Polonia (Elgar)

Last updated

Polonia is a symphonic prelude by the English composer Edward Elgar written in 1915 as his Op. 76.

Contents

History

On 13 April 1915 the Polish conductor Emil Młynarski asked Elgar to compose something, thinking of how Elgar's Carillon had been a recent tribute to Belgium, but this time using Polish national music. [1]

The piece was mainly Elgar's own work, but he included quotations from the Polish National Anthem Mazurek Dąbrowskiego , the Warszawianka and other Polish patriotic songs, and themes by Chopin and Paderewski. [2]

It was first performed at the Polish Victims' Relief Fund Concert in the Queen's Hall, London on 6 July 1915, with the orchestra conducted by the composer. [3] The Relief Fund was a worldwide effort, organised by Paderewski and Henryk Sienkiewicz, in aid of refugees from the terrible conflict in Poland between the forces of Russia and Germany. There were elaborately engraved programmes, each tied with a red and white ribbon, containing messages from Paderewski. [4] Elgar conducted his première and Thomas Beecham conducted the remainder of the concert.

Elgar dedicated Polonia to Paderewski, [5] already a distinguished pianist and composer. Paderewski had written his own "Polonia" in 1908, his Symphony in B minor, to which he had given that subtitle.

Elgar's correspondence with Paderewski

On 29 August 1915, Elgar wrote to Paderewski, asking for permission for the quotation from his Fantasie Polonaise to be published:

Elgar's letter to Paderewski, page 1 Elgar to Paderewski letter001.jpg
Elgar's letter to Paderewski, page 1
Elgar to Paderewski letter002.jpg
Elgar to Paderewski letter003.jpg
Elgar to Paderewski letter004.jpg

My dear Friend,

I hope you are well & that your great work is progressing as you wish: you have our deepest sympathy & the greatest hopes for the future.

For the Polish Concert in July I composed an orchestra piece 'Polonia' as a small personal tribute to you; founded upon some Polish themes the work had success: in the middle section I have brought in remote & I trust with poetic effect a theme of Chopin & with it a theme of your own from the Polish Fantasia linking the two greatest names in Polish music – Chopin & Paderewski. I hope that you will one day hear the piece &, it may be, approve.

My publisher asks me to bring the passage to your notice

[Here Elgar wrote out the opening two bars of Paderewski's theme] ...etc. about 16 bars

& to ask you if you will give permission for the theme to be quoted when the score is printed: we are very anxious to know that you will not object to this & shall be glad of a reply as early as you can conveniently find.

We are in great hopes that you will return to England soon & be assured that the warmest welcome is for you.

With love and reverence, Your friend, Edward Elgar

P.S. I wished to quote a theme from you and the one chosen was suggested by our friend Mrs. C. Stuart Wortley [6] – whose choice can never be wrong.

Paderewski received the work with genuine admiration. He wrote to Elgar after hearing the work for a second time in October:

I heard your noble composition, my beloved Polonia, on two different occasions: deeply touched by the graciousness of your friendly thought, and profoundly moved by the exquisite beauty of your work, I write you a letter of sincere and affectionate appreciation.

Themes

Elgar quotes Polish patriotic songs, the Polish National Anthem, and themes by Chopin and Paderewski, integrating with them a theme of his own, said to be the motive of his admiration for the Polish people. [2]

The first theme that Elgar uses is heard, after an introductory flourish, played by the bassoons. It is a quote from the Warszawianka , which has the words "Śmiało podnieśmy sztandar nasz w górę" ("Bravely let us raise our flag"). This is immediately followed by a Nobilmente theme (Elgar's own), broadly stated then dying away to lead to the second national theme which is the dignified "Chorał" or "Z dymem pożarów" ("With the smoke of fires"), first played simply by the cellos (with a cor anglais) and a harp, later by the woodwind with a violin countermelody, before being played by the full orchestra. The Warszawianka theme is then developed, leading into a brief return of Elgar's theme, before a quotation from Paderewski's Fantasie Polonaise [7] appears, signalled by the ring of a triangle. The magical section following quotes from Chopin's Nocturne in G minor, played by a solo violin, during which the Paderewski theme is heard, and is quietly interrupted by the Warszawianka. There is further development which leads to a triumphant return of the Chorale, which sounds like a conclusion to the work, but no: the Chorale dies away, there is a simple statement of the Polish National Anthem "Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła" ("Poland Is Not Yet Lost"), and it is this Anthem which brings the work to a brilliantly orchestrated conclusion. For the final bars, the instruments of the orchestra are joined by the organ.

A thorough appreciation and analysis of the work has been made by American-born Polish musician Joseph A. Herter. [8]

Recordings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Elgar</span> English composer (1857–1934)

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.

