Sea Pictures

"Sea-Pictures, Op.37" is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar. Many mezzo-sopranos have sung the piece.

The songs are:
* "Sea Slumber Song"" by Roden Noel
* "In Haven (Capri)"" by Caroline Alice Elgar, the composer's wife
* "Sabbath Morning at Sea"" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
* "Where Corals Lie"" by Richard Garnett
* "The Swimmer"" by Adam Lindsay Gordon

Much of the vocal line of the first song, "Sea Slumber Song," is heard again in other parts of the cycle; most notably, the second stanza is heard again almost in its entirety as part of the finale.

History

Elgar composed the piece on his 1844 Broadwood Square piano whilst residing at Birchwood Lodge, Great Storridge in Herefordshire. The songs were originally written in high keys for a soprano voice, but transposed to lower keys for the orchestral version, largely at the request of the contralto Clara Butt. The songs were composed in July 1899 (apart from "In Haven (Capri)", which was a reworking of his 1897 "Love alone will stay" (Lute Song)" ).

The première was on 5 October 1899 at the Norwich Festival with Elgar himself conducting and Clara Butt singing, dressed as a mermaid. On Saturday 7 October 1899 at 3:00 p.m., Clara Butt gave the first London performance at St. James's Hall, with Elgar at the piano. Nearly two weeks later, on 20 October 1899, Butt performed it for Queen Victoria at Balmoral.

Up till August 1900 Elgar's songs had been published by Novellos: but Elgar had a disagreement with them, and from then his songs, including "The Pipes of Pan" and "Sea-Pictures" were published by Boosey & Co. - Booseys bought the copyright for £50, with a small royalty per copy of the songs published separately.

"Sea-Pictures" was published in the following languages:
* German: "See-Bilder"" with words by Dr. Wilhelm Herzen
* French: "Marines"" with words by George Petilleau

