{{Short description|Song cycle by Edward Elgar}} {{Italic title}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} [[File:Edward Elgar Sea Pictures.png|thumb|The 1899 [[Boosey & Hawkes|Boosey and Co]] edition of ''Sea Pictures''|upright=1.25]] '''''Sea Pictures, Op. 37''''' is a song cycle for [[contralto]] and orchestra by [[Edward Elgar]]. It consists of settings of a poems by five different authors. It also exists in a version for solo voice with piano accompaniment. The songs are:<ref>Kennedy (1987), pp. 344{{ndash}}345</ref> *"[[Sea Slumber Song]]" by [[Roden Noel]] *"[[In Haven|In Haven (Capri)]]" by [[Alice Elgar]], the composer's wife *"[[Sabbath Morning at Sea]]" by [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]] *"[[Where Corals Lie]]" by [[Richard Garnett (writer)|Richard Garnett]] *"[[The Swimmer (poem)|The Swimmer]]" by [[Adam Lindsay Gordon]]
== History == Elgar finished scoring his ''[[Enigma Variations]]'' in February 1899 and immediately began work on an orchestral song-cycle for the [[Norfolk and Norwich Festival|Norwich Festival]] that October. He composed the cycle around "[[Love alone will stay]]", a short song for voice and piano he had written some years earlier to words by his wife, [[Alice Elgar|Alice]]. She revised the poem to give it a maritime flavour and changed the title to "In Haven (Capri)". This became the second song in the cycle. Elgar then set four other poems to do with the sea, each by a different poet, in the manner of [[Berlioz]]'s ''[[Les nuits d'été]]'',<ref name=gram>Farach-Colton, Andrew. [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/content/features/elgar-s-sea-pictures-a-guide-to-the-best-recordings "Sea Pictures"], ''Gramophone'', November 2023 {{subscription}}</ref> and later favoured by [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]].<ref name=chan>Burton, Anthony. Notes to Chandos CD set CHSA 5140(2) {{oclc| 902830004}}</ref>
The composer's literary taste in selecting the verse has been adversely criticised: his biographer [[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]] has written, "Today these songs have only to appear in a programme for someone to castigate the words of the poems Elgar chose to set", and adds that so far as [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]]'s "Sabbath Morning at Sea" and [[Adam Lindsay Gordon]]'s "The Swimmer" are concerned the criticism is justified.<ref>Kennedy (1987), p. 101</ref> The music critic Andrew Farach-Colton describes these two poems as "creaky and overblown" and [[Roden Noel]]'s 'Sea Slumber-Song' as "excessively alliterative" and "simply mediocre".<ref name=gram/> Elgar took the view that it was preferable to set second-rate poetry to music, "for the most immortal verse is music already".<ref>Moore, p. 280</ref>
The premiere took place on 5 October 1899 at the [[Norfolk and Norwich Festival]] with Elgar himself conducting and [[Clara Butt]] singing, dressed as a mermaid.<ref>Kennedy (1987), p. 101</ref>{{refn|One reviewer reported: "Miss Clara Butt is an artist in dress as well as in music ... her dress at the Philharmonic concert on Tuesday was wonderfully in keeping with the cycle of songs she sang, ''Sea Pictures''. Her dress, which was entirely composed of shimmering sequins, resembled nothing so much as the scales of a fish seen through green sea water, and . . . recalled paintings of mermaids. She was particularly fine in "The Swimmer", and you could almost imagine her breasting the waves, so marvellous was the effect of her singing, together with that of her dress.<ref name=lj/>|group=n}} The work was a success with the critics and the public. "The cycle went marvellously well", Elgar reported afterwards.