Talk:Cello Concerto (Elgar)

E minor

E minor, not E major. Right? 78.234.64.20 (talk) 21:24, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Time of composition

I think he wrote this piece during the summer of 1919, though neither my big Grove nor any of my CD notes actually say. I clarified that while he was able to hear the artillery of the titanic struggle in Flanders from his cottage in the woods, it would have been during previous years (1916 and 1917 most likely--the big struggle at Passchendaele was in the late summer-early fall of 1917, and I think that's the one they heard in England) Antandrus 17:09, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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Elgar's first love was during the 1880s with a Worcester girl by the name of Helen Weaver. Breaking their engagement, Helen left Worcester for New Zealand in order to recover from TB. Elgar was never able to fully put aside his feelings for Helen, even after she married a Patea banker and had two children.

Kenneth Munro, Helen's son, fought for New Zealand in Gallipoli with the ANZACs. After three months he was evacuated to London following a collapse. It is likely that Elgar met with young Kenneth when he was in London. This meeting would have stirred Elgar's feelings for his longed-for, first love.

When Kenneth had recovered he was dispatched to the Western front. The tragedy of the war became yet more personal when Elgar read in the Daily Telegraph Roll of Honour of the death of Kenneth, the son of his lost, beloved Helen.

Within days Elgar left London in a serious depression. It has been suggested that when he was later hospitalised with an illness he was inspired to write his great work not just by the overall meaningless of the war but specifically by the death of Kenneth Munro. --ManAntz 00:35, 11 December 2006 (UTC)ManAntz

When listening to the first movement, I noticed the exact match of the initial melody with a section of "Coventry Carol" as recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1960. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Trofan (talk • contribs) 18:42, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

See... The Film and History Association of Australia & New Zealand

Elgar's Enigma And Elgar Cello Concerto

Elgar Birth Place Museum

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The movement timings

They look so precise as to probably have been taken from a single recording - that's probably not a good idea... (if it was a median from several, then I take it back) Lethe 22:55, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Probably not (a good idea). I wouldn't take them down completely though, so I'm going to put "appox." in front of them. —  $PЯINGεrαgђ  21:19, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

They come from the Barbirolli-du Pré recording, which has much more dramatic tempo variations (only in places, not thru the whole work). —  $PЯINGεrαgђ  21:32, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

List of timings

Thanks to the wonderful GMG forum I have my answers :-) I'll leave them all here so that people can double check/add to/correct my median (not least because I don't trust my maths skills): Lethe 09:50, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Performers	Mvmt I	Mvmt II	Mvmt III	Mvmt IV	TT
Harrison/Elgar/New SO	7:10	4:25	4:01	9:19	24:55
Fournier/Wallenstein/BPO	7:14	4:11	4:11	10:27	26:03
Mørk/Tabachnik/OP de Monte Carlo	7:31	4:32	4:35	11:00	27:38
Starker/Slatkin/LPO	7:25	4:29	4:35	11:11	27:40
Casals/Boult/BBC Symphony	7:49	4:42	4:04	11:07	27:42
Carr/Tortelier/BBC Philharmonic	7:32	4:34	4:33	11:05	27:44
Wispelwey/Van Steen/Netherlands RP	7:38	4:34	4:31	11:09	27:52
Maisky/Sinopoli/Philharmonia	7:47	4:08	5:03	11:13	28:11
Harrell/Maazel/Cleveland	8:01	4:28	4:51	10:52	28:12
Isserlis/Hickox/LSO	7:54	4:45	4:45	11:31	28:55
Schiff/Marriner/Staatskapelle Dresden	7:42	4:28	5:40	11:11	29:01
Yo-Yo Ma/Previn/LSO	12:25	joined	5:00	11:42	29:07
Du Pré/Barbirolli/LSO/1965	7:58	4:28	5:15	12:15	29:56
Kliegel/Halász/RPO	8:53	4:39	5:07	12:04	30:43

Works for me. :) Thank you. —  $PЯINGεrαgђ  16:27, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

references for the Music section?

Is this original research? Where are the citations? — Preceding unsigned comment added by HammerFilmFan (talk • contribs) 21:51, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Popularity

The idea that its popularity dates from the 1960s is a bit dubious. I think it is probably a misunderstanding of the Du Pre legend and its refraction through television. Before Du Pre began playing it (I was at her RFH debut in the piece, which was remarkable) there were more recordings of the Cello than the Violin Concerto and the most highly esteemed (other than by 'The Record Guide') was that of Casals, whose late 1930s performances were highly regarded. It wasn't Du Pre's, but Casals's performance which inspired a famous tribute to the work in one of JB Priestly's plays, The Linden Tree (1947). And it was possible to learn the piece from BBC broadcasts, which were far more frequent than those of the Violin Concerto, which for a good deal of the 1950s lacked (apart from Thomas Matthewa) a regular advocate, until the LP transfer of the Menuhin-Elgar performance was reissued in mid-decade. I would say its position in the UK repertoire from perhaps 1950 was that of the most frequently heard of Elgar's major orchestral works. Du Pre and Barenboim took it to a television audience which already knew it.94.195.138.242 (talk) 22:53, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Interesting, but I'm not sure the facts sustain the argument. The Heifetz/Sargent recording of the Violin Concerto came out on 78s in 1951 and on LP in 1953 and remained available throughout the decade. As to live performances, a quick rummage in the archives of The Times for the 1950s turns up notices of 20 concert hall or studio performances of the Violin Concerto, by such as Menuhin, Campoli, Haendel, Pougnet (and indeed Matthews), and 17 of the Cello Concerto by soloists including Fournier, Pini, Tortelier, Starker and, most freqently, Navarra. Compare and contrast with this year, in which the Elgar Society lists 13 performances of the Cello Concerto between January and May alone. By the bye it wasn't only The Record Guide that had reservations about Casals's Elgar. The Times called it "glowing but mannered"; in Fanfare Bernard Jacobson called it "only for Casals completists", and Gramophone called it "full of wisdom and interpretative incident, if rather too idiosyncratic for some tastes" – Tim riley talk 12:07, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

Rostropovich and du Pre

I put in an additional reference about Rostropovich not having the concerto in his standard repertoire because, he said, she played it better. My memory is that his two issued recordings (one in 2006) were of live performances long before the issuing -- recorded by the BBC? -- and that Rostropovich may not have made any studio recording of Elgar's concerto. Marlindale (talk) 01:10, 27 January 2015 (UTC)