Sonic Asymmetry

Edward Elgar – “Pomp And Circumstances No. 1 In D Major”

エドワード・ エルガー – 「華やかさと環境・第1 ・ D・メジャー」

TIME COMMITMENT: 8 minutes

This unashamedly bombast march is so declamatory, almost cantankerous!  Of course, large-scale ensembles predated this composer – whether in choral works or in Wagnerian operas.  But Elgar suffused such traditions with solo virtuosity and sumptuous, though never fastidious, orchestration.  In a classic case of re-purposing the theme, it is highly ironic that the work of this Catholic author is now considered “patriotic” in the UK and referred to as ‘a graduation song’ in the US.  But then, some Japanese youngsters tend to believe that their national anthem is a ‘sumo song’ just because it is played at the opening and close of wrestling tournaments.

MUSIC

INFO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomp_and_Circumstance_Marches

A REFLECTION

I believe in those wing’d purposes,

And acknowledge red, yellow, white, playing within me,

And consider green and violet and the tufted crown intentional,

And do not call the tortoise unworthy because she is not something else,

And the jay in the woods never studied the gamut, yet trills pretty well to me,

And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me.

Walt Whitman: “Song of Myself XIII”