Elgar Serenade for strings [analysis]

Last updated Jan 7, 2025 | Published on Dec 3, 2020

Winner of a fellowship at the Bayreuther Festspiele, Mr. Griglio’s conducting has been praised for his “energy” and “fine details”. Mr. Griglio took part in the first world recording of music by composer Irwin Bazelon and conducted several world premieres like "The song of Eddie", by Harold Farberman, a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. Principal Conductor of International Opera Theater Philadelphia for four years, Mr.Griglio is also active as a composer. His first opera, Camille Claudel, debuted in 2013 to a great success of audience and critics. Mr. Griglio is presently working on an opera on Caravaggio and Music Director of Opera Odyssey.
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Table of contents

Introduction

Published in 1892, the Serenade for Strings is amongst the composer’s most popular works. It is believed though, that it was a rework of a suite Elgar had written some years earlier.

Elgar was a violinist himself, and speaking of the serenade, much later in life, he wrote to a friend that the work was ‘real stringy in effect’. Certainly, despite its brevity, it shows Elgar’s mastery of string writing.

Scheherazade by Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter (1844-1913)

Edward Elgar, likely in the early 1900s.

The serenade – which suggests something to be played in the evening – is divided in 3 movements connected by harmonic and motivic elements.

The return of the first movement’s theme in the last one, for example. Something that suggests how Elgar conceived this as one long piece.

Elgar: an analysis of the Serenade for strings

First movement: Allegro piacevole

In case you don’t have it at hand, here’s a quick link to the score.

Let’s start with the tempo marking: Allegro piacevole. Piacevole does not have any meaning of slower or faster: it can be translated as “pleasurable” or “enjoyable“. It has the inner idea of something without too much tension, if at all. In turn, this tells you something both about the tempo – which shouldn’t be too nervously fast – and the general idea of the movement, which is not overly-romantic.

Pastoral in style, the movement starts with the violas, alone. Two bars of a rhythmic figure that will accompany us all the way to the end of the serenade

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex1

Technical tip

As a conductor, you have more than a decision to make in the first 2 bars. There is a sforzato marking but there is no dynamic. Is it a sforzato in forte? Or in mezzoforte?
There’s also a difference in weight between the sforzato and the accent on the second bar.
Watch the video for 3 different ways of conducting the opening.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex2

For a full technical analysis of the 2nd movement, look up the video in the repertoire section

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The main theme comes in on the 3rd bar, played by the first violins. Take a note of the hairpins over 2 bars. 3 bars, and they are interrupted by the violas, with the rhythmic motive
Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex4

The phrase is retaken by the violins and we move to G major. The violas still insist on the rhythmic motive, this time on the dominant of G. The interesting thing is that 2 notes of that motive become an accompaniment at letter A.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex4

One bar later, they turn into a 4-bars phrase in the first violins. If you look at it in terms of staccato and legato, this phrase is mirroring the 4 opening bars. The hairpins we saw in bars 3 and 4 however span now over 3 full bars.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex5

The mood of the beginning returns, underlined by the second half of the theme moving downward and the rhythmic motive

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex6

and we apparently come to the end of the first section of the movement. A different chapter opens, in G major. But is it really? The violas keep obsessing about their rhythmic figure while the violins and cellos answer with a legato phrase on top of it

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex7

Elgar moves back to E minor for a second and then resolves into the real new chapter, in E major. A very elegant melody is played out by the first violins

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex8

and while they take a breath, the second violins now remind us of the rhythmic motive. Moving the line from the violas allows Elgar to naturally lift some of the weight, making everything lighter. The descending line of the bridge is now taken by the violas and cellos.

Just for a moment: after 2 bars the serenity of the violin’s phrase returns.
The same pattern is applied again but finally, the obsession is gone. Replaced by a new one, actually: the violins’ line becomes the model that is passed from section to section in the following passage, moving up

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex9

and coming back with the solo violin

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex10

The hairpins we saw, in the beginning, are translated into a longer musical period. The phrase grows and ends up on those 2 notes we mentioned earlier followed by a reprise of the rhythmic motive by the violas

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex11

and a recapitulation of the first section. Notice how Elgar gives us a reminder of the long lines we’ve heard in the middle section with this first violins entrance

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex12

The end of the movement is near but it is delayed by a coda that has all the essence of romanticism, from the dramatic progression to the chromatism of the inner lines. Speaking of which, take special care of the second violins and violas at letter H

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex13

The progression ends, suspended on the rhythmic motive and the movement comes to an end, mirroring the end of the first section. 