Recordings

* Larisa Avdeyeva (soprano), USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov. "Edward Elgar Sea Pictures & Symphony No. 2" (recorded live at the Grand Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, 11 April 1977. Sung in Russian; translations by Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya). Scribendum SC 032
* Janet Baker, London Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sir John Barbirolli (1965) is available on many EMI CDs (only some of which include texts), for example "Elgar: Cello Concerto; Cockaigne; Sea Pictures", EMI Classics 5 62886 2
* Janet Baker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley "London Philharmonic Orchestra plays Elgar" LPO - LPO0016-0020 (recorded live 1984)
* Muriel Brunskill "Elgar's Interpreters on Record Volume 2 - Historic Recordings" (also includes recording by Clara Butt) Dutton CDAX8020
*Clara Butt, Unidentified Orchestra, Hamilton Harty "Where corals lie" only. "Dame Clara Butt (1872 - 1936)" Prima Voce NI 7912. (Recording is also on "Dame Clara Butt: Britain's Queen of Song" GEM 0086)
* Elizabeth Campbell, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite "Elgar: Cello Concerto/Sea Pictures" ABC Classics 4767966
* Sarah Connolly, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Simon Wright "Elgar: Music Makers / Sea Pictures" Naxos 8.557710. This recording was a 2007 Grammy nominee, for the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance
* Margreta Elkins, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Werner Andreas Albert (August 1983) "Margreta Elkins – The Classic Recordings" ABC 461 922-2
* Linda Finnie, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bryden Thomson, (1991). "Elgar: Sea Pictures, The Music Makers" Chandos Records 9022
* Birgit Finnilä, Geoffrey Parsons (piano). "Baroque and Romantic Vocal Music" BIS-CD-127
* Bernadette Greevy, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley "Elgar: Symphony No.2 / Sea Pictures" Cfp 5753062
* Aafje Heynis, "Sea Slumber Song" only. "Het Puik van zoete kelen" ("The Cream of Glorious Voices") Philips Dutch Masters 464 385-2 [http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Contraltos/Dutch_Contraltos/hauptteil_dutch_contraltos.html "Sea Slumber Song" audio sample]
* Konrad Jarnot (baritone), Reinild Mees (piano) "Elgar: Complete Songs for Voice and Piano Vol. 1" Channel Classics CCS SA 27507
* Mary Jarred, contralto; The BBC Orchestra, Section F; Clarence Raybould, conductor "Elgar's Interpreters on Record, Volume 5: Broadcasts from the Leech Collection at the British Library (1935-1950)" Elgar Society EECD003-005 ("Sea Slumber Song" complete, "Sabbath Morning at Sea" to bar 84, "The Swimmer" bars between 74 and 107 are missing)
* Della Jones, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras "The British Music Collection - Edward Elgar" Decca 4732492
* Rosemarie Lang, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Hans-Peter Frank c/w Wagner Wesendonck Lieder and Gösta Nystroem Sănger vid havet (Songs at the Sea) "Wagner / Nystroem / Elgar: Lieder" BIS-CD-530
* Claire-Louise Lucas (mezzo soprano), Jonathan Darnborough (piano) Claudio Bohema CB5258-2 (This is the version with piano accompaniment.)
* Leila Megane, Unidentified Orchestra, Edward Elgar (first complete recording made on 11 October 1922, with Elgar conducting) available in "The Elgar Edition" GEMMCDS 9951–5 ( [http://www.pavilionrecords.com/ Pavilion Records] ). "Leila Megane" Sain SCD2316 includes three songs from "Sea Pictures".
* Kirstin Meyer (mezzo soprano), Halle Orchestra, John Barbirolli (recorded live at the St. Nicholas Chapel, King's Lynn Festival, 24 July 1970. Barbirolli's last recorded concert. Includes Symphony No. 1). Intaglio INCD 701-1
* Maartje Offers "Where Corals Lie" only. "Het Puik van zoete kelen" ("The Cream of Glorious Voices") Philips Dutch Masters 464 385-2
* Felicity Palmer, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox, "Elgar Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op.61; Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op.85; Sea Pictures", Op.37 Virgin 562425 2 / EMI CDM 5 65126 2
* [http://www.amandapitt.com/ Amanda Pitt] (soprano) David Owen Norris (piano) "Songs & Piano Music by Edward Elgar" AVIE AV 2129 (played on Elgar's 1844 Broadwood square piano and set in Elgar's original keys)
* Gladys Ripley, London Symphony Orchestra, George Weldon (Summer 1946). "The Dream Of Gerontius and Sea Pictures" Pearl GEMS 0128 (Original LPs on Capitol P-18017)
* Birgitta Svendén, Orchestre philharmonique de Nice, John Carewe, (1991). "Grands lieder [Ljudupptagning] Great songs / Mahler, Elgar, Zemlinsky" Forlane UCD 16642
* Catherine Wyn-Rogers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis. (2003, recorded on 30 July 2003 in the Royal Albert Hall, London, as part of the BBC Proms), CD title is not that clear but the CD includes Walton "Coronation Te Deum", Elgar "Sea Pictures", Bax "November Woods", Britten "The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra" Warner Classics 2564 61550-2

Audio samples of the performances can often be found at online retailers.

(Note: there is also a distinct work "Merikuvia" by the Finnish composer Uuno Klami. "Merikuvia" is usually translated into English as "Sea Pictures".)

Further reading

* Elgar, Edward "Sea Pictures: A Cycle of Five Songs for Contralto" with German translation by Dr. Wilhelm Henzen and French words by George Petilleau Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. (Sheet music with libretti)

External links

* [http://www.elgar.org/3seapics.htm The Elgar Society and Elgar Foundation]
* [http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/season/dialogue_detail.cfm?ID=19&season=2003-2004 Fred Kirshnit]
* [http://users.ox.ac.uk/~cont0230/Elgar%20VW%20talk/BLtalk.html The Songs of Elgar and Vaughan Williams]
* Michael Kennedy [http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/_downloads/File/Elgar%202007/Elgar%20Sea%20Pictures.pdf?PHPSESSID=pf74fnqnv263gd70u Sea-Pictures, Op. 37]
* [http://numabe.exblog.jp/m2007-08-01/ CD Discography of "Sea-Pictures" op.37 by Edward Elgar]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/discoveringmusic/ram/cdmelgarseap.ram Sea-Pictures] BBC "Discovering Music" programme (.ram file)
* [http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/_downloads/File/Elgar%202007/Sea%20Pictures%20sung%20text.pdf Sea-Pictures sung text]