Sir Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 was his last notable work, and is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire.
The piece was composed during the summer of 1919 at Elgar's secluded cottage named "Brinkwells" in Sussex, where during previous years he had heard the sound of the artillery of World War I rumbling across the Channel at night from France. In 1918, Elgar underwent an operation in London to have an infected tonsil remo...
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Sir Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 was his last notable work, and is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire.
The piece was composed during the summer of 1919 at Elgar's secluded cottage named "Brinkwells" in Sussex, where during previous years he had heard the sound of the artillery of World War I rumbling across the Channel at night from France. In 1918, Elgar underwent an operation in London to have an infected tonsil removed, a dangerous operation for a 61-year-old man. After regaining consciousness after sedation, he asked for pencil and paper, and wrote down the melody that would become the first theme from the concerto. He and his wife soon retired to the cottage in an attempt to recover from their health problems. In 1918, Elgar composed three chamber works, which his wife noted were already noticeably different from his previous compositions, and after their premiere in the spring of 1919, he began realising his idea of a cello concerto.
The première of...
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