# Sea Pictures

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Song cycle by Edward Elgar

The 1899 [Boosey and Co](/source/Boosey_%26_Hawkes) edition of *Sea Pictures*

***Sea Pictures, Op. 37*** is a song cycle for [contralto](/source/Contralto) and orchestra by [Edward Elgar](/source/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:[1]

- "[Sea Slumber Song](/source/Sea_Slumber_Song)" by [Roden Noel](/source/Roden_Noel)

- "[In Haven (Capri)](/source/In_Haven)" by [Alice Elgar](/source/Alice_Elgar), the composer's wife

- "[Sabbath Morning at Sea](/source/Sabbath_Morning_at_Sea)" by [Elizabeth Barrett Browning](/source/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning)

- "[Where Corals Lie](/source/Where_Corals_Lie)" by [Richard Garnett](/source/Richard_Garnett_(writer))

- "[The Swimmer](/source/The_Swimmer_(poem))" by [Adam Lindsay Gordon](/source/Adam_Lindsay_Gordon)

## History

Elgar finished scoring his *[Enigma Variations](/source/Enigma_Variations)* in February 1899 and immediately began work on an orchestral song-cycle for the [Norwich Festival](/source/Norfolk_and_Norwich_Festival) that October. He composed the cycle around "[Love alone will stay](/source/Love_alone_will_stay)", a short song for voice and piano he had written some years earlier to words by his wife, [Alice](/source/Alice_Elgar). 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](/source/Berlioz)'s *[Les nuits d'été](/source/Les_nuits_d'%C3%A9t%C3%A9)*,[2] and later favoured by [Mahler](/source/Gustav_Mahler).[3]

The composer's literary taste in selecting the verse has been adversely criticised: his biographer [Michael Kennedy](/source/Michael_Kennedy_(music_critic)) 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](/source/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning)'s "Sabbath Morning at Sea" and [Adam Lindsay Gordon](/source/Adam_Lindsay_Gordon)'s "The Swimmer" are concerned the criticism is justified.[4] The music critic Andrew Farach-Colton describes these two poems as "creaky and overblown" and [Roden Noel](/source/Roden_Noel)'s 'Sea Slumber-Song' as "excessively alliterative" and "simply mediocre".[2] Elgar took the view that it was preferable to set second-rate poetry to music, "for the most immortal verse is music already".[5]

The premiere took place on 5 October 1899 at the [Norfolk and Norwich Festival](/source/Norfolk_and_Norwich_Festival) with Elgar himself conducting and [Clara Butt](/source/Clara_Butt) singing, dressed as a mermaid.[6][n 1] The work was a success with the critics and the public. "The cycle went marvellously well", Elgar reported afterwards.[2] The reviewer in *[The Musical Times](/source/The_Musical_Times)* wrote:

 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.[8]

Butt gave the first London performance two days later at [St James's Hall](/source/St_James's_Hall), with Elgar at the piano. On 20 October [Ada Crossley](/source/Ada_Crossley) performed the work for [Queen Victoria](/source/Queen_Victoria) at [Balmoral](/source/Balmoral_Castle).[9] Programmes at the Elgar Birthplace Museum document eleven performances between the premiere and June 1901. Soloists included Butt, Crossley, [Muriel Foster](/source/Muriel_Foster), Gertrude Lonsdale and Helene Valma.[7]

At the time he was composing *Sea Pictures* Elgar had temporarily fallen out with his usual publishers, [Novello and Co](/source/Novello_and_Co), and he offered the new work to [Boosey and Co](/source/Boosey_%26_Hawkes), who bought the copyright for £50, with a [royalty payment](/source/Royalty_payment) of 3d a copy for any of the songs published separately.[10] They also secured the *[Cockaigne](/source/Cockaigne_(In_London_Town))* overture, and the [Pomp and Circumstance Marches](/source/Pomp_and_Circumstance_Marches) Nos. 1 and 2.[11]

