Eloq uence. Symphony No. 7 ELGAR. Enigma Variations. London Symphony Orchestra Pierre Monteux

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1 Eloq uence DVOR ÁK Symphony No. 7 ELGAR Enigma Variations London Symphony Orchestra

2 ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK ( ) Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op I Allegro maestoso II Poco adagio III Scherzo (Vivace) IV Finale (Allegro) 8 42 SIR EDWARD ELGAR ( ) Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 Enigma 5 Theme (Andante) I C.A.E. (L istesso tempo) II H.D.S.-P. (Allegro) III R.B.T. (Allegretto) IV W.M.B. (Allegro di molto) V R.P.A. (Moderato) 1 54! VI Ysobel (Andantino) 1 VII Troyte (Presto) 0 55 VIII W.N. (Allegretto) 1 54 $ IX Nimrod (Adagio) 3 50 % X Dorabella: Intermezzo (Allegretto) 2 38 ^ XI G.R.S. (Allegro di molto) 0 55 & XII B.G.N. (Andante) 2 24 * XIII *** Romanza (Moderato) 2 40 ( XIV E.D.U. Finale (Allegro) 4 55 London Symphony Orchestra Total timing: 66 59

3 The Symphony No. 7 by Antonín Dvořák was his most ambitious symphonic work yet. Biographer John Clapham describes it, with the Piano Trio in F minor (composed one year earlier), as a work possessing greater dramatic power, deeper emotional feeling and a breadth of vision unparalleled in anything else he had previously composed. He concludes, Without doubt this must surely be Dvořák s greatest symphony. In the early 1880s, Dvořák began to find favour with English audiences with works such as his Sixth Symphony and his Stabat Mater. As a result, beginning in 1884, he was repeatedly invited to London to conduct his own music, including new works composed for the occasion. The Symphony No. 7 was composed for London s Royal Philharmonic Society, and was completed on 17 March 1885, five weeks before its premiere, which took place in St. James s Hall. Dvořák, aware of the break he was making with his previous works, took twice as long to compose this symphony as he took over its predecessor. The Seventh was inspired partly by the Third Symphony of Johannes Brahms, whose support of the Czech composer s music, and later friendship, had aided Dvořák since the 1870s. The symphony s darkly determined, almost Brahmsian opening theme, played by the violas and cellos, came to Dvořák near the railway station in Prague, as he witnessed a train arriving from Budapest bearing fellow countrymen on their way to a patriotic concert at the National Theatre. In this work, as in so many others, Dvořák expressed his devotion to God, Love, Fatherland, which had become a kind of motto for him. The symphony s premiere, which took place on 22 April, was a great success. The orchestra s regular conductor, Sir Arthur Sullivan (still relishing the popularity of The Mikado!), stepped aside to let the composer himself conduct the performance. English audiences were quick to embrace the new work, and writers who praised it included George Bernard Shaw. Audiences in Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg and New York were next to hear the new symphony, and they echoed the praise it received in London. Dvořák was triumphant, but he did make an important revision to the symphony following its premiere: he cut 40 bars from its second movement. Three of the period s most illustrious conductors Hans Richter, Hans von Bülow and Arthur Nikisch championed the work. Von Bülow s portrait appears on the title page of the autograph score. Underneath, Dvořák wrote, Glory to you! You have brought this work to life! It was with Fritz Simrock, his publisher for several years, that Dvořák encountered the greatest difficulties related to this work. Simrock, a German, balked at the composer s suggestion that his first name be given not as the German Anton on the score s title page, but as Ant. a compromise from the Czech Antonín. Also, Dvořák valued the work at 6000 German marks, whereas Simrock was willing to offer only half as much. Eventually, Simrock relented on the latter point, but persisted in publishing the Germanic form of the composer s given name, much to Dvořák s annoyance. In Edward Elgar s Enigma Variations (1899), the composer found it distinctly amusing to portray his friends one to a variation and to cap the work off with a self-confident self-portrait. After the theme is stated, Elgar appropriately begins with his wife, Caroline Alice, identified as C.A.E.. Hew David Steuart-Powell, an amateur pianist, is portrayed in H.D.S-P. ; his finger exercises are gently parodied. R.B.T. is author Richard Baxter Townsend, and his variation mimics the tendency for his voice to rise into the falsetto range during amateur theatrical productions in which he would play an old man. Country squire, gentleman, and scholar William M. Baker is portrayed in W.M.B.. After rather selfimportantly organizing the day s activities for his guests (to their quiet amusement), he rushes out of the room, inadvertently slamming the door behind him! Richard P. Arnold, or R.P.A., was another amateur pianist a man with a nervous laugh whose serious conversation was continually broken up by whimsical and witty remarks. (Arnold was the son of poet Matthew Arnold.) In the sixth variation we meet Ysobel, or Isabel Fitton, a violist whose unusual height may be suggested by the opening phrase. (On the other hand, it might simply represent a viola exercise that Elgar composed for her.) Troyte is architect Arthur Troyte Griffith. This energetic variation supposedly imitates his energetic yet fumbling efforts to play the piano; the lid slams down (with petulance?) at the close. In W.N., the dignified Winifred Norbury s engaging yet discreet laughter is imitated. Enigma hinges around the extended ninth variation, titled Nimrod an allusion to publisher and friend Augustus J. Jaeger. (Jaeger in German means hunter.) Jaeger s appreciation for Beethoven s slow movements is warmly captured in this variation. Dorabella is Miss Dora Penny, a graceful variation for a woman whose speech was characterized by a slight stammer. It has been claimed that the athletic organ-playing of George Robertson Sinclair is portrayed in G.R.S., but the first part of the variation is devoted to Sinclair s bulldog Dan, who falls into the River Wye, and, regaining land, barks joyfully. B.G.N. is Basil G. Nevinson, an amateur cellist, and the discreetly identified *** is possibly Lady Mary Lygon, who was on an ocean voyage at the time. (We hear the ship s engines gently humming, and also a quote from Mendelssohn s overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.)

