In the South (Alassio), Op.50

According to the composer himself, In the South was inspired by “the thoughts and sensations of one beautiful afternoon in the Vale of Andora” - one of the few in what was apparently a rather cold and very wet holiday. It is only after the first, magnificently sustained burst of energy that the beauty of the Elgars’ Italian surroundings begins to show in the music, reflecting the lines by Tennyson which the composer wrote on the manuscript:

What hours were thine and mine,

In lands of palm and southern pine,

In lands of palm, of orange blossom,

Of olive, sloe, and maize and vine.

The gentle melody for two clarinets in thirds, repeated by divided first and second violins, is probably the tune he referred to in a letter as “Fanny Moglio” - Moglio being the name of an Italian village in which he took a particular delight. In the same letter, written after a rehearsal of the new work with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, he announced that the “Overture is good and the Roman section absolutely knocking over.”

The Roman section is, in fact, the next main episode, marked grandioso and astonishingly bold in its orchestral writing and in its harmonies. Elgar said he “endeavoured to paint the relentless and domineering onward force of the ancient day, and to give a sound-picture of the strife and wars, the ‘drums and tramplings’ of a later time.” The Tennyson quotation in the manuscript at this point is:

What Roman strength Turbia show’d

In ruin, by the mountain road.

The Roman material is developed, together with earlier themes, and the mood gradually changes for a quite different episode, known as In Moonlight (Canto popolare) when it was published separately in various instrumental arangements. Here it is a viola solo which, with its distinct reminiscence of Berlioz, has tempted more than one commentator to refer to it as “Edward in Italy.”

Although the recapitulation recalls the initial burst of energy and “Fanny Moglio” returns as part of the second subject, the two central episodes are recalled only fragmentarily before an acceleration, an augmentation of the main theme, and a grandioso coda prove irreversibly conclusive.

In the South was first performed by the Halle Orchestra with the composer conducting during the Elgar Festival in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 16 March 1904. “I love it,” said Elgar, “It’s alive!”

According to the composer, In the South was inspired by ‘the thoughts and sensations of one beautiful afternoon in the Vale of Andora’ - one of the few in what was apparently a rather cold and very wet holiday in the winter of 1903-4. Its opening theme originated not in Italy, however, but in Herefordshire. One of the “Moods of Dan” inscribed by Elgar in the visitors’ book of C.R. Sinclair - organist of Hereford Cathedral and owner of Dan, the bulldog which inspired the eleventh of the Enigma Variations - it represents “Dan triumphant (after a fight).” It is only after the first, magnificently sustained burst of bulldog energy that the beauty of the Elgars’ Italian surroundings begins to show in the music, reflecting the lines by Tennyson which the composer wrote on the manuscript:

What hours were thine and mine,

In lands of palm and southern pine,

In lands of palm, of orange blossom,

Of olive, sloe, and maize and vine.

A gentle melody for two clarinets in thirds, repeated by divided first and second violins, is the tune which, with characteristic jocularity, he referred to in a letter as ‘Fanny Moglio’ - Moglio being the name of an Italian village in which he took a particular delight. In the same letter, written after a rehearsal of the new work with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, he announced that “the Overture is good and the Roman section absolutely knocking over.”

The Roman section is, in fact, the next main episode, marked grandioso and astonishingly bold in its orchestral writing and in its harmonies. Elgar said he “endeavoured to paint the relentless and domineering onward force of the ancient day, and to give a sound-picture of the strife and wars, the ‘drums and tramplings’ of a later time.” The Tennyson quotation in the manuscript at this point is: What Roman strength Turbia show’d / In ruin, by the mountain road.

This ‘Roman’ material is developed, together with earlier themes, and the mood gradually changes for a quite different episode, known as In Moonlight (Canto popolare) when it was published separately in various instrumental arangements. Here it is a viola solo (accompanied by glockenspiel) which, with its distinct reminiscence of Berlioz, has tempted more than one commentator to refer to it as ‘Edward in Italy’.

Although the recapitulation recalls the initial burst of energy and ‘Fanny Moglio’ returns as part of the second subject, the two central episodes are recalled only fragmentarily before an acceleration, an augmentation of the main theme, and a grandioso coda prove irreversibly conclusive.

In the South was first performed by the Hallé Orchestra with the composer conducting during the Elgar Festival in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 16 March 1904. “I love it,” said Elgar, “It’s alive!”

Peter Clifford © 2002

Five Lute Songs

Mercutio’s Queen Mab Speech

The first theme of In the South is one of the “Moods of Dan” inscribed by Elgar in the visitors’ book of C.R. Sinclair, organist of Hereford Cathedral and owner of Dan, the bulldog which inspired the eleventh of the Enigma Variations. This particular theme, dated 1899 in the visitors’ book, represents “Dan triumphant (after a fight)”. Why Elgar should have remembered it when working on his overture in Alassio during the winter of 1903-4 is an unanswerable question. But it was exactly what he wanted, a theme of such enormous energy that it would hold together a work which is more a tone poem in the manner of Richard Strauss than a formal concert overture.

Elgar said that In the South was inspired by “the thoughts and sensations of one beautiful afternoon in the Vale of Andora” - one of the few in what was apparently a rather cold and very wet holiday. It is only after the first, magnificently sustained burst of energy that the beauty of the Elgars’ Italian surroundings begins to show in the music, reflecting the lines by Tennyson which the composer wrote on the manuscript:

What hours were thine and mine,

In lands of palm and southern pine,

In lands of palm, of orange blossom,

Of olive, sloe, and maize and vine.

The gentle melody for two clarinets in thirds, repeated by divided first and second violins, is the tune which, with characterististic jocularity, he referred to in a letter as “Fanny Moglio” - Moglio being the name of an Italian village in which he took a particular delight. In the same letter, written after a rehearsal of the new work with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, he announced that the “Overture is good and the Roman section absolutely knocking over.”

The Roman section is, in fact, the next main episode, marked grandioso and astonishingly bold in its orchestral writing and in its harmonies. Elgar said he “endeavoured to paint the relentless and domineering onward force of the ancient day, and to give a sound-picture of the strife and wars, the ‘drums and tramplings’ of a later time.” The Tennyson quotation in the manuscript at this point is:

What Roman strength Turbia show’d

In ruin, by the mountain road.

The Roman material is developed, together with earlier themes, and the mood gradually changes for a quite different episode, known as In Moonlight (Canto popolare) when it was published separately in various instrumental arangements. Here it is a viola solo which, with its distinct reminiscence of Berlioz, has tempted more than one commentator to refer to it as “Edward in Italy.”

Towards the end of the popular song episode there is a distant echo of Dan, now more poetic than triumphant, on bassoon and lower strings combined with the Roman fifths on the clarinet. Then he bursts in again, triumphant, at the beginning of the recapitulation. “Fanny Moglio” returns as part of the second subject, but the two central episodes are recalled only fragmentarily before an acceleration, an augmentation of the main theme, and a grandioso coda prove irreversibly conclusive.

In the South was first performed by the Halle Orchestra with the composer conducting during the Elgar Festival in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 16 March 1904. “I love it,” said Elgar, “It’s alive!”