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The Elgar Society Edition Ltd is pleased to announce the imminent publication of a further
volume in the Elgar Complete Edition - Volume 16: Solo Songs with Piano 1901-1934. With an
official publication date of 21 October 2010, the volume is now in the final stages of production
and will be available for shipping in the next two weeks.
Elgar's solo songs are not among his best known works
and there is a tendency to dismiss them as second-rate. It is true that he composed them with a
variety of motives: some seemed to serve as a form of relaxation from the labours of his major
compositions; others were written in support of the worthy cause of the day; and then there are
the pot-boilers, mainly militaristic in style, aimed at the masses as a means of generating
much-needed income for himself and his publishers. And yet the latter include what is today his
best-known work, Land of Hope and Glory, for which he provided only a piano
accompaniment; and his publishers were wise enough to allow him the freedom to publish,
alongside the more rugged songs, a number of delightfully delicate and intriguing art songs -
songs such as Speak Music, which trips off the tongue in 15/8 time; A Child
Asleep, a lullaby written for the infant son of his favourite mezzo, Muriel Foster; and It
Isnae Me, premi�red by and dedicated to his latest inamorata, Joan Elwes.
The Complete Edition does not distinguish on the
grounds of quality of composition: all 22 solo songs completed by Elgar after 1900 and 21
fragments believed also to date from this period are included in the volume. As ever with Elgar,
in several of the songs there is the intertwining of personal and professional life, the mysteries
and intrigues, captured where appropriate in a brief introductory paragraph or two giving the
background to the composition of each song. And the volume comes complete with the
customary apparatus of detailed source descriptions, commentaries and an introductory
foreword. All in all, a fascinating volume for the academic, the performer and for those who
simply enjoy Elgar's music. The Volume can be obtained
through all good book stores and specialist music shops, or directly from the publisher. For
details, visit the How to Purchase page.
Series II : Solo Vocal Works
Publication History
- Publication date : 21 October 2010
- Publisher : ElgarWorks
- ISBN : 978-1-904856-16-0
- Availability : in print
Detailed Description
- Editor : Brian Trowell
- Number of pages : xx + 186
- Page size : 250mm x 350mm
- Binding : cloth (hardback)
- Number of illustrations : 9 (monochrome)
- Contents :
- 22 original solo songs : 'Always and Everywhere'; 'Come, Gentle Night'; 'There are Seven that pull the Thread' (from the Incidental Music to Grania and Diarmid, op. 42); 'Land of Hope and Glory'; 'In the Dawn'; 'Speak, Music'; 'Speak, my Heart!' ('May, June, July'); 'In Moonlight' (from In the South, op. 50); 'Follow the Colours'; 'Pleading', op. 48; 'Oh, Soft was the Song'; 'Was it some Golden Star?', 'Twilight'; 'The King's Way'; 'A Child Asleep'; 'The Torch'; 'The River'; 'The Chariots of the Lord'; 'Arabian Serenade'; 'Quand nos bourgeons se rouvriront'; ('When the Spring comes round again' from Une Voix dans le Désert, op. 77); 'Fight for Right'; 'It Isnae Me';
- 21 sketches and unfinished works : '. . . and to be in her . . .'; 'Birthright'; 'Ecstasy'; 'The Haven of Desire'; 'Infant Joy'; 'In Memoriam June 2 1908' ('In Memory of a Seer'); 'I with the young wide Empire in my veins'; 'Moonlit apples'; 'Nirvana'; 'One by one . . .'; 'Patriotic song ('. . . wake . . .'); 'Pattern for Bag-poet'; 'The Prince of Sleep'; 'Proem'; 'Sea Mist'; Unidentified Songs 1 and 2; 'The Soul'; 'There is an Orchard'; 'The Waking'; 'The White Island';
- A scholarly foreword recording the history of Elgar's composition of the works;
- The full libretti of each poem or text set by Elgar, with editorial amendments;
- A comparative description of all known source material;
- A comprehensive commentary detailing editorial decisions and amendments.
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