4 What, however, is the enigma? In the composer s own words, The Enigma I will not explain its dark saying must be left unguessed, although some years later he wrote that the theme expressed [ ] my sense of the loneliness of the artist. Cryptically, he also commented that through this music another and larger theme goes, but is not played. This has led to a search for hidden themes Auld Lang Syne and God Save the King, for example, have been proposed but there is no reason to assume that the theme is a musical one. It has even been suggested that the underlying theme which is not played is that of Christian love. This would make sense, as Elgar dedicated his Enigma Variations to my friends pictured within. ( ) often bemoaned the fact that he was associated with the French and Russian repertoires, to the exclusion of music from outside of those traditions. He could hardly help it; after all, it was Monteux who conducted the first and famously chaotic performance of Stravinsky s Le Sacre du printemps in Nevertheless, he recorded all of Beethoven s symphonies (some of them more than once) and all of Brahms s, with the exception of the Fourth. He made only one recording of Elgar s Enigma Variations, and one of the Dvo r ák Seventh. These came late in his career 1958 and 1959, respectively and were the only recordings he made of works by their respective composers. Elgar s work frequently appeared in the conductor s concert programs during this Indian summer. In fact, his last American concerts, in December 1963 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, featured the Enigma Variations, along with works by Vaughan Williams, Beethoven and Sibelius. In his recording of Dvo r ák s Seventh, Monteux is clearly responsive to the symphony s connections with Brahms a composer for whom he had special affection. PHOTO: DECCA The last variation (so as to avoid ending with an unlucky thirteen) is devoted to E.D.U., or Elgar himself. ( Edoo was a pet name given to him by Alice.) Raymond Tuttle Recording producer: Michael Bremner (Dvor ák); James Walker (Elgar) Recording engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson Recording locations: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, June 1958 (Elgar), October 1959 (Dvor ák) Cover image: Brueghel, The Angler (1650) Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-Homji Art direction: Chilu Booklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online

If you are reading these notes on a device during a concert, please adjust the brightness of your screen so that others are not distracted. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online