Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.787361

Composed by Edward Elgar. Arranged by Greg Bartholomew. 20th Century,Concert,Standards,World. Score and parts. 22 pages. Burke & Bagley #4793345. Published by Burke & Bagley (A0.787361).

This is an orchestra arrangement of Elgar's choral setting of the Tennyson poem, There Is Sweet Music.  Scored for single winds, horn in F, and strings.  1111 1000 Strings.  Duration approx. 3'45.  

Among the best-known compositions of Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) are his orchestral works, the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies among them. He is also known for his choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs.

 

Elgar’s 1907 set of Four Part Songs, choral miniatures for unaccompanied mixed chorus, are some of the most challenging in the repertoire.  The first of these, setting a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), There Is Sweet Music presents a particularly special challenge to the singers, as apparently the first music ever published composed in two simultaneous keys.  The men are in G major throughout, while the women are in A-flat major, two harmonically distant keys.  Nevertheless, the music never sounds particularly dissonant and the effect is gentle.

 

Choral conductor Dr. Gary D. Cannon noted an orchestral quality in Elgar’s choral writing and suggested the possibility that There Is Sweet Music might be transcribed for orchestra, giving the men’s parts to the strings and the women’s parts to the winds.  Composer Greg Bartholomew accepted this challenge and produced this arrangement.