In the South (Alassio)
![page of manuscript musical score for large orchestra](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/In-the-South-Elgar-manuscript.jpg/220px-In-the-South-Elgar-manuscript.jpg)
In the South (Alassio), Op. 50, is a
The work was premiered in London in 1904. It is less often heard in concert than some other Elgar pieces, but has received many recordings.
Background and first performance
After years of struggle, by 1903 Elgar had become well known.[1] A three-day festival of his music was planned for March the following year at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the presence of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.[1] It was an open secret that Elgar was planning to compose a symphony for the festival. He intended to work on it while holidaying in Italy over Christmas 1903. He and his wife and daughter stayed first at Bordighera and then at the Villa San Giovanni, Alassio. Inspiration for the symphony eluded him, but the local atmosphere – "the thoughts and sensations of one beautiful afternoon in the Vale of Andora" – gave him the ideas for a concert overture.[2][n 1] He later recalled:
The work is dedicated "To my friend Leo F. Schuster", the driving force behind the 1904 Elgar Festival.[6][7] The premiere was given by the Hallé Orchestra on 16 March 1904, the third day of the festival.[1] It was to have been conducted by Hans Richter, who was in charge for the rest of the concert, but as Elgar did not have the score ready in time for Richter to study it before the performance, Elgar conducted the orchestra himself.[7]
The first American performance was given by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Theodore Thomas on 4 November 1904.[8] Walter Damrosch conducted the New York premiere the following day.[8] Arthur Nikisch introduced the work to German audiences in Berlin on 2 December 1904,[9] and it was given in Vienna in March 1905,[10] Cologne, under Fritz Steinbach, the following month,[11] and Prague the following year.[12]
Analysis
The work is written for a full symphony orchestra comprising 3
At about 20 minutes in performance, In the South was the longest continuous orchestral piece Elgar had written to that date.
![a few bars of musical score](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f6/In-the-South-opening.jpg/440px-In-the-South-opening.jpg)
The ebullient opening is followed by a calmer, pastoral section. The music then becomes agitated and moves into a grandioso section in A♭ minor, illustrative of the days of the Roman empire, with what Elgar called "the relentless and domineering onward force of the ancient day" and the "drums and tramplings of a later time". This passage was inspired by the ruins of a huge Roman viaduct. From this theme a brilliant "striding" theme emerges and leads, through muted strings, to the second episode, quickly dubbed the "canto popolare". Kennedy suggests that giving this theme to the
![\relative c' \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } {
\key c \major \time 3/4 \clef C
c2 _\markup {\dynamic pp \italic { con molto express. } }( e4~ e2 f4) d2. g,2.~ g2 c4( e2\< f4\!) d2.\>( g,2.\!)
}](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/p/6/p6vloc69imeqqovvo6ik6pb5aicwu6p/p6vloc69.png)
The theme recurs as a horn solo, before returning, over a drum-roll, to the viola, after which Elgar returns to the beginning of the overture for a formal recapitulation. After that, a
4 melody, which is developed to a final climax for full orchestra.[2]
Arrangements
The "canto popolare" so convincingly struck an authentically Italian note that it was widely assumed to be an adaptation of a popular local song, although it was entirely of Elgar's own invention.[16] Elgar later published a version of it with words taken from a poem by Shelley, as a song for soprano or tenor, under the title "In Moonlight".[n 3] Ernest Newman, commented that the words and music were not a good match, with the rhythms of the verse "pushed and pulled" to fit the music: "you finally declare that by similar treatment anything – an Act of Parliament or a patent medicine advertisement – could be made to 'go with' the melody equally well".[18] Elgar made an arrangement of the "canto popolare" for violin and piano, in collaboration with the violinist Isabella Jaeger, wife of his close friend August Jaeger.[19] At the same time, he made an arrangement for solo piano, and his publisher, Novello, also issued an arrangement of the whole concert overture for piano duet, made by Adolf Schmid.[20]
Critical reception
The initial reception of In the South was generally enthusiastic. After the premiere
Performances and recordings
In the South is less often heard in the concert hall than many of Elgar's other major orchestral works. Remarking on the fact, The Musical Times speculated in 1973, "Why has Elgar's In the South failed to catch on even with today's enthusiasm for his music? The subtitle 'Alassio' and the modest description 'concert overture' for what is virtually a tone-poem may have proved discouraging or confusing – unfortunately, in the early stages of appreciation, titles do matter."[24] The work is well represented on record, with recordings from every decade since the 1920s:[25][26]