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](/source/The_Record_Guide)*, published in 1955, gives no recordings of the work among the sparse Elgar listings.[12] The leading contralto of the post-war years, [Kathleen Ferrier](/source/Kathleen_Ferrier), did not like the work,[13] although other singers performed individual numbers from it at five [Henry Wood Promenade Concerts](/source/The_Proms) in the 1950s.[14] The conductor [Sir John Barbirolli](/source/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."[15] It was his recording of *Sea Pictures* with [Janet Baker](/source/Janet_Baker) and the [London Symphony Orchestra](/source/London_Symphony_Orchestra) made in 1965 and coupled with the [Cello Concerto](/source/Cello_Concerto_(Elgar)) with [Jacqueline du Pré](/source/Jacqueline_du_Pr%C3%A9) that reintroduced the cycle to popularity.[2]

## Recordings

The first recordings of "In Haven" and "Where Corals Lie" were made on 10 November 1922, by [Leila Megane](/source/Leila_Megane) (contralto) with Elgar conducting the [Royal Albert Hall Orchestra](/source/New_Symphony_Orchestra_(London)).[16] The same artists recorded the remaining three songs on 8 January 1923.[16] These [acoustic](/source/Acoustic_recording) recordings were made for [The Gramophone Company](/source/The_Gramophone_Company) and appeared under the [His Master's Voice](/source/His_Master's_Voice_(British_record_label)) label, on two discs D674-5.[16] The five recordings were reissued on CD by Pearl Records in 1992.[17] Later recordings:

Soloist Orchestra Conductor Year Muriel Brunskill unnamed orchestra unnamed conductor 1926 Gladys Ripley Philharmonia George Weldon 1946 Gladys Ripley London Symphony George Weldon 1954 Constance Shacklock 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 Daniel Barenboim 1977 Larisa Avdeyeva[n 2] USSR State Symphony Yevgeny Svetlanov 1977 Lauris Elms Sydney Symphony John Hopkins 1978 Bernadette Greevy London Philharmonic Orchestra Vernon Handley 1981 Margreta Elkins Queensland Symphony Werner Andreas Albert 1983 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 Charles Mackerras 1994 Jard Van Nes Residentie Orkest Yevgeny Svetlanov 1994 Elizabeth Campbell Adelaide Symphony Nicholas Braithwaite 2002 Catherine Wyn-Rogers BBC Symphony Sir Andrew Davis 2003 Sarah Connolly Bournemouth Symphony Simon Wright 2006 Roderick Williams BBC Concert Martin Yates 2010 Sarah Connolly BBC Symphony Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis 2014 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 Vasily Petrenko 2019 Dame Sarah Connolly Philharmonia Oliver Zeffman 2022

External videos A 1920 recording of No. 4, "Where Corals Lie" by Clara Butt

### Recordings with piano accompaniment

- [Birgit Finnilä](/source/Birgit_Finnil%C3%A4), [Geoffrey Parsons](/source/Geoffrey_Parsons_(pianist)), 1975

- Claire-Louise Lucas, Jonathan Darnborough, 2002

- [Konrad Jarnot](/source/Konrad_Jarnot) Reinild Mees, 2007

- Amanda Pitt, [David Owen Norris](/source/David_Owen_Norris), 2007

- [Amanda Roocroft](/source/Amanda_Roocroft), Reinild Mees, 2007

### Other

- Version for SATB choir and string orchestra arr. Donald Fraser, [Rodolfus Choir](/source/Rodolfus_Choir), [English Chamber Orchestra](/source/English_Chamber_Orchestra), [Kenneth Woods](/source/Kenneth_Woods). 2013.

