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The saga tells the story of the life, battles and eventual death
of King Olaf, a Norse crusader in his own country. The
work has often been criticised for the banality of the lyrics and
storyline. While performed regularly in the years immediately
following its composition, it has been largely neglected since
then.
A pity, for the work contains some of Elgar's most engaging
melodies and is regarded by many as his best pre-Enigma
composition, foreshadowing the great oratorios that were to
follow. The forceful first scene, The Challenge of
Thor, is probably the most easily assimilated but the dashing
fifth scene, The Wraith of Odin, the lilting duet between
Thyri and Olaf, The Grey Land Breaks to Lively Green, and
the jolly chorus, A Little Bird in the Air all have
considerable appeal. But Elgar saves the best music for the
epilogue. A recapitulation of a number of earlier themes leads
into the unaccompanied and soulful final chorus, As Torrents
in Summer, bringing the work to an moving climax which
Elgar hardly equalled in any of his later works.
King Olaf may however be enjoying something of a revival.
The work received its first recording in 1985, a recording partly
financed by the Elgar Society and
Elgar Foundation. And in 1996,
it has received performances in Reading, Hitchin and, on 2
November, in the Victoria Hall, Hanley, where Elgar himself
conducted the first performance one hundred years earlier.
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