<ref name=gram/> The reviewer in ''[[The Musical Times]]'' wrote: {{blockindent| Mr Elgar is a master of broad and vigorous colouring, but in the cycle of songs entitled ''Sea Pictures'' (Op. 37), written for, and finely sung by, Miss Clara Butt, he has shown that he can also appreciate the style of the miniaturist. Indeed, I incline to think that in these five songs, whose words are taken from various sources, Mr Elgar has been the happiest in those he has treated with the lightest hand. "In Haven", with its constantly repeated figure of accompaniment, might be styled a trifle; but it is like the sketch of a master, better than the most highly finished productions of a laborious duffer. So is the even more beautiful "Where corals lie", with its quaintly Oriental turns of melody. Of the others, the "Sea slumber-song" is full of tender grace, while in the remaining two the composer has adopted something more like what Sir Walter Scott dubbed the "big bow-wow" style; with his accustomed skill, but with rather less convincing results.<ref>[https://doi.org/10.2307/3367787 "Norwich Musical Festival]", ''The Musical Times'', vol. 40, no. 681, 1 November 1899, pp. 747–748</ref>}}
Butt gave the first London performance two days later at [[St James's Hall]], with Elgar at the piano. On 20 October [[Ada Crossley]] performed the work for [[Queen Victoria]] at [[Balmoral Castle|Balmoral]].<ref>Kennedy (1987), p. 102</ref> Programmes at the Elgar Birthplace Museum document eleven performances between the premiere and June 1901. Soloists included Butt, Crossley, [[Muriel Foster]], Gertrude Lonsdale and Helene Valma.<ref name=lj>Leistra-Jones, Karen. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/44163467 "'The Deeps Have Music Soft and Low’: Sounding the Ocean in Elgar’s ‘Sea Pictures"] ''Music & Letters'', vol. 97, no. 1, February 2016 {{subscription}}</ref>
At the time he was composing ''Sea Pictures'' Elgar had temporarily fallen out with his usual publishers, [[Novello and Co]], and he offered the new work to [[Boosey & Hawkes|Boosey and Co]], who bought the copyright for £50, with a [[royalty payment]] of 3d a copy for any of the songs published separately.<ref>Moore, p. 288</ref> They also secured the ''[[Cockaigne (In London Town)|Cockaigne]]'' overture, and the [[Pomp and Circumstance Marches]] Nos. 1 and 2.<ref>Anderson, p. 28</ref>
Elgar's music went out of fashion in the mid-twentieth century, and ''Sea Pictures'' fell out of the regular concert repertoire. ''[[The Record Guide]]'', published in 1955, gives no recordings of the work among the sparse Elgar listings.<ref>Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, pp. 253–257</ref> The leading contralto of the post-war years, [[Kathleen Ferrier]], did not like the work,<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 221</ref> although other singers performed individual numbers from it at five [[The Proms|Henry Wood Promenade Concerts]] in the 1950s.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/works/0108b9cc-e340-45b9-9549-aa25e6ffaab3 Sea Pictures], Proms Performance Archive, BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2026</ref> The conductor [[Sir John Barbirolli]] continued to champion the work. He said to Kennedy, "He [Elgar] makes you ''see'' the sea lapping over the beach, you can almost feel the pull of the tide."<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 235</ref> It was his recording of ''Sea Pictures'' with [[Janet Baker]] and the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] made in 1965 and coupled with the [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello Concerto]] with [[Jacqueline du Pré]] that reintroduced the cycle to popularity.<ref name=gram/>
