The Lighter Classics in Music by David Ewen

It is not difficult to understand Elgar’s enormous popularity. Together with an elegant sense of structure and style, and a consummate musicianship, he had a virtually inexhaustible fund of ingratiating lyricism. His best works are conceived along traditional lines. They are Romantic in concept, and poetic in content. These qualities—and with them a most ingratiating sentiment—are also found in his semi-classical pieces. The _Bavarian Dances_, for orchestra, come from _The Bavarian Highlands_, a set of choral songs based on Bavarian folk songs adapted by Elgar’s wife, Alice, and set for chorus with piano and orchestra, op. 27 (1895). Three folk tunes were subsequently adapted by the composer for orchestra. Collectively called _Bavarian Dances_, the individual dances were subtitled by the composer “The Dance,” “Lullaby,” and “The Marksman.” These dances were first introduced in London in 1897 and have since enjoyed universal acceptance in some cases for their peasant rhythmic vigor, and in others for their atmospheric charm. The _Cockaigne Overture_ (_In London Town_), for orchestra, op. 40 (1901) describes London “as represented by its parks and open spaces, the bands marching from Knightsbridge to Buckingham Palace, Westminster with its dignified associations of Church and State,” in the words of Sir George Grove. The composer himself revealed he wanted to portray in his music the sights witnessed by a pair of lovers as they stroll through the city. The hubbub of the city is depicted in the opening measures, following by an intensely romantic section highlighted by a broad melody for strings, reflecting the feelings of the lovers as they stop off momentarily to rest in a public park. They continue their walk, hear the approaching music of a brass band, then enter a church where organ music is being played. The lovers continue their walk. The animated life of the city streets once again is reproduced, and the earlier romantic melody telling of their emotional ardor for each other is repeated. _In the South_ (_Alassio_), a concert overture for orchestra, op. 50 (1904) was written one Spring while the composer was vacationing in southern Europe. This work reflects Elgar’s intense love of Nature. The following quotation appears in the published score: “A land which _was_ the mightiest in its old command and _is_ the loveliest; wherein were cast the men of Rome. Thou are the garden of the world.” The overture opens with a gay tune for clarinets, horns, violins and cellos. It receives vigorous treatment and enlargement before a pastoral section is given by the woodwind and muted strings, a description of a shepherd and his flock. The overture then alternates between stress and tranquillity, with great prominence being given to the shepherd’s melody. A viola solo then leads to the recapitulation section. _Pomp and Circumstance_ is a set of five marches for symphony orchestra, op. 39. The composers wanted these marches to provide such music with symphonic dimensions in the same way that dance music (polonaise or waltz, etc.) acquired artistic stature at the hands of Chopin, among others. The phrase “pomp and circumstance” comes from Shakespeare’s _Othello_. The five marches are in the keys of D major, A minor, C minor, G major, and C Major. The first two were written in 1901; the third, in 1905; the fourth in 1907; and the fifth in 1930. The most famous of these is the second in A minor, one of Elgar’s most frequently performed compositions, and music as often identified with the British Empire as “God Save the King.” It opens in a restless, vigorous vein and erupts into a spacious melody for strings which Laurence Housman subsequently set to lyrics (“Land of Hope and Glory”). Elgar once again used this same melody in his _Coronation Ode_ for King Edward VII in