Thomas Edney

To what extent is the first movement of Elgar’s first symphony a twentieth cen-tury symphony?

Elgar’s first symphony was composed in 1908 at a time of post-romantic and impressionist music when many composers pushed the boundaries and the norm of symphonies. Unlike a lot of the music that was being composed at the time, Elgar’s first symphony is a piece of absolute music. The piece is not inspired by anything or not an artistic response to anything. This approach was championed by composers such as Brahms in the 19th century, whom Elgar admired. Structurally, however, many first movements of symphonies stuck to the typical sonata form which was devel-oped in the early classical era in the times with Haydn pioneering it. This form was primarily struc-tured: Exposition, Development and Recapitulation, however sometimes codas, codettas and an introduction could be found. The first movement of Elgar’s first symphony does not differ from this, despite this Elgar’s use of sonata form deviates greatly from that of typical sonata form giving a 20th century approach to the classical structure. It is not abnormal for an introduction to be used in the first movement of a symphony and Elgar also employs this, however what he uses it for is a much more uncommon and a much more modern feature of the piece. In the introduction of the movement Elgar presents the central theme of the piece. The idea of a central theme or idee fixé harks back to the late romantic era and prime example is Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz where the idee fixé of the piece is heard in all five movements of the piece. The central theme of Elgar’s first symphony at first feels like his previous romantic and nationalist motifs that Elgar had became famous for however the motif is unusually structured with the first phrase last-ing for seven bars, the second for ten bars and the final phrase lasting merely six bars, this uneven phrasing is something a lot more common of the 20th century.

The tonality of the first movement of the symphony is something which deviates massively from the the norm and is one of the main features of the symphony which is more typical of the 20th century. In typical sonata form the expositions first subject would be stated in the tonic key and the second subject in the dominant key, then in the development the themes of both subjects are developed tonally as well as melodically and harmonically before both subjects are stated in the tonic key at the recapitulation. However in the first movement of symphony one, the introduction is stated in Ab, the home key of the symphony, but after this the movement shifts to the distant key of D minor. This shift is very drastic and completely unexpected as there is little connection be-tween Ab major and D minor, however the second subject of the exposition is presented in F ma-jor. The modulation of minor to relative major is much more common in symphonies in minor keys. Despite this the tonality of the movement is weak and this is strikingly evident in the devel-opment section. This section of the movement has two tonal centres, Bb and D minor, yet it is im-possible to establish a firm tonality in the development due to the vast use of chromatic chords. This lack of tonality is something very common of works in the twentieth century however the work is not A tonal because there is a sense of harmony, albeit it is incredibly chromatic. The reca-pitulation begins in D minor until figure 35 when there is a modulation to Ab, however this key is nowhere near established at this point and isn’t until figure 38, the beginning of the second sub-ject recapitulation. The abrupt modulation to Ab is completely unexpected as if typical sonata form was to be followed the piece would remain in D minor however the modulation is encoun-tered and the piece remains in Ab until the end of the movement.

Granting that Elgar does use sonata form, what makes it 20th century is that the movement is multi-thematic. The first subject contains four themes all of which are distinctly identifiable. The first is a primarily conjunct theme in D minor however some accidentals are encountered, the sec-ond is much more disjunct theme in G minor, this time in 6/4 rather then 2/2. The third is a chro-

Thomas Edney

matic theme alternating between major thirds which is also in G minor and compound time and the fourth is conjunct theme in A minor, also in compound time. These four themes, along with the central theme and other thematic material are continuously developed by Elgar throughout the movement. The development of motifs begins just before figure 15 with an augmentation of the first subject theme in flutes. This is bizarre because the piece is still in it’s exposition. At the codetta, figure 18, a restatement of the central theme is heard. This time the melody is in the horns with the second violins, violas, cellos and basses accompanying, however this time a devel-oped countermelody is heard in the bassoon and flute leading to the development. At the begin-ning of the development at figure 19 a new motif is presented, again something very bizarre for the beginning of the development. This is again encountered at figure 24 with a new melodic motif presented in the strings. At eleven bars before figure 31 another restatement of central theme is heard, this time clarinets taking the melody with a sparse pizzicato accompaniment from the basses and cellos, whilst a solo cello plays a new countermelody. At the beginning of the recapitu-lation, figure 32, we see Elgar begin to combine themes, this tim the first subject first motif and figure nineteen motif. At figure 48 the coda is introduced by a restatement of the central theme, what is interesting about this restatement is Elgar’s instruction for the back desk only to play the theme, this creates an incredibly unique timbral effect and is something very much seen on in the twentieth century. This is a demonstration of Elgar’s precise and specific directions which can also be found in his performance directions which are found throughout the movement. The excessive performance direction is something common in romantic music as it demonstrates a composer trying to extract every ounce of emotion from the piece as possible and this is very evident throughout the first movement of the first symphony.

Within Elgar’s themes we see three features common to that of a 20th century, the first is avoid-ance of cadences. The first theme of the first subject is prime example of this because although the subject is in D minor it is unstable due to Elgar’s use of accidentals in the theme and his avoid-ance of cadences supports the unstable feel as a cadence would result in the use of diatonic chords, regardless of which used, a tonality would be much more identifiable. Through the use of these accidentals, Elgar also hints to other keys when he is in fact in another. For example just be-fore figure 18, the piece cadences in F major, leading to the beginning of the development. How-ever for it to be a perfect cadence in F major a Bb must be present but instead a B natural is heard, blurring the establishment of F and hinting more towards C major, the key of the codetta. Another example would be the beginning of the fourth theme of the first subject which although in A mi-nor, the accompaniment begins with a B half diminished seventh chord creating great instability around this theme. What is also heard at the same time as the second third and fourth themes is polymetre. This is something Elgar favours greatly as from figure 9-12 the whole orchestra shifts from 2/2 to 6/4. At figure 12, polymetre is first encountered with the beginning of the second sub-ject as the first violins play in 2/2 whilst the rest of the orchestra move in 6/4. More extreme ver-sions of polymetre are seen after figure 14 when all instruments but bass clarinet, bassoon, con-trabassoon, cellos and basses more from 6/4 to 2/2. However what is also noticeable is the use of triplet, duplet rhythms within parts with contrasting time signatures, for example the triplets in horns and violas seven bars before figure 15.

In conclusion, the first movement of Elgar’s first symphony uses the base of earlier era structure and motifs but is primarily a 20th century symphony through Elgar’s use of tonality, chromatic har-mony, the multi-thematic nature and the use of a central theme.