Elgar gets short-changed

Synopsis

On this day in 1919, Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony in the premiere performance of his new Cello Concerto, with Felix Salmond as soloist.

What should have been a joyous occasion turned out to be a frustrating one — there simply wasn’t enough time to rehearse properly, and the premiere was a near-fiasco. Puzzled, the less-than-full house in Queen’s Hall gave Elgar a polite ovation but left shaking their heads.

Mrs. Elgar blamed the conductor, Albert Coates, who hogged all the orchestra’s rehearsal time working over the two pieces he was to conduct on the same program as Elgar’s new concerto, for which Coates would hand off the baton to Elgar. In her diary for October 26, she wrote, “Poor Felix Salmond in a state of suspense and nerves — wretched hurried rehearsal — an insult to Elgar from that brutal, selfish, ill-mannered bounder, Coates.”

After the botched premiere of the new concerto, critic Ernest Newman reported, “Never, in all probability, has so great an orchestra made so lamentable a public exhibition of itself.”

Despite this rough beginning, Elgar’s Cello Concerto has gone on to become one of the composer’s best-loved works worldwide, and has proven to be a favorite with the great cellists of our time, including British cellist Jacqueline du Pré.

Music Played in Today's Program

Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Cello Concerto; Jacqueline du Pré, cello; Philadephia Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor; Sony 60789

On This Day

Births

• 1685 - Italian composer and harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti, in Naples

• 1694 - Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman, in Stockholm

Deaths

• 1874 - German composer Peter Cornelius, 49, near Copenhagen

Premieres

• 1783 - Mozart: Mass in C minor, in St. Peter's Church, Salzburg, with the composer conducting and his wife, Constanze, the soprano soloist

• 1873 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 2, in Vienna, with the composer conducting

• 1896 - Dvorák: symphonic poem The Golden Spinning Wheel, in London

• 1917 - Mussorgsky (arr. Cui): opera The Fair at Sorochinsky, posthumously, in St. Petersburg (see Julian date: Oct. 13)

• 1919 - Elgar: Cello Concerto, at London's Queens Hall, with the London Symphony conducted by the composer, and Felix Salmond the soloist

• 1930 - Shostakovich: ballet, The Age of Gold, in Leningrad

• 1945 - Bloch: Suite Symphonique, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pierre Monteux conducting

• 1956 - William Schuman: New England Triptych, in Miami, by the University of Miami Orchestra, André Kostelanetz conducting

• 1961 - David Diamond: Symphony No. 8, by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting

• 1961 - Robert Ward: opera The Crucible (after the play by Arthur Miller), in New York City; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1962

• 1962 - Gunther Schuller: Piano Concerto, in Cincinnati

• 1976 - Piston: Concerto for string quartet, winds, brass and percussion, in Portland, Oregon

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes in London his Concerto Grosso No. 6 (see Julian date: Oct. 15)