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Edward Elgar
(1857-1934)
Froissart – Overture
Though not often heard, the overture Froissart, foreshadows the mature Elgar
who was gradually to emerge in the 1890s. Success seemed all but assured,
however, when Elgar and his wife, Alice moved from the Midlands to London in
1889. And although the move from the provinces denoted a degree of
self-confidence on Elgar’s part, he had still not, at the age of 32, written
anything of sustained originality. By March 1890 Edward and Alice had moved to
51 Avonmore Road, Kensington, and it was there that Froissart was begun, 6 April. The invitation to compose had come,
ironically perhaps, given the Elgars’ move to the capitol, from the Three
Choirs Festival, the famous music festival that takes place every three years alternately
in Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester (Elgar’s home town), and for which he had
played as a violinist (notably under Dvořák in Worcester in 1884).
The choice of subject matter for this early
work may reflect a projection of confidence. Although the work is not strictly programmatic,
it is named after Jean Froissart (c.1337-c.1405), whose Chronicles have been recognised as the ‘chief
expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th-century Kingdom of
England and France’. As with many another work of Elgar’s it is prefaced by a
motto, this time by Keats:
When
chivalry
Lifted up her lance on high.
Froissart begins with a flourish that could justifiably be described as
‘chivalric’ before settling into one of those Elgar themes that commentators (and
Elgar himself) regularly characterise as ‘nobilmente’. The 15-minute work
contains four identifiable themes governed by a somewhat loose and rhapsodic adherence
to a sonata structure. Some commentators have pointed out this early work’s
formal weaknesses, but the violinist W. H. ‘Billy’ Reed, later to write a book
of perceptive reminiscences about Elgar, pointed out ‘the wonderful clarity of
the scoring, the knowledge displayed of the tonal values of the instruments and
the infallibly right placing and distribution of the notes of the various
chords.’
After completing the work Elgar made
several attempts to find a publisher for the work, first Novello’s, then Messrs
Goodwin and Tabb, until Novello’s agreed to publish it. Elgar himself conducted
the work on 3 September. But after the winter of 1890-91, he felt defeated by
London and he and Alice and their 10-month daughter, Carice, took up a house in
Malvern.
Elgar did
not have cause to be downhearted for long. His cantata The Black Knight
was produced on 18 April 1893 by the Worcester Festival Choral Society. 1896
saw first performances of The Light of Life (Lux Christi) at the Three
Choirs Festival, and of Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf during the
North Staffordshire Festival at Hanley. Olaf was repeated at the
Crystal Palace on 3 April 1897, and a little over two weeks later, Elgar’s Imperial
March, composed for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, was performed there. The
Queen herself accepted the dedication of Caractacus, which Elgar
conducted on 5 October 1898. And this crescendo of success culminated in the Enigma
Variations of 1899. For Elgar the 1890s had a noble trajectory.
Gordon Kalton Williams © 2011
This note first appeared in program booklets of orchestras associated with Symphony Services International (http://symphonyinternational.net/). Please contact me if you would like to reprint this note in a program booklet. If you would like to read more of my notes on this blog please see:
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