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Elgar's Enigma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1959

J. A. Westrup
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Extract

The title of this paper is intentionally ambiguous. It is meant to be taken in its most obvious sense as a reference to Elgar's Variations. But it also implies a discussion of the composer's personality. The two topics are inevitably linked, and one throws light on the other. I cannot promise a brilliant illumination, and it is better to say straight away that I offer no startling revelations. But I hope it may be possible to suggest trains of thought which others can work on. In a sense this is an interim report. I have been thinking about this subject now for several years, and I expect to go on thinking about it for a good many years to come. There might be an argument for suspending judgment until my own mind is clearer. But as I still cannot see daylight at the end of the tunnel I thought it would be worth while to set down what ideas I have on paper and subject them to the scrutiny of a critical audience.

Type
Articles
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association , Volume 86 , 1959 , pp. 79 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Musical Association, 1959

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References

1 Facsimile of p. 2 in My Friends Pictured Within, London, n.d.Google Scholar

2 Facsimile in Percy M. Young, Elgar O.M., London, 1955, facing p. 113.Google Scholar

3 Mrs. Richard Powell, Edward Elgar: Memories of a Variation, 3rd ed., London, 1949, p. 121. The dots after ‘is not played’ are in the original text.Google Scholar

4 The original draft of this note is in British Museum Add. MS 47908, f0. 87.Google Scholar

5 10 October 1901. Facsimile in Powell, op. cit., between pp. 38–9.Google Scholar

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