This new upload may seem a bit out of place next to my belcanto-orientated recent postings, but the piece in question is just too delightful to pass. Most of the description is taken from "allmusic.com", while my commentaries will be mostly my personal impressions of the variations.
"At the end of an overlong day laden with teaching and other duties, Edward Elgar lit a cigar, sat at his piano and began idling over the keys. To amuse his wife, the composer began to improvise a tune and played it several times, turning each reprise into a caricature of the way one of their friends might have played it or of their personal characteristics. "I believe that you are doing something which has never been done before," exclaimed his wife". Thus, as the legend tells us, was born one of music's great works of original conception, and Elgar's greatest large-scale "hit": the Enigma Variations.
The enigma is twofold: each of the 14 variations refers to a friend of Elgar's, who is depicted by the nature of the music, or by sonic imitation of laughs, vocal inflections, or quirks, or by more abstract allusions. The other enigma is the presence of a larger "unheard" theme which is never stated but which according to the composer is very well known. A third enigma formed, when I decided to upload the variations, as I am completely baffled about the identity of either the conductor or the orchestra.
But getting back to the work itself, the work contains some most charming and interesting music.
As the piece is about thirty minutes long, I've divided it into three parts, each one finishing with a furious allegro passage (and, interestingly enough, the variations go well this way).
XII. B.G.N. (andante; 0:00), Basil G. Nevinson, a well-known cellist, who gets a cello melody for his variation, just like in the Ysobel variation, where viola was used for the violist.
XIII. Romance (moderato; 2:35). Because of the lack of initials, the identity of the person is unclear and remains an enigma within the Enigma. However, the music includes a quotation from Felix Mendelssohn's concert overture "Calm sea and prosperous voyage" which leads to speculation that it depicts either Lady Mary Lygon, local noblewoman on a voyage to Australia at the time, or Helen Weaver, who was Elgar's fiancée before she emigrated to New Zealand in 1884. At certain intervals, the timpani create a sound reminiscent of a ship's engines, by means of hard sticks or, traditionally, coins. Interestingly enough, the melody is varied several times within the variation, possibly to symbolize Elgar's conflicting emotions towards the person depicted, though the variation returns at the very end to the serenity of the beginning.
XIV. E.D.U. (allegro presto; 5:23), Elgar himself, "Edu" being his wife's nickname for him. This heartily extroverted, even boisterous, finale ties together the first variation and the Nimrod themes, as though to suggest that the composer has taken advice to heart and is determined to succeed. The entry of an organ in the final measures brings the work to a confident, happy close. The original variation No. 14 is 100 bars shorter than the version now usually played. In July 1899, one month after the original version was finished, Jaeger, from variation No. 9, urged Elgar to make the variation a little longer. Elgar eventually agreed, and added an organ part.
Hope you enjoyed it :)!
Loading...
there are 14, and not 15 variations, is this popular work by english Edward Elgar, by the way each one was dedicated to a different friend and the last one to himself, this work was premiered in 1899
beethomozart 2 years ago
But there are fifteen movements in the piece, that is way I marked the piece all the way to fifteen :). All information I could find on the identities of the friends behind the variations are presented in the description to each posting :).
LindoroRossini 2 years ago