Romance for violin (Elgar)

The Romance in E minor for violin and piano is a work by Edward Elgar composed in 1878 or 1879 ^[1] and published in 1885 as his Opus 1.

The Romance was dedicated to Oswin Grainger, an older friend of Elgar's from a Worcester orchestra they played in, who was an amateur musician and grocer by trade.^[2] It was published by Schott's in 1885 and the first performance was on 20 October, in Worcester.^[3]

Structure

Andante 12/8 E minor

Following the 4 bars of introduction by piano, violin shows the subject shown in excerpt 1.

Excerpt 1

$\relative c' \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } { \key e \minor \time 12/8 e'2.\p \upbow \< g4\!( fis8\>) e4( dis8\!) a'4.~\downbow _\markup \italic restez. ( a8 g-- fis--) e4.~\< ( e4 c'8--\!) c4_\markup \italic espress. ( g8) g4( fis8) b4( fis8) fis4( e8) a4\>( e8\!) e4-- dis8--\downbow fis2.\upbow }$

Then, the same introduction by piano induces the exposure of excerpt 2, in G minor, played by violin.

Excerpt 2

$\relative c' \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } { \key e \minor \time 12/8 d2.\p ^\markup \italic { poco più mosso. } ( e\<) d'\! b c4.~( c8_\markup \italic dol. b a) g4 e8( a4) e8 g4.~( g8 fis e) d4.-- b8--( c-- cis--) }$

The music reaches passionate climaxes twice before excerpt 1 reappears. Double stop of violin leads the quiet end of the work.

It is a short work, with performing time about 5 minutes.

Recordings

Elgar: Romance for Violin & Piano, Op. 1, Simone Lamsma (Violin), Yurie Miura (Piano)
Elgar: Romance for Violin & Piano, Op. 1^{[permanent dead link‍]}, Marat Bisengaliev (Violin), Benjamin Frith (Piano)

Notes

^ Kennedy, p. 12
^ Moore, p. 72-73
^ McVeagh, p. 13

References

Kennedy, Michael (1987). Portrait of Elgar (Third ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-284017-7.
McVeagh, Diana M. (1955). Edward Elgar: His Life and Music. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
Moore, Jerrold N. (1984). Edward Elgar: a Creative Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-315447-1.
Score, Elgar: Romance pour Violon, Schott & Co., London, ca. 1885

External links

Romance for violin: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Other Music for Piano and Violin on website from Elgar Society
Romance for violin at AllMusic

[1] Kennedy, p. 12

[2] Moore, p. 72-73

[3] McVeagh, p. 13

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