, the Serenade got its first true professional hearing in Antwerp, Belgium. It would very soon earn a permanent place in orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic.
London Chamber Orchestra/CHRISTOPHER WARREN GREEN (Virgin Classics)
Included:
Elgar: INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO
Vaughan Williams: FANTASIA ON A THEME BY THOMAS TALLIS
Vaughan Williams: THE LARK ASCENDING (Violin: NIGEL WARREN GREEN)
Elgar: SERENADE FOR STRINGS IN E MINOR, OP. 20
Until the last decade and a half of the 19th century, England had not produced a composer of any substance since the era of the German-born émigré George Frideric Handel or his English contemporary Henry Purcell; and this was the Baroque era of the late 17th/early 18th century. This changed, however, when Edward Elgar came onto the scene at the end of the 1880’s. Ironically, however, most of Elgar’s influences came not from his native England, but from continental Europe (as would be the case with the earliest names in American music), such as Brahms, Schumann, and Beethoven; and it was over a period of a decade or so that Elgar was able to develop his own style. What is believed to be Elgar’s first legitimate masterpiece, the Serenade For Strings In E Minor, published and first performed in 1892, is believed to be a reworking of fragments of an orchestral suite he had composed several years earlier. Like similar serenades of the previous two decades by both Tchaikovsky and Dvorak, it can be argued that Elgar’s was closely modeled off of Mozart’s beloved Serenade No, 13, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”, whose orchestration is entirely string-based. It is structured in three movements (Allegro Placevole; Larghetto; Allegretto) that result in a work lasting twelve minutes, making the work very neo-Classical in nature. Following its first performance at the Worcester Ladies’ Orchestral Class in the spring of 1892, the Serenade got its first true professional hearing in Antwerp, Belgium. It would very soon earn a permanent place in orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic.
London Chamber Orchestra/CHRISTOPHER WARREN GREEN (Virgin Classics)
Included:
Elgar: INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO
Vaughan Williams: FANTASIA ON A THEME BY THOMAS TALLIS
Vaughan Williams: THE LARK ASCENDING (Violin: NIGEL WARREN GREEN)
