The Elegie begins with solo flute and a slowly building impressionistic melodic line that gradually builds to a climax. Solos for the English horn and a low clarinet bring us back to a very hushed conclusion. We can hear the emotion of the work built into the climax and fall.
Zádor: Elegie and Dance: Elegie: Andantino (Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV; Mariusz Smolij, cond.)
After the mysterious and even nocturnal nature of the Elegie, the Dance returns us to sunlight and celebration.
Elegie and Dance: Dance: Allegro (Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV; Mariusz Smolij, cond.)
Film composer John Williams (b. 1932) wrote two elegies. His Elegy for Cello and Piano of 1997, arranged in 2002 for cello and orchestra, was written for a memorial service and is based on a secondary theme from his music for the film Seven Years in Tibet.
Williams: Elegy (Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Los Angeles Recording Arts Orchestra; John Williams, Conductor)
He wrote another one in 2012 for the soundtrack of the movie Lincoln, which is a reaction to the regret, sorrow, and horror of the Civil War.
Williams: Lincoln: Elegy (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, John Williams, cond.)
In all these contrasting ideas of the elegy, we can see the potential for what an elegy could be: a personal statement of loss or a general dark vision; an act of mourning or a sad point of view. The sad side of human nature has a musical response and it can feed our own melancholy and give it a sound.
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- Sounds of Sorrow: Elegies and Laments II Laments continued to be very special works – rarely written and always filled with a very high emotional intensity.
- Sounds of Sorrow: Elegies and Laments I In classical poetry, an Elegy is a mournful, melancholic, or plaintive poem, sometimes written as a lament for the dead and other times covering sad topics such as war.
More Inspiration
- Fanciful Stories in Music
Dittersdorf: “Ovid Symphonies” II “The Transformation of Actaeon into a Stag” and “The Rescuing of Andromeda by Perseus” - Leonard Bernstein
Four Anniversaries (1948) and Five Anniversaries (1949-51) A series of piano vignettes that musically portray his friends, family, and colleagues - Fanciful Stories in Music
Dittersdorf: “Ovid Symphonies” I Six fun and fanciful symphonies by the Austrian composer - Musical Postcards: Albeniz’s Recuerdos de viaje A tour around Spain from the sea to the Alhambra