The Severn Suite; Nursery Suite by Edward Elgar Score - Sheet Music

SKU: ST.EWE26

Composed by Edward Elgar. Library Volumes. Score. Stainer & Bell Ltd. #EWE26. Published by Stainer & Bell Ltd. (ST.EWE26).

ISBN 9781904856269.

After his wife’s death in 1920, Elgar composed little of significance for many years. In his twilight years, he was encouraged by friends to return to the composition of more substantial works and, in 1930, composed three in quick succession:n

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• The first of these was The Severn Suite which, after protectracted negotiations with Herbert Whiteley, a leading figure in the British brass band movement, Elgar agreed to compose as a test piece for the National Brass Band Championships. Elgar was obviously sufficiently pleased with the outcome to orchestrate the work the following year but his publishers Keith Prowse never issued it in full score.
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• The second work, on which he had started composition before with The Severn Suite and completed the two works in parallel, was the fifth Pomp and Circumstance, honouring a commitment to Boosey to provide a set of six marches.
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• The third work, which Elgar composed in the latter months of 1930, was the Nursery Suite. Elgar claimed to have rediscovered a bundle of his youthful compositions, from which he was encouraged by a member of his recording company HMV (no doubt thinking of a potential recording) to turn into a suite similar in style to the Wand of Youth suites from some 25 years earlier.
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nIn the event, Elgar recorded all three works for HMV and the first two have since entered the mainstream repertoire, but Nursery Suite lacked the inspiration of The Wand of Youth and its popularity has languished. The fifth Pomp and Circumstance March appears in Volume 29 of the Complete Edition, but this volume, edited by conductor David Lloyd-Jones, contains, in their orchestral forms, the first and third of the above works, published by Keith Prowse as part of Elgar’s contractual commitment to provide them with three new compositions a year.