<i>Enigma Variations</i> Musical composition by Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar composed his Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, popularly known as the Enigma Variations, between October 1898 and February 1899. It is an orchestral work comprising fourteen variations on an original theme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karol Szymanowski</span> Polish composer (1882–1937)

Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xaver Scharwenka</span> Musical artist

Theophil Franz Xaver Scharwenka was a German pianist, composer and teacher of Polish descent. He was the brother of Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917), who was also a composer and teacher of music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ignacy Jan Paderewski</span> Polish pianist, composer and statesman (1860–1941)

Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman who was a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the nation's prime minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandre Tansman</span> Polish composer, pianist, conductor (1897–1986)

Alexander Tansman was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of neoclassicism, associated with École de Paris, Tansman was a globally recognized and celebrated composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Elgar)</span>

Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, is one of his longest orchestral compositions, and the last of his works to gain immediate popular success.

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 1 October 1912, conducted by the composer, with Muriel Foster as the soloist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 2 (Elgar)</span>

Sir Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 2 in E♭ major, Op. 63, was completed on 28 February 1911 and was premiered at the London Musical Festival at the Queen's Hall by the Queen's Hall Orchestra on 24 May 1911 with the composer conducting. The work, which Elgar called "the passionate pilgrimage of the soul", was his last completed symphony; the composition of his Symphony No. 3, begun in 1933, was cut short by his death in 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 1 (Elgar)</span>

Sir Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A♭ major, Op. 55 is one of his two completed symphonies. The first performance was given by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter in Manchester, England, on 3 December 1908. It was widely known that Elgar had been planning a symphony for more than ten years, and the announcement that he had finally completed it aroused enormous interest. The critical reception was enthusiastic, and the public response unprecedented. The symphony achieved what The Musical Times described as "immediate and phenomenal success", with a hundred performances in Britain, continental Europe and America within just over a year of its première.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Richter (conductor)</span> Austrian-Hungarian conductor (1843–1916)

Johann Baptist Isidor Richter, or János Richter was an Austro-Hungarian orchestral and operatic conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 3 (Tchaikovsky)</span>

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, was written in 1875. He began it at Vladimir Shilovsky's estate at Ussovo on 5 June and finished on 1 August at Verbovka. Dedicated to Shilovsky, the work is unique in Tchaikovsky's symphonic output in two ways: it is the only one of his seven symphonies in a major key ; and it is the only one to contain five movements.

<i>Cockaigne (In London Town)</i> Concert overture by Edward Elgar

Cockaigne (In London Town), Op. 40, also known as the Cockaigne Overture, is a concert overture for full orchestra written by the British composer Edward Elgar in 1900–1901.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerzy Maksymiuk</span> Polish composer, pianist and orchestra conductor

Jerzy Jan Maksymiuk is a Polish composer, pianist and orchestra conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emil Młynarski</span> Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (1870–1935)

Emil Szymon Młynarski was a Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue.

The Chopin University of Music is a musical conservatorium and academy located in central Warsaw, Poland. It is the oldest and largest music school in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe.

Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work (self-referential), or from a different composer's work (appropriation).

Musical tributes or homages from one composer to another can take many forms. Following are examples of the major types of tributes occurring in classical music. A particular work may fit into more than one of these types.

The Symphony in B minor "Polonia", Op. 24, was written by Ignacy Jan Paderewski between 1903 and 1908, and first publicly performed in 1909. Although he lived for another 32 years, the symphony was virtually Paderewski's last composition; he wrote only one more work before his death in 1941 - a hymn for male chorus in 1917. Around 1910, he commenced what would become a political career, culminating in becoming the first Prime Minister of independent Poland and signing the Treaty of Versailles on behalf of his nation in 1919. He later returned to the concert platform as a virtuoso pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henryk Opieński</span>

Henryk Opieński was a Polish composer, violinist, teacher, administrator and musicologist. His writings on, and collected letters by, Frédéric Chopin, were considered of paramount importance in Chopin studies of the time.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Moore 1984, p. 682: "On 13 April [1915] Edward had a visit from the Polish composer Emil Młynarski ... [he wanted] an Elgarian tribute to Poland, as Carillon had paid tribute to Belgium. Młynarski hinted at a fantasy on Polish airs."
  2. 1 2 Kennedy 1987, p. 269: "Original Elgar was united with quotations from Chopin, Paderewski, and the Polish national anthem."
  3. ↑ Kennedy 1987, p. 354.
  4. ↑ Moore 1984, p. 682–683: "On the Eastern Front the carnage in Polish territories between Germany and Russia was more terrible. Paderewski organized a 'Polish Relief Fund' in London ... At the Polish concert on 6 July there were elaborately engraved programmes, each tied with a red and white ribbon and containing messages from Paderewski."
  5. ↑ Kennedy 1987, p. 179.
  6. ↑ Alice Stuart-Wortley, Elgar's close friend and correspondent, whom he nicknamed "Windflower"
  7. ↑ Classics on Line Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Recording of Paderewski's Fantasie Polonaise
  8. ↑ Herter, Elgar Society Journal, vol.11, no.2, July 1999, Elgar's Polonia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.