Elgar - violin concerto in B minor

1 Allegro
2 Andante
3 Allegro molto

The 'Variations on an original theme' was not the only composition by Elgar to embody a musical enigma, for this concerto bears a heading in Spanish which translates as: "Herein is enshrined the soul of ….. (1910)" Elgar's use of five mysterious dots instead of a printer's customary three is significant, and was almost certainly intentional.

Although the mystery has never conclusively been solved, the weight of documentary evidence points to the inspiration behind this intimate and contemplative music being Alice Stuart-Wortley, a close friend of the composer with whom he undoubtedly shared a deep emotional bond. Elgar referred to her as 'Windflower' and during the composition of the concerto he wrote to her that he had been "working hard at the wind flower themes - but all stands still until you come and approve". In later years he was to refer to "our own concerto" in letters to her.

The composer's violinist friend W H Read provided advice on certain technical points during the composition of the concerto, which was finished in 1910, at a time when Elgar, despite the emotional drain caused by the composition of the first symphony, was at the height of his powers. Reed and Elgar performed the concerto that autumn, Elgar playing the orchestral part on the piano, for a private gathering of friends in Gloucester, and the first performance proper took place in the Queen's Hall, London, on 10th November, with Fritz Kreisler, to whom the work was dedicated, as soloist and Elgar conducting. In was an immediate and unqualified success.

Not only does the soul of the violin, Elgar's favourite instrument, seem to be enshrined in this music, but the soul of the composer, too, for it seems to reflect the inward-looking aspects of his complex personality, and although the solo part demands a virtuoso's technique, it is far removed from being a vehicle for virtuostic display.

Four brief themes, perhaps better thought of as 'phrases' owing to their extreme brevity, make up the opening movement's first subject group. These are introduced in quick succession by the orchestra and woven into a rich tapestry before the second subject, a short but hauntingly wistful theme is reached. Eventually the solo violin makes its entry, one of the most memorable in all violin literature, with a warm nobilamente version of the concerto's opening theme. A number of important new figures are introduced in the development section, which rises to a passionate climax before the restatement of the principal ideas that leads to the movement's brilliant conclusion.

The slow movement is in the remote key of B flat, and is characterised by lyrical sweetness tinged by moments of passionate regret. Particularly striking is the soloist's entry, with a counter-melody pitched inside the orchestral string parts of the simple opening theme. The key shifts to D flat, and the reappearance of the opening theme rises to a climax where reference is made to one of the first movement's opening subject phases, showing how closely related are the various ideas in this concerto. As Elgar himself so memorably put it, all the themes in any one of his works 'come from the same oven'.

The finale begins forcefully in B minor, out of which emerge two main themes, one striding, and the other more emotional and lyrical. Further ideas are developed and the movement presses forward, eventually arriving at the most inspired passage in the whole concerto, a long accompanied cadenza of overwhelming poetic beauty; the nucleus of the entire work. While the divided orchestral strings thrum (Elgar's word) a soft pizzicato tremolando the soloist gently meditates on the themes of earlier movements, lingering over and caressing them and spinning beautiful figurations around the notes, eventually to be left unsupported in a more orthodox series of double stops, finally breaking away to return to the finale's opening theme with which the work moves swiftly to its triumphant ending.

Perhaps the last word is best left to tonight's soloist Thomas Bowes, who writes on his website of how much this particular concerto means to him, ever since first hearing that extraordinary recording of the sixteen-year-old Menuhin with Elgar himself conducting. He concludes with these words: "Now that I know the work thoroughly and life has touched me more deeply, it has become a different kind of treasure. There is no piece whose journey so moves me, whether playing or listening and there are certain moments that will always, it seems, bring tears."