- Individual numbers from the cycle have been recorded by singers including [Clara Butt](/source/Clara_Butt),[18] [Aafje Heynis](/source/Aafje_Heynis),[19] [Mary Jarred](/source/Mary_Jarred),[20] and [Maartje Offers](/source/Maartje_Offers).[21]

## Notes, references and sources

### Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** 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.[7]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Sung in Russian

### References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Kennedy (1987), pp. 344–345

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-gram_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-gram_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-gram_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-gram_2-3) Farach-Colton, Andrew. ["Sea Pictures"](https://www.gramophone.co.uk/content/features/elgar-s-sea-pictures-a-guide-to-the-best-recordings), *Gramophone*, November 2023 (subscription required)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-chan_3-0)** Burton, Anthony. Notes to Chandos CD set CHSA 5140(2) [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [902830004](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/902830004)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Kennedy (1987), p. 101

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Moore, p. 280

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Kennedy (1987), p. 101

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-lj_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-lj_7-1) Leistra-Jones, Karen. ["'The Deeps Have Music Soft and Low’: Sounding the Ocean in Elgar’s ‘Sea Pictures"](http://www.jstor.org/stable/44163467) *Music & Letters*, vol. 97, no. 1, February 2016 (subscription required)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Norwich Musical Festival](https://doi.org/10.2307/3367787)", *The Musical Times*, vol. 40, no. 681, 1 November 1899, pp. 747–748

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Kennedy (1987), p. 102

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Moore, p. 288

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Anderson, p. 28

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, pp. 253–257

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Kennedy (1971), p. 221

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** [Sea Pictures](https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/works/0108b9cc-e340-45b9-9549-aa25e6ffaab3), Proms Performance Archive, BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2026

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Kennedy (1971), p. 235

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-k366_17-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-k366_17-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-k366_17-2) Kennedy (1987), p. 366

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["The Elgar Edition: Elgar's Complete Recordings, 1914–25. Fourth record"](https://search.worldcat.org/title/1116921262), WorldCat. Retrieved 21 February 2026

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Dutton CDAX8020

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["Sea Slumber Song"](http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Contraltos/Dutch_Contraltos/hauptteil_dutch_contraltos.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Elgar Society EECD003-005

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Philips Dutch Masters 464,385-2

### Sources

- Anderson, Robert (2011). "Elgar and his Publishers". *The Cambridge Companion to Elgar*. Cambridge: Cambridge University. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-13-900225-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-13-900225-7).

- [Kennedy, Michael](/source/Michael_Kennedy_(music_critic)) (1971). *Barbirolli, Conductor Laureate: The Authorised Biography*. London: MacGibbon and Key. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-261-63336-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-261-63336-8).

- Kennedy, Michael (1987). [*Portrait of Elgar*](https://archive.org/details/portraitofelgar0000kenn_v9l0/page/n3/mode/2up) (3rd ed.). [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-284017-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-284017-2).

- [Moore, Jerrold Northrop](/source/Jerrold_Northrop_Moore) (1984). *Edward Elgar: A Creative Life*. Oxford: [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-315447-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-315447-1).

- [Sackville-West, Edward](/source/Edward_Sackville-West); [Desmond Shawe-Taylor](/source/Desmond_Shawe-Taylor_(music_critic)) (1955). *The Record Guide*. London: Collins. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [500373060](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/500373060).

## Further reading

- McGuire, Charles Edward (2015). "Three Journeys, Two Paths: Locating the Lyric and Dramatic in Elgar's *Sea Pictures*". In Saylor, Eric; Scheer, Christopher M. (eds.). [*The Sea in the British Musical Imagination*](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781782046950-014/html?srsltid=AfmBOopCDT2UQskQ6YOBM3NNbRg7fD2r7CKm04uQZQmbh32quAVOnW31). Boydell Press. pp. 179–203. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1515/9781782046950-014](https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9781782046950-014). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78204-695-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78204-695-0).

