1st Symphony (Elgar)
The Symphony in A flat major , Opus 55 (composed 1907-08, premiered on December 3, 1908 in Manchester by the Hallé Orchestra under the direction of the dedicatee Hans Richter ) is the first of Edward Elgar's two completed symphonies . The work immediately found its way into the standard repertoire of British and international concert halls and is at the base of British symphonic music of the 20th century (which was continued by composers such as Arnold Bax , Havergal Brian , Ralph Vaughan Williams , Malcolm Arnold and George Lloyd ). The First Symphony is still considered one of the masterpieces of its creator.
The symphony consists of four movements. The total duration is usually around 50–55 minutes, in the complete recording (1930) directed by Elgar himself, 46 minutes.
- Andante nobilmente e semplice - Allegro
- Allegro molto
- adagio
- Lento - allegro
The first drafts for the work were made in 1899 after Elgar had decided in 1898 to dedicate a heroic-tragic symphony to General Charles George Gordon's Work and Death. The composer worked on the sketches until 1904, but ultimately rejected them - they later found their way into the Second Symphony . The 1st symphony, on the other hand, emerged from sketches for a string quartet. Most of the composition was done in Rome.
The slow introduction to the extended first movement introduces a theme of a solemn, hymn-like character, which serves as the motto for the whole work and appears again and again in the further course. The Allegro part is in D minor , a key that is extremely distant from the initial A flat major due to the tritone spacing of the fundamental notes. The Scherzo oscillates between sections with a sometimes hectic, sometimes rhythmically aggressive, gripping character and more supple ( trio-like ) passages. After a period of calming down, attacca is followed by the vocal Adagio , the theme of which is true to note the theme of the Scherzo (in slower movement). Hans Richter described this movement as a “ real slow movement, as Beethoven would have written it.” The expansive and characteristically complex final movement ends with a triumphant apotheosis of the motto in an effective tonal fireworks display.
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Accompanying text by Michael Kennedy on the recording of Adrian Boult with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1977)