== Recordings == The first recordings of "In Haven" and "Where Corals Lie" were made on 10 November 1922, by [[Leila Megane]] (contralto) with Elgar conducting the [[New Symphony Orchestra (London)|Royal Albert Hall Orchestra]].<ref name=k366>Kennedy (1987), p. 366</ref> The same artists recorded the remaining three songs on 8 January 1923.<ref name=k366/> These [[acoustic recording|acoustic]] recordings were made for [[The Gramophone Company]] and appeared under the [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] label, on two discs D674-5.<ref name=k366/> The five recordings were reissued on CD by Pearl Records in 1992.<ref>[https://search.worldcat.org/title/1116921262 "The Elgar Edition: Elgar's Complete Recordings, 1914–25. Fourth record"], WorldCat. Retrieved 21 February 2026</ref> Later recordings: {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: left; margin-right: 0;" ! scope="col" |Soloist ! scope="col" |Orchestra ! scope="col" |Conductor ! scope="col" |Year |- | [[Muriel Brunskill]] | unnamed orchestra | unnamed conductor | 1926 |- | [[Gladys Ripley]] | [[Philharmonia Orchestra|Philharmonia]] | [[George Weldon]] | 1946 |- | Gladys Ripley | [[London Symphony Orchestra|London Symphony]] | George Weldon | 1954 |- | [[Constance Shacklock]] | [[The Hallé|Hallé]] | [[Sir John Barbirolli]] | 1958 |- | [[Janet Baker]] | London Symphony | Sir John Barbiroll | 1965 |- | [[Kerstin Meyer]] | Hallé Orchestra | Sir John Barbirolli | 1970 |- | [[Yvonne Minton]] | [[London Philharmonic Orchestra|London Philharmonic]] | [[Daniel Barenboim]] | 1977 |- | [[Larisa Avdeyeva]]{{refn|Sung in Russian|group=n}} | [[State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation|USSR State Symphony]] | [[Yevgeny Svetlanov]] | 1977 |- | [[Lauris Elms]] | [[Sydney Symphony]] | [[John Hopkins (conductor)|John Hopkins]] | 1978 |- | [[Bernadette Greevy]] | London Philharmonic Orchestra | [[Vernon Handley]] | 1981 |- | [[Margreta Elkins]] | [[Queensland Symphony Orchestra|Queensland Symphony]] | [[Werner Andreas Albert]] | 1983 |- | [[Janet Baker|Dame Janet Baker]] | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Vernon Handley | 1984 |- | [[Maureen Forrester]] | [[McGill Symphony Orchestra]] | Richard Hoenich | 1986 |- | [[Felicity Palmer]] | London Symphony | [[Richard Hickox]] | 1987 |- | [[Linda Finnie]] | London Philharmonic | [[Bryden Thomson]] | 1991 |- | [[Rosemarie Lang]] | Helsingborg Symphony | Hans-Peter Frank | 1991 |- | [[Birgitta Svendén]] | Orchestre philharmonique de Nice | [[John Carewe]] | 1991 |- | [[Della Jones]] | [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra|Royal Philharmonic]] | [[Charles Mackerras]] | 1994 |- | Jard Van Nes | [[Residentie Orkest]] | Yevgeny Svetlanov | 1994 |- | Elizabeth Campbell | [[Adelaide Symphony Orchestra| Adelaide Symphony]] | [[Nicholas Braithwaite]] | 2002 |- | Catherine Wyn-Rogers | [[BBC Symphony Orchestra|BBC Symphony]] | [[Andrew Davis (conductor)|Sir Andrew Davis]] | 2003 |- | [[Sarah Connolly]] | [[Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra|Bournemouth Symphony]] | Simon Wright | 2006 |- | [[Roderick Williams]] | [[BBC Concert Orchestra|BBC Concert]] | [[Martin Yates]] | 2010 |- | Sarah Connolly | BBC Symphony Orchestra | [[Sir Andrew Davis]] | 2014 |- | [[Jennifer Johnston (mezzo-soprano)|Jennifer Johnston]] | [[BBC National Orchestra of Wales]] | Francesco Angelico | 2015 |- | [[Alice Coote]] | Hallé | [[Sir Mark Elder]] | 2015 |- | [[Elīna Garanča]] | [[Staatskapelle Berlin]] | Daniel Barenboim | 2019 |- | [[Marie-Nicole Lemieux ]] | [[Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine]] | [[Paul Daniel]] | 2019 |- | Kathryn Rudge | [[Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra|Royal Liverpool Philharmonic]] | [[Vasily Petrenko]] | 2019 |- | [[Sarah Connolly|Dame Sarah Connolly]] | Philharmonia | [[Oliver Zeffman]] | 2022 |} {{external media | float = right | caption = <!-- text placed left or right of headerimage ---> | headerimage= [[File:YouTube 2024.svg|alt=YouTube logo|x20px|left]] | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2uaEVfwkGo&t A 1920 recording of No. 4, "Where Corals Lie"] by [[Clara Butt]] }} ===Recordings with piano accompaniment === *[[Birgit Finnilä]], [[Geoffrey Parsons (pianist)|Geoffrey Parsons]], 1975 *Claire-Louise Lucas, Jonathan Darnborough, 2002 *[[Konrad Jarnot]] Reinild Mees, 2007 *Amanda Pitt, [[David Owen Norris]], 2007 *[[Amanda Roocroft]], Reinild Mees, 2007
