Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King’s Musick in 1924.
Symphony No.1, Op. 55 (1907-08)
dedicated to Hans Richter
I. Andante. Nobilmente e semplice
II. Allegro molto
III. Adagio
IV. Lento — Allegro
London Philharmonic conducted by Bryden Thomson
Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 is one of his two completed symphonies. The first performance was given by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter in Manchester, England, on 3 December 1908. It was widely known that Elgar had been planning a symphony for more than ten years, and the announcement that he had finally completed it aroused enormous interest. The critical reception was enthusiastic, and the public response unprecedented. The symphony achieved what The Musical Times described as “immediate and phenomenal success”, with a hundred performances in Britain, continental Europe and America within just over a year of its première.
The symphony is regularly programmed by British orchestras, and features occasionally in concert programmes in North America and Europe. It is well represented on record, with recordings ranging from the composer’s 1931 version with the London Symphony Orchestra to modern digital recordings, of which more than 20 have been issued since the mid-1980s.
The symphony was dedicated “To Hans Richter, Mus. Doc. True Artist and true Friend.” It was premiered on 3 December 1908 in the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, with Richter conducting the Hallé Orchestra. The London première followed four days later, at the Queen’s Hall, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richter. At the first rehearsal for the London concert, Richter addressed the orchestra, “Gentlemen, let us now rehearse the greatest symphony of modern times, written by the greatest modern composer – and not only in this country.” W H Reed, who played in the LSO at that concert, recalled, “Arriving at the Adagio, [Richter] spoke almost with the sound of tears in his voice and said: ‘Ah! this is a real Adagio – such an Adagio as Beethove’ would ‘ave writ’.”
The Musical Times wrote in 1909, “To state that Elgar’s Symphony has achieved immediate and phenomenal success is the bare truth.” Within weeks of the première the symphony was performed in New York under Walter Damrosch, Vienna under Ferdinand Löwe, St. Petersburg under Alexander Siloti, and Leipzig under Artur Nikisch. There were performances in Chicago, Boston, Toronto and 15 British towns and cities.[6] By February 1909 the New York Philharmonic Orchestra had given two more performances at Carnegie Hall and had taken the work to “some of the largest inland cities … It is doubtful whether any symphonic work has aroused so great an interest since Tchaikowsky’s Pathétique.” In the same period the work was played six times in London, under the baton of Richter, the composer, and Henry Wood. Within just over a year there were a hundred performances worldwide.
The symphony is in a cyclic form: the incomplete “nobilmente” theme from the first movement returns in the finale for a complete grandioso statement after various transformations throughout the work. Elgar wrote, “the opening theme is intended to be simple &, in intention, noble & elevating … the sort of ideal call – in the sense of persuasion, not coercion or command – & something above every day & sordid things.”