FLUTE 1

Harmony Music No.1

music by
EDWARD ELGAR
written in 1878
for
2 Flutes, Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon

This, Elgar’s first Harmony Music, was written in April 1878 and comprises just one
movement, a lively Allegro molto.

Elgar’s seven works titled Harmony Music (from the German Harmoniemusik, music
for wind ensemble) were among the pieces he wrote between the years 1878 and 1881 for the
wind quintet he played in with his friends. Other works for the quintet included sets of Four
Dances, Five Intermezzos, and Six Promenades, an Adagio Cantabile (subtitled Mrs
Winslow’s Soothing Syrup) and an Andante con Variazioni (Evesham Andante). The Harmony
Music shows the self-taught composer’s development in the use of form as well as his
enjoyment of experiments with harmony. The first four works are single movements, the
lengthy No.5 is a carefully crafted little symphony with four movements, and the Nos.6 and 7
with two movements each show on-going maturity.
The players for whom Elgar wrote the quintets were his young friends, who met
regularly for music on Sunday afternoons. He wrote for the instruments available and to suit
the capabilities of their players. The players were Hubert Leicester and Frank Exton (1st and
2nd flutes), Edward's brother Frank on oboe, and Hubert's brother William who was persuaded
to learn the clarinet. Edward, living at his father’s music-shop, easily learnt both bassoon and
cello. The group played in a garden shed behind the shop, explaining the curious sub-title
‘Shed.’
The Leicester brothers worked in the family’s printing business in Worcester High
Street, with William as apprentice to his father. The music group was led by Hubert, then a
chartered accountant, who kept the instrumental parts assembled into part-books, being
choirmaster at St. George’s Church at the time Edward was assistant organist to his father
William Elgar. Hubert Leicester became Mayor of Worcester (several times) and wrote a
book called ‘Forgotten Worcester’ in 1930.
The second flautist, Frank Exton, was a surveyor and lived near Worcester in the
village of Claines, close to the home of Will Grafton who in 1879 married Elgar’s sister
Pollie.
Helen Weaver, daughter of shoemaker William Weaver whose shop was opposite the
Elgars, must have been interested, for Harmony Music No.2 is subtitled ‘Nelly Shed’. It was
a sign of the start of the serious relationship between Edward and Helen which ended in 1884
with heart-breaking separation after a short engagement. Helen Weaver played the violin, and
for Harmony Music No.7 the wind quintet was joined by a violinist: but it was Frank Elgar’s
friend, Karl Bammert, a German watchmaker then lodging at the Elgar music-shop.
The part-books were kept by Hubert Leicester before being taken back by Elgar, who
wanted to ‘recycle’ some of the music in later works. The books then joined the collection of
John Parr, a bassoonist and instrument collector, and were eventually acquired by the British
Library.
John Morrison

Transcribed by John Morrison, November 2020.

British Library Add MS 60316 A
2 Harmony Music No.1
Edward Elgar (1878)
Transcribed by John Morrison
November 2020

                       
         
Allegro molto.
 
Flute 1       
 
                               
5
   


       
              
        
9

 
           
  
           
13
   
 

        
       
A
      
17
  

                    
20
   


       
24
                  


                                
28



                               
32
                            

 Harmony Music No.1 - Flute 1 3

   

36
                                


                
           B       
   
40


     

             
44

     

     
     
        
  
48
 

             
54
      

cresc.  
         2.         
   
      
1.

    
58
 
 
                         
                  
 
62
 
 
         
              
 
                
66

  
         
          
        
70


     
                     
    
    
74

4 Harmony Music No.1 - Flute 1

 C                      
80
             


                              
84
           


                  
    
       
88

 
                   
    
92 D

   

               
96
     


        

   
     E
  
     
100




   
  
              
 
104
 

            

   
   

109
 

       
       
       
F
 
   
114

 
          
119
     
 
 Harmony Music No.1 - Flute 1 5

        
    

              
   
123
  


                     
        

127



    
            
131
  

  
    ,          
     
135
    

       
              
138
   



             
            
G Stretto.

   
142



            
     
  
148


   
    
   
153
                


        
    
158
     
   
cresc. 