Elgar

The Music Makers
op.69

Jane Money (mezzo soprano)

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams ....

The words have inspired many people and have been set to music not only by Edward Elgar, but by the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály.

More about The Music Makers, with some music ilustrations.

Elgar produced only two major works in the few years before the beginning of the First World War in 1914. He had completed his Second Symphony in 1911 and Falstaff was composed in 1913. The Music Makers lies between the two, finished in 1912, though he had in fact been working on the music intermittently since 1903. It was first performed at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival.

There is no doubt that Elgar felt a strong affinity with the words of the poem, identifying himself with the “dreamer of dreams” in the first verse of the poem. It is from this poem that the much-used phrase “movers and shakers” comes. But here it is with some doubt that the new world of the twentieth century was based on much more than scorn for the old world. If he felt the mood reflected his own life it would explain some of the quotations from his earlier works, which include motifs from The Dream of Gerontius, Sea Pictures, themes from his two Symphonies, his Violin Concerto, and Nimrod from the Enigma Variations.

Set for contralto, chorus and orchestra The Music Makers is a deeply personal work reflecting on the role of a creative artist, but also underlining the vulnerability and isolation of creation. Elgar was already fully recognised as a major artist, but himself had mixed feelings about the society which lionised him. The quotes echoing his own artistic life may seem like the Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben (A hero’s life), but Elgar was depicting the artist not so much as hero as a bard.

The choral sections make up much the longest part of the whole Symphony. Recalling that Mendelssohn played a major part in the rediscovery of the works of J S Bach, it can be seen how the Hymn of Praise is influenced by Bach’s example – in the layout of recitatives, arias and choruses, in the fugal writing of the opening and closing choruses, and in the use of the chorale Nun Danket (Now thank we all our God – used here with words “Let all men praise the Lord”).

Recordings to look out for:

The Music Makers

London Philharmonic Orchestra with Janet Baker
conducted by Adrian Boult
(with The Dream of Gerontius)
EMI Classics, British Composers series, 1966 recording)

BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Jean Rigby
conducted by Andrew Davis
(with short orchestral pieces)
Teldec, 1994

Hallé Orchestra and Choir with Jane Irwin
conducted by Mark Elder
(with Froissart and Dream Children)
Hallé HLL 7509, 2005

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Chorus with Sarah Connolly
conducted by Simon Wright
(with Sea Pictures)

London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus with Felicity Palmer
conducted by Richard Hickox
(with Sea Pictures)
EMI 5651262  †

Hymn of Praise
(Lobgesang)
Symphony no.2 in B flat major

Leipzig Radio Choir and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Barbara Bonney, Edith Wiens (sopranos), Peter Schreier (tenor)
conducted by Kurt Masur
recorded in the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, 1988
Warner Apex 2564 60156 2

Ireland National Symphony Orchestra and RTE Philharmonic Choir
with Majella Cullagh, Mary Nelson (sopranos), Adrian Thompson (tenor)
conducted by Reinhard Seifried
Naxos 8.553522

London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado
CD#2 in a 4-CD collection
Deutsche Grammophon 4714672  †

Radio Filharmonisch Koor & Orkest
with Annegeer Stumphius, Young-Hee Kim (sopranos),
Matthias Bleidorn (tenor)
conducted by Edo de Waart
CD#2 in a 7-CD collection
Brilliant Classics 99926  †