Elgar's Hillside

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

A classic example of that occurs in the final movement of the 1st symphony (I've only mentioned this 99 times before, so it needs more emphasis). He sets up a kind of militaristic march ('rum tum tum tiddle, rum tum tum tum, rum tum tum, tiddle tummm'), and taken in isolation one could imagine cocking an ear and saying oh yes, here we go, swagger swagger, here come the British Bullies. But the march exists solely for the purpose of transfiguration - the swaggertune itself is transformed and redeemed into one of the most exquisite passages in all of Elgar.

Yes, that bit is a stroke of genius. And it's precisely the example I was thinking of when I wrote "transformed into its opposite."

I think also of the various transformations of the grandiose "swaggering" motto theme in that symphony: how it timidly appears at the start of the 1st mvt. development and then wanders off into nothingness; or how it reappears in the coda of the same mvt. and gets "shouted down" by the other instruments. These are similar to the kind of developments Mahler was putting his own themes through, at the same time in symphonic history.

[karlhenning]

All right, I must be angling towards getting serious . . . I've downloaded scores to The Dream of Gerontius, Op.38, and The Spirit of England, Op.80

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

All right, I must be angling towards getting serious . . . I've downloaded scores to The Dream of Gerontius, Op.38, and The Spirit of England, Op.80

That Spirit of England is 'only' a vocal score, alas (from ISMLP at least).

[karlhenning]

Yes, that's all right for my present purposes . . . do you know, the first I studied Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, it was a piano score . . . .

Trivial observation of the day: just dawned on me the as opuse numbers, The Music Makers immediately follows Falstaff.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes, that's all right for my present purposes . . . do you know, the first I studied Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, it was a piano score . . . .

[Elgarian]

I was wondering what, if any, one volume biography of Elgar covering his whole life, you would recommend.  (sorry if you may have addressed this before somewhere, but 58 pages of posts is a lot to go through)

Part 2

I'm going to conclude my earlier post with a boring finale. After looking along my shelves without being biographically inspired, I think your best solution may be this:



It's up to date; it has all the Windflowery stuff; and it's short enough to be digestible. It isn't a 'great' biography - Kennedy hasn't Boswellised his Johnson - but it's written fluently enough. And once you'd read that, you'd be perfectly poised to get to know Elgar properly via the books I mentioned earlier.

[Elgarian]

the Dutton appears to be the first recording of the piece with two solo voices.

I found it interesting to hear once; but after so much exposure to the most well-known solo soprano version, it seemed all wrong to me....

I don't say it is wrong. I just can't cope with it myself.

[madaboutmahler]

I've got the EMI box of choral music that I've been meaning to listen to more of. This is the set I'm referring to, Daniel:

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Oh yes, what an excellent set... the choral music is the area of Elgar's music I know least so I better get back to listening to it sometime, probably starting when I see Gerontius live next year!

Elgarian, it's not exactly a standard biography, but I enjoyed reading it very much. Not sure if you know of it:

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[eyeresist]

Rather than recommend a biography that I don't really recommend (if you see what I mean), I think I can serve you better (even though it's not what you asked for) by pointing more towards the 'I knew Elgar' type of book, and suggest that it's possible to gradually assimilate the life in that way. So there's Dora Powell's Memories of a Variation; Rosa Burley's Edward Elgar: Record of a Friendship; and Billy Reed's Elgar as I Knew Him - these are three of the most precious books on my shelves. They are, of course, of their time (that's their value) and thereby out of date - so if you want the lowdown on the Windflower and on Vera Hockman, you have to look elsewhere. On Vera Hockman (the love of Elgar's last years), you want Kevin Allen's Elgar in Love.

So it would seem that for Elgar biography, the personal is much more important that the hyperfactual - which is as it should be.


I confess that like DavidRoss I find a certain bloatedness in the symphonies (I'm not at all concerned about swagger - I like a bit of swagger).
But perhaps the original recordings will refresh my palate? I have pulled the trigger on the Electric Elgar set - the website says there are only 10 copies left!!!

Electric Elgar - the phrase should inspire a new entry for the "terrible CD covers" thread.

[Vesteralen]

Part 2

I'm going to conclude my earlier post with a boring finale. After looking along my shelves without being biographically inspired, I think your best solution may be this:



It's up to date; it has all the Windflowery stuff; and it's short enough to be digestible. It isn't a 'great' biography - Kennedy hasn't Boswellised his Johnson - but it's written fluently enough. And once you'd read that, you'd be perfectly poised to get to know Elgar properly via the books I mentioned earlier.

Thanks very much.  Sorry I couldn't get to my computer till so late to see your responses.  I'm anxious to find some of these recommended books.

[DavidRoss]

Electric Elgar - the phrase should inspire a new entry for the "terrible CD covers" thread.

Is there a sequel in the works?

[Mirror Image]

Oh yes, what an excellent set... the choral music is the area of Elgar's music I know least so I better get back to listening to it sometime, probably starting when I see Gerontius live next year!

Elgarian, it's not exactly a standard biography, but I enjoyed reading it very much. Not sure if you know of it:

[asin]1847065333[/asin]

I have not seen or even heard of this book, Daniel. Kudos for mentioning it. I'll check it out sometime. By the way, I haven't heard The Dream of Gerontius in years. I should revisit that work soon.

[Elgarian]

Elgarian, it's not exactly a standard biography, but I enjoyed reading it very much. Not sure if you know of it:

Yes I agree - I enjoyed it too. But I wouldn't think of it as a source of primary biographical material, even though it does contain some biographical essays. Truth is, the Elgar books I most cherish are not straight biographies. In addition to the ones I've already mentioned, there's this old favourite of mine, for example:



Of course not everyone will want to know every possible detail about Elgar's doings in the recording studio - but for those who do, it's all here.