Orchestra | Conductor | Year |
---|---|---|
Royal Albert Hall | Sir Edward Elgar | 1921–1923 |
London Symphony | Sir Edward Elgar | 1930 |
National Symphony | Boyd Neel | 1945 |
London Symphony | George Weldon | 1954 |
Leipzig Radio Symphony | Gerhard Pflüger | 1954 |
London Philharmonic | Sir Adrian Boult
|
1955[n 4] |
London Philharmonic | Sir Adrian Boult | 1956 |
Bournemouth Symphony
|
Constantin Silvestri | 1967 |
Hallé | Sir John Barbirolli | 1970[n 5] |
London Philharmonic | Sir Adrian Boult | 1972[n 6] |
BBC Symphony | John Pritchard | 1974 |
London Philharmonic | Daniel Barenboim | 1977 |
London Philharmonic | Sir Georg Solti | 1979 |
Scottish National Orchestra
|
Sir Alexander Gibson | 1983 |
Royal Philharmonic | Yehudi Menuhin | 1987 |
Royal Philharmonic | Andrew Litton | 1988 |
Royal Philharmonic | Yondani Butt | 1988 |
Philharmonia | Giuseppe Sinopoli | 1989 |
London Philharmonic | Gürer Aykal | 1989 |
BBC Philharmonic | Edward Downes | 1990 |
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
|
Neville Marriner | 1990 |
London Philharmonic | Leonard Slatkin | 1991 |
BBC Symphony | Andrew Davis | 1992 |
London Symphony | Jeffrey Tate | 1992 |
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala | Riccardo Muti | 1994 |
Bournemouth Symphony | George Hurst | 1995 |
Vienna Philharmonic
|
John Eliot Gardiner | 1998 |
Hallé | Mark Elder | 2002 |
BBC Symphony | Leonard Slatkin | 2002[n 7] |
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
|
Douglas Bostock | 2003 |
Moscow Symphony | Vladimir Ziva | 2003 |
BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Richard Hickox | 2005 |
Philharmonia | Sir Andrew Davis | 2009 |
Sydney Symphony | Vladimir Ashkenazy | 2011 |
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia | Sir Antonio Pappano | 2013 |
Stuttgart Radio Symphony | Sir Roger Norrington | 2014 |
BBC Scottish Symphony | Martyn Brabbins | 2016 |
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic | Vasily Petrenko | 2019 |
Notes, references and sources
Notes
- ^ The manuscript, held by the Royal Academy of Music, shows that Elgar originally used the term "fantasia" for the piece.[3] Before the premiere his publishers, Novello, were advertising the forthcoming work as a "Fantasy-Overture", and Elgar did not decide until late February 1904 that he wanted, as he put it, to "drop the fantasia".[4]
- ^ Elgar also portrayed Sinclair's dog Dan in the Enigma Variations, splashing about in the river in variation XI.[14]
- ^ The song was included on a 2008 CD, performed by Christine Rice with piano accompaniment by Sir Mark Elder. It follows a performance of In the South by Elder and the Hallé.[17]
- ^ Live concert performance; recording first released in 2020
- ^ Live concert performance; recording first released in 2000
- ^ Live concert performance; recording first released in 1995
- ^ Live concert performance; recording first released in 2006
References
- ^ a b c Kennedy (2004), p. 95
- ^ a b c d e Kennedy (1970), pp. 30–32
- ^ Manuscript, Royal Academy of Music. Retrieved 20 August 2021
- ^ Allis, pp. 248–249
- ^ Moore, p. 427; and Kennedy (2004), pp. 94–95
- ^ a b Elgar, title page and p. 1
- ^ a b Kennedy (2004), pp. 95–95
- ^ a b Elgar’s In the South (Alassio). Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Rosenthal Archives. Retrieved 21 August 2021
- ^ "Miscellaneous Matters", The Musical Standard, 10 December 1904, p. 377
- ^ "Music in Vienna", The Musical Times, April 1905, p. 262
- ^ "Miscellaneous Matters", The Musical Standard, 24 June 1905, p. 393
- ^ "Foreign Notes", The Musical Times, December 1906, p. 840
- ^ Del Mar, p. 167
- ^ Kennedy (1970), p. 24
- ^ Tovey, pp. 83–84
- ^ Newman, p. 168
- OCLC 990314141
- ^ Newman, pp. 123–124
- ^ Kennedy (1987), p. 347
- ^ Review, The Musical Times, January 1905, p. 32 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c Allis, pp. 246–247
- ^ Moore, p. 351
- ^ Rushton, pp. 142–144
- ^ "Music in London", The Musical Times, March 1973, p. 286 (subscription required)
- ^ "Elgar, In the South (Alassio)", WorldCat. Retrieved 21 August 2021
- ^ "Elgar, In the South", Naxos Music Library. Retrieved 21 August 2021 (subscription required)
Sources
- Allis, Michael (2012). British Music and Literary Context: Artistic Connections in the Long Nineteenth Century. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-730-5.
- ISBN 0198165579.
- Elgar, Edward (1904). In the South (Alassio) (PDF). London: Novello. OCLC 1115071384.
- OCLC 1244717492.
- Kennedy, Michael (1987). Portrait of Elgar (third ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-284017-2.
- Kennedy, Michael (2008). The Life of Elgar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81076-0.
- ISBN 978-0-19-315447-6.
- OCLC 2560311.
- ISBN 978-1-139-00225-7.
- OCLC 957498479.
External links
- In the South (Alassio): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Faith Court Orchestra Subiaco, Perth, Australia, 2009
- Reisig, Wayne. In the South at AllMusic