Symphony No. 2 (Elgar) - Early Reception

Early Reception

Elgar, though always prone to spells of intense self-doubt, had come to expect positive reactions to his new works. The premiere of Symphony No. 1 in 1908 was received enthusiastically by an exuberant audience and press; Elgar's name was linked with the likes of Beethoven and Brahms, and the work was performed 82 times over the following year. Thus, Elgar was unpleasantly surprised by the much different reception given the premiere of his Symphony No. 2. The less-than-capacity filled hall responded to the new symphony, according to The Times reviewer, "with much favour, though with rather less enthusiasm than usual."

Reasons for this perceived waning of interest could include the performance of The Dream of Gerontius and the Violin Concerto earlier the same week, the presence of two other composer-conductor premieres on the programme, or the high ticket prices. The emotional disconnect between an audience eager for the coronation of a new monarch and a brooding symphony in mournful commemoration of the late king may have also affected the reaction. Regardless, the lukewarm response prompted Elgar to remark to Henry Wood immediately upon exiting the stage, "Henry, they don't like it, they don't like it", and complain to W. H. Reed shortly thereafter, "they sit there like a lot of stuffed pigs." In the aftermath of the symphony's premiere, Elgar was "despondent" and subsequently entered "one of his periods of despair."

The reviews from that first performance were, however, generally positive. The critic of The Daily Telegraph lauded Elgar's "firmer grip, not only of the symphonic form, but of the substance expressed within its confines." This reviewer would also attest "there are heights here that hitherto even Elgar himself had not touched, but we are doubtful if the greater public will realise the fact immediately." The critic of "The Times" acclaimed the work as "a great deal better than his first", remarking that the second and fourth movements in particular "touch the composer's highest mark."

Reviews in the following year, however, were decidedly mixed. Elgar conducted the Hallé Orchestra in a performance on 23 November 1911 eliciting the critic of The Manchester Guardian to declare "Elgar's original charm and his power of surprising us into wonder have diminished rather than grown as his craftsmanship and subtlety of fantastic variation have increased ... we can hardly say that the work contains any melody in the full sense of the word. Neither can we say with confidence that it quite vanquishes the impression of coldness and hardness." The American premiere in Cincinnati on 24 and 25 November by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski was not well received, and the American correspondent of The Times had this to say of a New York performance on 16 December: "One cannot listen to even the most eloquent pleading for nearly an hour without fatigue, and that was the first impression this music made – of restless, unpitying earnestness...not only is no concession made to the sensuously pleasing, but little regard is paid to the psychological need for contrast, for relief. It is a devotee exhorting a congregation assumed also to be devotees."

The symphony was slow to catch on, not performed a second time by the Hallé Orchestra, generally very supportive of Elgar's music, until 1926. The Royal Philharmonic Society performed the work in 1916 and not again until seven years later. In the wake of World War I, it did begin to stake its place in the repertoire. A concert in March 1924, inspired the Times critic to remark upon the second movement: "one wondered whether any nobler or more beautiful funeral music has been written than this, which unrolls like some vast tapestry richly woven of purple and crimson threads." Adrian Boult's rendering of the piece with the London Symphony Orchestra on 16 March 1920 was received with "frantic enthusiasm," and stirred Elgar to declare, "I feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands."

Today, Elgar's Second Symphony, though regularly performed in the UK, is not a central part of the international symphonic repertory. Although Elgar is widely acknowledged as one of England's leading composers, his orchestral music, with the exception of the Enigma Variations, the Cello Concerto, and his Pomp and Circumstance Marches, is only sporadically programmed outside Britain.