I hope you find this fun. I made the orchestration last year from four pieces for the wind quintet: The Brothers Wind, led by Elgar on bassoon.
It’s a realization of four individual movements that fit naturally together as a lighthearted ‘symphony’ of the kind that Weber or Gounod might have recognised. The nearest parallel is an interesting one: Bizet’s youthful Symphony in C of 1855 has much of the spirit of this work. Indeed, Elgar’s 1878 work seems to quote the Frenchman’s in at least one of its themes. But this cannot be so, since Bizet’s work was not published until the 1930s and not performed until 1935. Elgar can never have heard it. Perhaps this is an instance of two talented and creative minds of similar ages settling on similar solutions.
The four movements are:
I. Harmony Music 4: The Farm Yard
Elgar dated this score 17 September 1878. This cannot realistically be the date of composition, since the work is of more than 350 bars, lasting 12 minutes. It is probably the date on which Elgar completed the score.
It is in sonata form, with the exposition repeated. We do not know why Elgar subtitled the piece The Farm Yard. Presumably it was an in-joke among the players.
2. Adagio cantabile: Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup & Presto: Promenade No. 3
These two miniatures provide the slow movement and scherzo, but I have embedded Promenade No. 3 within the Adagio cantabile, rather in the manner of Berwald’s Sinfonie Singulière.
3. Harmony Music 1: Allegro molto
Elgar wrote his first piece for the wind quintet on 4 April 1878 (in this case, he may well have written the work completely on that day – it is very straightforward). He called it Harmony Music 1 and it is a moto perpetuo of great charm. The second subject sounds almost as if it is a lost tune from a Gilbert & Sullivan opera.
It’s a realization of four individual movements that fit naturally together as a lighthearted ‘symphony’ of the kind that Weber or Gounod might have recognised. The nearest parallel is an interesting one: Bizet’s youthful Symphony in C of 1855 has much of the spirit of this work. Indeed, Elgar’s 1878 work seems to quote the Frenchman’s in at least one of its themes. But this cannot be so, since Bizet’s work was not published until the 1930s and not performed until 1935. Elgar can never have heard it. Perhaps this is an instance of two talented and creative minds of similar ages settling on similar solutions.
The four movements are:
I. Harmony Music 4: The Farm Yard
Elgar dated this score 17 September 1878. This cannot realistically be the date of composition, since the work is of more than 350 bars, lasting 12 minutes. It is probably the date on which Elgar completed the score.
It is in sonata form, with the exposition repeated. We do not know why Elgar subtitled the piece The Farm Yard. Presumably it was an in-joke among the players.
2. Adagio cantabile: Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup & Presto: Promenade No. 3
These two miniatures provide the slow movement and scherzo, but I have embedded Promenade No. 3 within the Adagio cantabile, rather in the manner of Berwald’s Sinfonie Singulière.
3. Harmony Music 1: Allegro molto
Elgar wrote his first piece for the wind quintet on 4 April 1878 (in this case, he may well have written the work completely on that day – it is very straightforward). He called it Harmony Music 1 and it is a moto perpetuo of great charm. The second subject sounds almost as if it is a lost tune from a Gilbert & Sullivan opera.
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