The Music Makers (Elgar)

"The Music Makers", op.69, is a work for contralto or mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was dedicated to "my friend Nicholas Kilburn". It was first performed at the Birmingham Festival on October 1, 1912, conducted by the composer, with Muriel Foster as the soloist.

The text of the work is the 1874 poem "Ode" by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, which Elgar set in its entirety. He had been working on the music intermittently since 1903, without a specific commission.

Analysis

The words of the poem no doubt appealed to Elgar's nature, as it celebrates the dreaming artist — by 1912, he was established as part of British artistic society, but was ambivalent at best about that society. The mood of the Ode is clear in the first lines, which depict the isolation of the creative artist::We are the music makers,
: And we are the dreamers of dreams,
:Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
: And sitting by desolate streams...
Later verses celebrate the importance of the artist to his society.

The music is for the most part reserved and personal, and Elgar quotes his own music several times. Sometimes there is a specific verbal cue: for example, the word "dreams" is accompanied by a theme from "The Dream of Gerontius", and "sea-breakers" by the opening of "Sea Pictures". The music also quotes the First and Second Symphonies, the Violin Concerto, "Nimrod" (from the "Enigma Variations"), "Rule, Britannia" and "La Marseillaise".

However, it is possible to make too much of the self-quotations. Most of the music is original, and Elgar more than does justice to O'Shaughnessy, displaying a perfect ear for the sounds of the chorus and the mezzo-soprano.

Criticism

It was commissioned for, and first performed at, the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, 1912. Early criticism of the work were directed more at the words than at the music, but it was also dismissed as tawdry and self-centred [cite book|title=Portrait of Elgar|author=Michael Kennedy|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1968|id=ISBN 193154145] . It is true that performances are rare, particularly outside England. The self-quotations inevitably bring to mind Strauss's "Ein Heldenleben", but with different intent; Elgar is depicting the artist not as hero but as bard.

Notable recordings

*Hallé and Hallé Choir with Jane Irwin, conducted by Mark Elder, coupled with "Froissart", "Dream Children" and J.S. Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (Hallé HLL 7509, 2005)
*Elgar recorded extracts of the work at the Three Choirs Festival on September 8, 1927
*London Philharmonic Orchestra with Janet Baker, conducted by Adrian Boult, coupled with The Dream of Gerontius (EMI, before 1975)
*BBC Symphony Orchestra and chorus with Jean Rigby, conducted by Andrew Davis, coupled with short orchestral pieces (Teldec, 1994)

References

External links

*Free scores of in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)