===Other=== *Version for SATB choir and string orchestra arr. Donald Fraser, [[Rodolfus Choir]], [[English Chamber Orchestra]], [[Kenneth Woods]]. 2013. *Individual numbers from the cycle have been recorded by singers including [[Clara Butt]],<ref>Dutton CDAX8020</ref> [[Aafje Heynis]],<ref>[http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Contraltos/Dutch_Contraltos/hauptteil_dutch_contraltos.html "Sea Slumber Song"]</ref> [[Mary Jarred]],<ref>Elgar Society EECD003-005</ref> and [[Maartje Offers]].<ref>Philips Dutch Masters 464,385-2</ref>
==Notes, references and sources== ===Notes=== {{Reflist|group=n}} ===References=== {{Reflist}} ===Sources===
*{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Robert|chapter=Elgar and his Publishers| title=The Cambridge Companion to Elgar | year= 2011| location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University | isbn= 978-1-13-900225-7}} * {{cite book|last= Kennedy |first= Michael | author-link=Michael Kennedy (music critic) |year= 1971|title= Barbirolli, Conductor Laureate: The Authorised Biography |location= London |publisher = MacGibbon and Key |isbn= 0-261-63336-8}} * {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Michael |date=1987 |title= Portrait of Elgar |edition=3rd|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-284017-2|url=https://archive.org/details/portraitofelgar0000kenn_v9l0/page/n3/mode/2up |url-access=registration}} * {{cite book |last=Moore |first=Jerrold Northrop|authorlink=Jerrold Northrop Moore |title=Edward Elgar: A Creative Life |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1984 |isbn=0-19-315447-1}} * {{cite book|last= Sackville-West |first= Edward|authorlink=Edward Sackville-West |author2=[[Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic)|Desmond Shawe-Taylor]]|year=1955 |title= The Record Guide |location=London |publisher=Collins |oclc= 500373060}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book |last1=McGuire |first1=Charles Edward |editor1-last=Saylor |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Scheer |editor2-first=Christopher M. |title=The Sea in the British Musical Imagination |date=2015 |publisher=Boydell Press |pages=179{{ndash}}203 |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781782046950-014/html?srsltid=AfmBOopCDT2UQskQ6YOBM3NNbRg7fD2r7CKm04uQZQmbh32quAVOnW31 |chapter=Three Journeys, Two Paths: Locating the Lyric and Dramatic in Elgar’s ''Sea Pictures'' |doi=10.1515/9781782046950-014 |isbn=978-1-78204-695-0 |url-status=|url-access=subscription|ref=none}}
== External links == * {{IMSLP2|work=Sea Pictures, Op.37 (Elgar, Edward)|cname=''Sea Pictures''}} * [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=384 Translations of ''Sea Pictures''] from [[The LiederNet Archive]] * [http://www.elgar.org/3seapics.htm Elgar—His Music: ''Sea Pictures''] from ''All About Elgar'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060214162945/http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/season/dialogue_detail.cfm?ID=19&season=2003-2004 Programme notes] by Fred Kirshnit ([[American Symphony Orchestra]])
{{Edward Elgar}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Song cycles by Edward Elgar]] [[Category:Classical song cycles in English]] [[Category:1899 compositions]] [[Category:Orchestral songs]]