## External links

- [*Sea Pictures*](https://imslp.org/wiki/Sea_Pictures,_Op.37_(Elgar,_Edward)): Scores at the [International Music Score Library Project](/source/International_Music_Score_Library_Project)

- [Translations of *Sea Pictures*](http://www.lieder.net/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=384) from [The LiederNet Archive](/source/The_LiederNet_Archive)

- [Elgar—His Music: *Sea Pictures*](http://www.elgar.org/3seapics.htm) from *All About Elgar*

- [Programme notes](https://web.archive.org/web/20060214162945/http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/season/dialogue_detail.cfm?ID=19&season=2003-2004) by Fred Kirshnit ([American Symphony Orchestra](/source/American_Symphony_Orchestra))

v t e Edward Elgar List of compositions Incidental Diarmuid and Grania (1901) The Crown of India (1911–12) The Starlight Express (1915–16) The Sanguine Fan (1917) Symphonies Symphony No. 1 (1907–08) Symphony No. 2 (1909–11) Symphony No. 3 (1932–34; completed by Payne in 1997) Orchestral The Wand of Youth (1869–1907) Powick Asylum Music (1879–1884) Sevillana (1884) Froissart (1890) Sursum corda (1894) Serenade for Strings (1894) Three Bavarian Dances (1898) Enigma Variations (1899) Cockaigne Overture (1900–01) Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901–30) Dream Children (1902) Introduction and Allegro (1904–05) In the South (Alassio) (1904–05) Elegy (1909) Falstaff (1913) Sospiri (1914) Carillon (1914) Polonia (1915) Une voix dans le désert (1915) Le drapeau belge (1917) Nursery Suite (1930) The Severn Suite (1930) Concertante Violin Concerto (1901–10) Romance (1910) Cello Concerto (1918–19) Chamber Duett for trombone and double bass (1887) Idylle (1883) Salut d'Amour (1888) Chanson de Nuit (1897) Chanson de Matin (1899) La Capricieuse (1891) Violin Sonata (1918) String Quartet (1918) Piano Quintet (1918–19) Keyboard Organ Sonata (1898) Concert Allegro (1901) Choral The Black Knight (1889–93) From the Bavarian Highlands (1895–96) King Olaf (1896) The Light of Life (1896) Caractacus (1898) The Dream of Gerontius (1899–1900) The Kingdom (1901–06) Coronation Ode (1902) The Apostles (1902–03) The Music Makers (1912) The Spirit of England (1915–17) Queen Alexandra's Memorial Ode (1932) Vocal "The Language of Flowers" (1872) "The Self Banished" (1875) "A War Song" (1884) Seven Lieder "Like to the Damask Rose" (1892) "Queen Mary's Song" (1889) "A Song of Autumn" (1892) "The Poet's Life" (1892) "Through the Long Days" (1885) "Rondel" (1894) "The Shepherd's Song" (1892) "Is she not passing fair?" (1886) "As I laye a-thynkynge" (1888) "The Wind at Dawn" (1888) "After" (1900) "A Song of Flight" (1900) Sea Pictures "Sea Slumber Song" "In Haven" "Sabbath Morning at Sea" "Where Corals Lie" "The Swimmer" (1897–99) "Dry those fair, those crystal eyes" (1899) "Always and Everywhere" (1901) "Come, Gentle Night!" (1901) "In the Dawn" (1901) "Speak, Music!" (1901) "There are seven that pull the thread" (1901) "In Moonlight" (1904) "Follow the Colours" (1907) "Pleading" (1908) "A Child Asleep" (1909) "Oh, soft was the song" (1910) "Was it some Golden Star?" (1910) "Twilight" (1910) "The Chariots of the Lord" (1914) "Fight for Right" (1916) "Inside the Bar" (1917) "The Blue Mountains" (1924) "The Immortal Legions" (1924) Pageant of Empire (1924) "XTC" (1930) Other topics Dorabella Cipher Elgar Birthplace Museum The Elgar Sisters Elgar Society Elgar Uplands Elgar (film) Family August Jaeger Alice Elgar Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sea Pictures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Pictures) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Pictures?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.