Edward Elgar and the Great War
Research or Creativity Area
Conservatory of Music
Abstract
Edward Elgar (1857-1934), a composer whose work represents Britishness, is well known for his Pomp and Circumstance Marches, his “Enigma” Variations, and his Cello Concerto in E Minor. One of the most prominent composers of the late nineteenth-century English Musical Renaissance, he was too old to enlist at the time of World War I but did all he could on the domestic side with a renewed nationalistic vigor. The effects of war, devastating across Britain, were documented in Elgar’s case mainly by his wife, Alice. Repeated attempts to get away from reminders of the ongoing war, such as trips to his cabin Brinkwells in the countryside, were ineffective; Elgar seemed to feel, as he wrote to his friend, that “life had regressed” and that “everything ha[d] come to an end” – symptoms of depression. Rumination on previous disappointments, such as a broken engagement, seemed to resurface during Elgar’s war experience, culminating into an amalgamation of painful experiences both past and present.
One result of his countryside visits was his Cello Concerto (1919), which represented a new and different Elgar who had lost the optimism, confidence, and faith in his country of the old Elgar. Its unusual four-movement shape and amorphous structure contributed to this sense of departure, as well as seeming to express nostalgia for way of life forever lost to time in leaving behind the classical three-movement concerto form. The sentiment of such wandering nostalgic aimlessnes is not just representative of Elgar’s psyche, but that of a whole generation’s outlook ravaged by the horrors of war. This paper will explore and compare the motifs and composition choice throughout the piece and assess how this cello concerto deviates from traditional concerto conventions and how these changes reflected in the resulting outlook and mindset Elgar adopted as the Great War progressed.
Location
Don and Karen DeRosa University Center (DUC) Room 211
Start Date
27-4-2024 10:45 AM
End Date
27-4-2024 11:00 AM
Edward Elgar and the Great War
Don and Karen DeRosa University Center (DUC) Room 211
Edward Elgar (1857-1934), a composer whose work represents Britishness, is well known for his Pomp and Circumstance Marches, his “Enigma” Variations, and his Cello Concerto in E Minor. One of the most prominent composers of the late nineteenth-century English Musical Renaissance, he was too old to enlist at the time of World War I but did all he could on the domestic side with a renewed nationalistic vigor. The effects of war, devastating across Britain, were documented in Elgar’s case mainly by his wife, Alice. Repeated attempts to get away from reminders of the ongoing war, such as trips to his cabin Brinkwells in the countryside, were ineffective; Elgar seemed to feel, as he wrote to his friend, that “life had regressed” and that “everything ha[d] come to an end” – symptoms of depression. Rumination on previous disappointments, such as a broken engagement, seemed to resurface during Elgar’s war experience, culminating into an amalgamation of painful experiences both past and present.
One result of his countryside visits was his Cello Concerto (1919), which represented a new and different Elgar who had lost the optimism, confidence, and faith in his country of the old Elgar. Its unusual four-movement shape and amorphous structure contributed to this sense of departure, as well as seeming to express nostalgia for way of life forever lost to time in leaving behind the classical three-movement concerto form. The sentiment of such wandering nostalgic aimlessnes is not just representative of Elgar’s psyche, but that of a whole generation’s outlook ravaged by the horrors of war. This paper will explore and compare the motifs and composition choice throughout the piece and assess how this cello concerto deviates from traditional concerto conventions and how these changes reflected in the resulting outlook and mindset Elgar adopted as the Great War progressed.
