Sir. Edward Elgar (1857-1934) completed his first symphony in 1908, which was an instant success. Within weeks of its premiere in Manchester, it was played in London, Vienna, New York, St Petersburg and Leipzig. Within the first year, it had been performed over a hundred times, in England, Europe and America.
The symphony consists of four movements:
- Andante. Nobilmente e semplice - Allegro
- Allegro molto
- Adagio
- Lento - Allegro
In the following I will take a closer look at the second movement, allgero molto - very fast
The movement opens with a single note marked in the low instruments of the orchestra, followed by a figure in the low strings:
The violins quickly follow with an energetic theme:
The woodwinds follow up with a contrasting figure:
The violins briefly return to the first melody, but the woodwind figure takes over and leads the orchestra into a new melody in the violins:
This melody is more abrupt, more fragmented than the other, but both drive the music forward. This melody quickly spreads to the whole orchestra, and just as abruptly as it began, Elgar removes it again. It is replaced with a march-like melody in the viola and clarinet:
This melody is then moved around to different instruments in the orchestra, and towards the end of the trombones' theme, the violins begin to play their abrupt melody as an underlay.
The whole section builds towards the climax, and soon the flute melody from earlier fades in and the energy of the orchestra slowly dissipates.
After the climax, the wing begins a light and idyllic melody that fills the next long piece:
However, the idyll is not allowed to continue as the strings abruptly begin one of their previous melodies as an underlay, and this changes the colour of the melody very radically:
The whole orchestra soon fades away and the idyllic melody disappears completely... until the second climax is reached and all sound abruptly disappears:
The flute returns with a modified melody and this time with orchestral backing, giving a much more up-tempo feel and energy:
Then follows a recycling of many of the earlier themes until the movement is soon brought to a close. One of the last things we hear is a melody in the bassoon that is carried over into the oboe and contrasted by the march feel we got early in the movement: