View source for Introduction and Allegro (Elgar)

{{Short description|1905 musical work by Edward Elgar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Edward Elgar.jpg|thumb|225px|right|Sir Edward Elgar]]
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[[Edward Elgar|Sir Edward Elgar]]'s '''''Introduction and Allegro for Strings''''', Op. 47, was composed in 1905 for performance in an all-Elgar concert by the newly formed [[London Symphony Orchestra]]. It is a string concertante piece scored for solo [[string quartet]] and [[string orchestra]], Elgar composed it to show off the players' virtuosity.<ref name="hyperion">[http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W15881_GBDGQ0507501&vw=dc The Hyperion Records/London Symphony Orchestra, Introduction and Allegro, a historical overview, accessed 22 December 2014]</ref> The work, which is roughly twelve to fourteen minutes in length, is like a multi-layered symphonic poem for string orchestra, with several prominent themes.

==First performance==
Elgar rehearsed the solo string quartet separately at the home of his friend, the music patron [[Frank Schuster (music patron)|Frank Schuster]], in [[Bray, Berkshire|Bray]], Berkshire on March 4. The quartet was made up of Arthur Payne (leader of the London Symphony Orchestra), W.H. Eayres, Alfred Hobday, and Bertie Patterson. The full orchestral premiere took place at [[Queen's Hall]] on March 8, 1905, conducted by the composer.<ref>'The London Symphony Orchestra', in ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 46, No. 746 (April 1905), p.259 </ref> Initial critical reception was lukewarm, and after a handful of repeat performances (including at the [[BBC Proms|Proms]] on 12 September 1905 and at the [[Three Choirs Festival]] on 13 September) the work was mostly neglected for the next thirty years. After the Second World War the score came to be recognized as a masterpiece.<ref>Peter Manning. '[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/blogs/article/the-introduction-and-allegro-and-the-brilliance-of-elgar-s-writing-for-strings#:~:text=The%20work%20premiered%20in%20the,in%20Maidenhead%20on%20March%204. The Introduction and Allegro, and the brilliance of Elgar's writing for strings]', in ''Gramophone'', 3 February, 2025</ref>  

The work is dedicated to [[Samuel Sanford]], who had been instrumental in having Elgar awarded an honorary doctorate of music at [[Yale University]] on 28 June 1905,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~j.b.w/elg2.htm|title=Elgar's English Twilight, an Idyll|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011223556/http://www.btinternet.com/~j.b.w/elg2.htm|archive-date=2012-10-11|first=James Beswick|last=Whitehead}}</ref> where the [[Pomp and Circumstance Marches#March No. 1 in D|Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1]] was played for the first time at such a conferral ceremony.

In February 1905 the [[British Library]] acquired a set of original sketches of the piece. These had been ripped out of the composer's 1905 sketch book in 1930 and given to a friend.<ref>[https://blogs.bl.uk/music/2025/02/elgars-musical-sketches-reunited-at-the-british-library.html 'Elgar’s musical sketches reunited at the British Library'], British Library, 23 February, 2025</ref>

== Structure ==
{{Listen
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| filename     = NYCP Elgar Introduction and Allegro.webm
| title        = ''Introduction and Allegro for Strings''
| description  = Performed in 2020 by the New York Classical Players
| filename2    = US Marine Band Introduction and Allegro (Elgar).opus
| title2       = ''Introduction and Allegro for Strings''
| description2 = Performed in 2018 by the [[United States Marine Band]]
}}
The piece opens with a [[tutti]] descending [[fanfare]], which segues into a [[major scale|major-key]] [[Tempo|moderato]] section, interspersed by an ''Allegretto e poco [[stringendo]]'' section consisting of two measures in length. Foreshadowing into a slow, lyrical theme played by the solo viola, Elgar cascades between solo voice and orchestra by use of [[List of musical terminology|echo]]. Elgar writes that this theme is a quotation of a song sung by a distant voice that he had heard during a holiday in [[Wales]].<ref>[http://www.elgar.org/3intrall.htm Elgar Society website, accessed 8 November 2007]</ref> An expressive, romantic section leads into a recapitulation of the opening fanfare and Welsh theme, ending the Introduction and transitioning jovially into the [[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|Allegro]].