To have the perfect ending, close the legato notes with your left hand while you’re giving the downbeat for the pizzicato with your right hand

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex14

Second movement: Larghetto

A simple ABA form for an elegy that is certainly the most mature of the 3 movements. It’s a prelude to the kind of expressive writing Elgar will use in his symphonies.

It begins very simply, with a longing line of the first violins

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex15

answered by the second violins. The chromatism and the diminished chord enhance the romantic lusciousness of the movement. And there’s a surprise right away: 6 bars into the piece and Elgar suddenly increases the temperature with a big crescendo and stringendo.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex16

The outburst lands on the dominant, held there by the first violins while the opening theme moves to the second and the violas. On the viola line, the first violins in counterpoint come down an octave, and end up on the same suspended G. A very delicate theme is introduced one bar later

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex17

It’s a very long phrase: from bar 17 we go all the way to the end of bar 32.

Notice the orchestration: there’s no double bass till bar 24; everyone is playing in their mid-low register, creating a warm sound; the melody, rich in jumps of 6th and 7th, moves gradually up. By the time the double basses come in, it’s in the high register of the violins. Look at how the contrast is created: the weight is increased but the dynamic is reduced to pianissimo, thinning out in the first violins line.
There are very small crescendos, all going back to pianissimo. The whole atmosphere is quite ethereal, very delicately longing for a resolution that keeps being pushed back.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex18

At letter K we have a new episode. From C major we jump into A minor and E minor. The second violins line is the connecting element with the previous part. Everything is still very thin: no cellos or basses, violas and first violins in their mid-high register, second violins answering by themselves. 

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex19

We end up on a rhythmic/melodic figure that was so dear to Wagner

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex20

and then will take us back to the A section of the movement. The air is still very thin: the line progresses up but folds back on itself in a constant diminuendo to a triple piano

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex21

The last section of the movement, starting at letter L, begins with the second theme we heard in the first section.

With some variations in the orchestration, now much more active: first violins in octaves, cellos divisi, and second violins and violas with turmoiled triplets. But notice that the dynamic remains triple piano until bar 55. The luscious, romantic sound is achieved by the doubling of the melody in the first cellos

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex22

The movement peaks briefly and then starts going back, retreating to a piano and pianissimo dynamics. A final appearance of the very first theme leads to a peaceful end.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex23

Technical tip

This movement can be quite tricky: the most important thing you need to keep in mind is the control of the speed of your baton.

For a full technical analysis of the 2nd movement, look up the video in the repertoire section

Third movement: Allegretto

The Allegretto is quite a brief movement. It sets the tone in G major, with a pastoral-like rhythm in the melodic lines.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex24

The viola entrance at bar 4 has a seemingly more heroic character, but, in fact, everything remains in a very relaxed atmosphere for the whole movement. This thematic idea forms the backbone of the first part of this last movement, passed around from section to section. Until the introductory bars come back on measure 32, closing the circle of the first part.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex25

Then, the surprise: the idea of closing the circle enlarges to the whole serenade. The rhythmic figure of the first movement is back in the second violins

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex26

We briefly hear the long lines of the violins, again from the first movement

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex27

and we come to the coda, built, once more, on the rhythmic motive

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex28

Finally, the piece comes to an end in a serene E major in pianissimo, completing the circle.

Elgar - Serenade for strings - analysis - ex29

In conclusion

Elgar’s Serenade is the music of youth, filled with vitality and naive tenderness. By definition, the title “Serenade” reminds of something nocturnal, played outdoors in nature. If you want to be Shakespearean, of course, it can remind you of Romeo and Juliet, and a ballad sung to a woman in the moonlight. It’s a magical walk late at night, and, like a dream, it magically disappears.

Notes

Cover image by Lucas Craig from Pexels

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Gianmaria Griglio is an intelligent, exceptional musician. There is no question about his conducting abilities: he has exceptionally clear baton technique that allows him to articulate whatever decisions he has made about the music.

Harold Farberman

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