INTROSPECTION AS A SIGN OF LYRICALLY-DRAMATIC GENRE TYPE IN E. ELGAR’S VIOLIN CONCERTO

Abstract

Statement of the problem. Edward Elgar’s instrumental concertos occupy the special place in European music. Most of the violin concertos of Romantic composers were written before E. Elgar created his own (1910); the concertos by J. Sibelius (1904) and M. Reger (1908) are closest to this work in time, and Elgar’s Concerto almost coincides with the chronology of K. Nielsen’s Violin Concerto (1911), which has already been, however, significantly influenced by neoclassical aesthetics. In five years, K. Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto (1916) will appear, rejecting the romantic way of expression, and later a new “era” in the development of this genre will begin. Elgar’s Violin Concerto (1910), the first of his two instrumental concerts, is another step of the composer on the way to mastering various musical genres, the accumulation of new creative ideas. In a number of parameters, the work is closer to the First Symphony, becoming almost a doppelganger of it but with a solo violin, an instrument played by the composer himself. Thus, the study of the Concerto is relevant, at least, in three aspects: in the analysis of the creative evolution of the composer, for understanding his attitude to the concert genre, and for revealing the meaning of the composer’s self-expression. Consideration of the work in the aspect of the latter – identifying features of introspection in the music of the Violin Concerto as part of its genre structure – is the purpose of this study, which is the first attempt of its kind. Conclusions. Elgar’s Violin concerto follows the tradition of lyricallydramatic type of symphonism, which the composer employed in his First symphony written shortly before the Concerto. It can be seen both in thematically-intonational content and in special features of dramaturgy and composition (“throughout” themes, large duration, conflict dramaturgy). The genre of instrumental concerto suggests additional dimension of the work, relation between solo and orchestral parts, and in this case the composer maintains a balance in such things as distribution of themes and their development and interpretation of soloist’s part. The introspective character of the Violin concerto is most obvious in its Cadenza – the most significant episode for this genre – due to its significant length, the lyrical way of expression, reminiscences and derivative themes, the rejection of a clear metrorhythmic organization that allows the perception of Cadenza as a stop in time for lyrical reflection. Other aspects of introspectiveness include the predominance of lyrical themes, a large number of fragments with quiet dynamics and the genre’s predicted concentration of attention on the soloist, although the composer retains balance between solo and orchestral parts.