The Allegro begins with a theme in [[G major]] built around a quarter-eighth-eighth note [[Motif (music)|motif]].  21 measures of nonstop sixteenth-notes build from ''[[dynamics (music)|piano]]'' to a powerful ''[[dynamics (music)|forte]]'' as the piece arrives at a [[hemiola]]-infused G major restatement of the Introduction's opening fanfare. Instead of a [[musical development|development]] section as would be expected in traditional [[sonata form]], a new theme is introduced, a vigorous [[fugue]] in which the piece returns to the opening key of [[G minor]]. In a letter to his good friend A. J. Jaeger ("Nimrod" of the [[Enigma Variations]]), Elgar referred to this section as a "devil of a fugue".  After the fugue concludes, the piece's themes are all recapitulated in G major, initially begun by a unison orchestra before dividing across [[List of musical terminology|echo]] between orchestra and solo quartet. With the Welsh theme repeating a succession of three times before striking a momentous {{serif|[[dynamics (music)|'''''fff''''']]}}, on which the orchestra is in unison again (see Polyphony), it is this time echoed by the solo quartet, a change from the rest of the piece. The Welsh theme appears in all its splendour in a triumphant coda for the fifth and final time, before ending with a ternary [[cadence (music)|perfect cadence]] followed by a G major  [[Chord (music)|chord]] in which the whole orchestra plays ''[[pizzicato]]'', except for the double basses, who play with their bows.

=== Composition style ===
''Introduction and Allegro'' was composed in a neo-resurrected form of the Baroque concerto grosso.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/Programme_Notes/elgar_introallegro.htm |title=Elgar – Introduction and Allegro for Strings |access-date=25 December 2007}}</ref> However, such solos are not confined solely to the solo quartet, but rather are distributed ever so often among the accompanying orchestra, such as at the first transition entering the Allegro. The solo quartet, however, often blend back into the orchestra, but rarely play exactly the same notes as the accompanying orchestra.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sonyc.org/audiovisual.html |title=String Orchestra of New York City |access-date=25 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108225334/http://www.sonyc.org/audiovisual.html |archive-date=8 January 2008 }}</ref>

[[Music theory#Texture|Polyphony]] dictates much of the piece, often with multiple themes or motifs interleaving with one another. Since polyphony is the most complex of all musical textures, it comes as no surprise that ''Introduction and Allegro'' is an attempt to show the virtuosity of each musician performing the piece.

Much of the piece focuses on the tremendous virtuoso-technicalities within the violin parts. After all, the piece "fully [reflects] Elgar's first-hand knowledge as a former violinist himself".<ref name="hyperion"/> This however adds complications in the lower-frequency instruments, particularly in the bass part, which can clearly be seen as one of the most challenging of string orchestra repertoire. This, however, could be Elgar reminiscing to the Baroque [[concerto grosso]] form, in which the cello and bass parts are sometimes the same.

==Notable recordings==
* Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli (1947)
* Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch (1957)
* LPO, Sir Adrian Boult (1961)
* Sinfonia of London, Sir John Barbirolli (1963)
* LPO, Vernon Handley (1983)
* Berlin Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov (2018)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{IMSLP2|work=Introduction_and_Allegro,_Op.47_(Elgar,_Edward)|cname=Introduction and Allegro}}
*[http://traffic.libsyn.com/gardnermuseum/elgar_Op47.mp3 Recording] by the Gardner Chamber Orchestra from the [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]] in [[MP3]] format

{{Edward Elgar}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Introduction And Allegro (Elgar)}}
[[Category:Compositions by Edward Elgar]]
[[Category:Compositions for string orchestra]]
[[Category:1905 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions in G minor]]
[[Category:Compositions in G major]]
[[Category:Compositions using folk songs]]