''Salut d'Amour'' (''Liebesgruß''), Op. 12, is a musical work 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 ...

in 1888, originally written for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

History

Elgar finished the piece in July 1888, when he was romantically involved with Caroline Alice Roberts, and he called it ''"Liebesgruss"'' ('Love's Greeting') because of Miss Roberts' fluency in German. On their engagement she had already presented him with a poem "'' The Wind at Dawn''" which he set to music and, when he returned home to London on 22 September from a holiday at the house of his friend Dr. Charles Buck in Settle, he gave her ''Salut d'Amour'' as an engagement present. The dedication was in French: ''"à Carice"''. ''"Carice"'' was a combination of his wife's names ''Car''oline Al''ice'', and was the name to be given to their daughter born two years later. It was published a year later by Schott & Co., a German publisher, with offices in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. The first published editions were for violin and piano, piano solo, cello and piano, and for small orchestra. Few copies were sold until Schott changed the title to ''"Salut d'Amour"'' with ''Liebesgruss'' as a sub-title, and the composer's name as 'Ed. Elgar'. The French title, Elgar realised, would help the work to be sold not only in France but in other European countries. The first public performance was of the orchestral version, at a Crystal Palace concert on 11 November 1889, conducted by August Manns. The first recording of that version was made in 1915 for

The Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...

with an orchestra conducted by the composer. As a violin-and-piano piece ''Salut d'Amour'' had been recorded for The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd (predecessor to The Gramophone Company) as early as 1901 by Jacques Jacobs, leader/director of the Trocadero Restaurant orchestra.

Auguste van Biene Auguste van Biene (16 May 1849 – 23 January 1913) was a Dutch composer, cellist and actor. He became best known for his composition ''The Broken Melody'', performed by the composer as part of a musical play of the same name. Van Biene gre ...

recorded a

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

transcription in 1907.

Legacy

''"Salut d'amour"'' is one of Elgar's best-known works and has inspired numerous arrangements for widely varying instrumental combinations. There are also versions with lyrics in different languages, for example the song ''"Woo thou, Sweet Music"'' with words by A. C. Bunten,Alice Chambers Bunten, scholar, author and lyricist for many songs, well known for her ''Life of Alice Barnham, Wife of Sir Francis Bacon'' (London: Oliphants Ltd., 1928). She translated the ''Wesendonck-Lieder'' of Wagner. and ''"Violer"'' (Pansies) in Swedish. '' Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes'' based on Edgar Rice Burrough's famous novel features ''"Salut d'amour"'' being played on a gramophone by Belgian

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Phillippe d'Arnot and a band of

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adventurers including the brutal

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Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Jack Downing

Notes

References

* Kennedy, Michael, ''Portrait of Elgar'' (Oxford University Press, Third ed., 1987) * Moore, Jerrold N. ''Edward Elgar: a creative life'' (Oxford University Press, 1984)

External links

* {{Authority control Compositions by Edward Elgar 1888 compositions Chamber music by Edward Elgar Compositions in E major Compositions for violin and piano Compositions for symphony orchestra