''The Music Makers'', Op. 69, is a work for

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middl ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

composed by

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

. It was dedicated to "''my friend Nicholas Kilburn''". It was first performed at the

Birmingham Festival The Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, in Birmingham, England, founded in 1784, was the longest-running classical music festival of its kind. It last took place in 1912. History The first music festival, over three days in September 17 ...

on 1 October 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 Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (14 March 184430 January 1881) was a British poet and herpetologist. Of Irish descent, he was born in London. He is most remembered for his poem " Ode", from his 1874 collection ''Music and Moonlight'', which ...

, 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 ''The Dream of Gerontius'', Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment b ...

'', and "sea-breakers" by the opening of '' Sea Pictures''. The music also quotes the first and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

symphonies, the Violin Concerto, "Nimrod" (from the ''

Enigma Variations 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. Elgar ...

''), ''

Rule, Britannia "Rule, Britannia!" is a British Patriotism, patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson (poet, born 1700), James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated w ...

'' and ''

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

''. Most of the music however is original.

Criticism

It was commissioned for, and first performed at, the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, 1912. Early criticism of the work was directed more at the words than at the music, but it was also dismissed as tawdry and self-centred. It is true that performances are rare, particularly outside England. The self-quotations inevitably bring to mind Strauss's ''

Ein Heldenleben ''Ein Heldenleben'' (''A Hero's Life''), Op. 40, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss. The work was completed in 1898. It was his eighth work in the genre, and exceeded any of its predecessors in its orchestral demands. Generally agreed to be a ...

'', but with different intent; Elgar is depicting the artist not as hero but as bard.

Notable recordings

*Elgar recorded extracts of the work at the Three Choirs Festival on September 8, 1927 * London Philharmonic Choir (chorus master : Frederic Jackson),

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symp ...

and with Janet Baker, conducted by

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in Londo ...

, coupled with ''

'' (EMI, December 1966) *

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

and chorus with Jean Rigby, conducted by Andrew Davis, coupled with short orchestral pieces (Teldec, 1994) * Hallé Orchestra and 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) * Music Makers / Sea Pictures, Naxos 8.557710. Sarah Connolly,

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

, conducted by Simon Wright. This recording was a 2007 Grammy nominee, for the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance

References

External links

* *Free scores of this work in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Music Makers (Elgar), The Compositions by Edward Elgar Choral compositions 1912 compositions