[Elgarian]

I'm anxious to find some of these recommended books.

Afterthought: if you get Dorabella's book, get the later (third, I think), not the first, edition. The later edition has extra material and a whole chapter on the characters from the Enigma Variations. Of course if you're me, you have to have both. Pass my anorak, and my trainspotter's manual.

Addendum: you can get a slight taste of Dorabella's style of wrting here - I extracted some bits from her book to accompany some photos:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,12196.msg369600.html#msg369600

[Vesteralen]

The Reed book is available from my library system, as is the Moore biography (but only in a shortened edition - the full size one is "Damaged").  The Kennedy biography is available with the title "Portrait of Elgar".  I'm assuming that is the same book as the one you mentioned, but in the U S edition.  I ordered these.

Also available are "Elgar the Man" by Michael De La Noy and "Elgar, the Music Maker" by Diana McVeagh, along with "Elgar Lived Here" (which may be the same book as "Elgar Country") and "Alice Elgar: Enigma of a Victorian Lady", along with books on specific works like Gerontius, The Enigma Variations and The Third Symphony.

Any thoughts on these other books?

The other books mentioned in this thread are not available from the library, so I will have to use "Bookfinder" or Amazon to locate them.

Thanks for your help.

[madaboutmahler]

I have not seen or even heard of this book, Daniel. Kudos for mentioning it. I'll check it out sometime. By the way, I haven't heard The Dream of Gerontius in years. I should revisit that work soon.

Yes, certainly do! It contains contributions from many great Elgarians such as Janet Baker, Mark Elder, Yehudi Menuhin, Stephen Hough etc.

Of course not everyone will want to know every possible detail about Elgar's doings in the recording studio - but for those who do, it's all here.

Thank you for the recommendation, Elgarian, this one looks very interesting!
I really need to build my Elgar biography library - so all these recommendations are very welcome!

Daniel

[Elgarian]

The Reed book is available from my library system,

Excellent - you definitely should get that. Reed really knew Elgar well, from a special perspective. As an extra bonus there's stuff on the third symphony that's to be found nowhere else - it was a major source of information for Anthony Payne.

the Moore biography (but only in a shortened edition - the full size one is "Damaged").

Odd, I've never heard of a shortened version. I wonder if the so-called short version is Elgar: Child of Dreams. If so, that's a different sort of book. OK, and with some interesting and far from daft ideas about grouping Elgar in with the British mystical pastoralists - but not an orthodox bio.

The Kennedy biography is available with the title "Portrait of Elgar".  I'm assuming that is the same book as the one you mentioned, but in the U S edition.  I ordered these.

No, emphatically not the same book. Portrait of Elgar was Kennedy's first biography, written in the 60s I think. It doesn't have the crucially important Windflower stuff in it (which only emerged in the 1980s), and some of Kennedy's early notions about Elgar were seriously misleading in my view, particularly in the area of Elgar's attitude to Imperialism. I wouldn't have recommended it. The book I listed (Life of Elgar) was Kennedy's much later, more mature and more trustworthy biography, which does contain the more recent Windflower discoveries.

Also available are "Elgar the Man" by Michael De La Noy

Don't have it and don't know it. Shock! Horror!

"Elgar, the Music Maker" by Diana McVeagh

Definitely worth reading - focuses very much on the music, as you expect from the title - and yet, and yet, it's not the last word. You can read what she says and profit from it, but - well, I find her account of the violin concerto rather thin, for example, and it misses out all sorts of interesting discussion that I expected to find there.

"Elgar Lived Here" (which may be the same book as "Elgar Country")

No, two different books, the first by Pauline Collett and the latter by her husband. Unless you're planning to go to Elgar country to seek out his houses and haunts, you'd probably find them a waste of time. I'd recommend avoiding them if only to spare yourself the pain of suffering Pauline Collett's drawings.

"Alice Elgar: Enigma of a Victorian Lady",

You might want to read this five years further down the line, but.... probably not now.

along with books on specific works like Gerontius, The Enigma Variations and The Third Symphony.

Payne's book on the 3rd symphony (must be his, I know of no other) is certainly worth reading if you know and enjoy the 3rd symphony - and even if you don't, for it'll get you listening to it. There are several books on Enigma - well yes, why not? But not essential. And I do have a book on Gerontius, but haven't read it yet.

[karlhenning]

Most interesting, Alan, thanks.

[Vesteralen]

Odd, I've never heard of a shortened version. I wonder if the so-called short version is Elgar: Child of Dreams. If so, that's a different sort of book. OK, and with some interesting and far from daft ideas about grouping Elgar in with the British mystical pastoralists - but not an orthodox bio.

No, emphatically not the same book. Portrait of Elgar was Kennedy's first biography, written in the 60s I think. It doesn't have the crucially important Windflower stuff in it (which only emerged in the 1980s), and some of Kennedy's early notions about Elgar were seriously misleading in my view, particularly in the area of Elgar's attitude to Imperialism. I wouldn't have recommended it. The book I listed (Life of Elgar) was Kennedy's much later, more mature and more trustworthy biography, which does contain the more recent Windflower discoveries.

Don't have it and don't know it. Shock! Horror!

The Moore book is called "Spirit of England: Edward Elgar and His World".  It is probably not a shortened version of the other book, because it's from Heineman and not Oxford Press.  It's only 175 pages, but both books appear to have been published in 1984.

I ordered the McVeagh and De La Roy books and cancelled the Kennedy.

I'll let you know my reactions later on.  Thanks again!

[karlhenning]

Thoroughly enjoying both works on this disc, so huge thanks to all!

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Hard to believe, too, that it cost me 96¢ (plus shipping, but still).