2003-12-08 University Symphony Orchestra [recital program]

              UNCG Symphony Orchestra
Violin I
†Fabrice Dharamraj, Winston-Salem, NC
‡Ewa Gondek Dharamraj, Greensboro, NC
Emily Arnold, Aberdeen, NC
Rebecca Averill, Greensboro, NC
Shelley Blalock, Rocky Point, NC
Laura Doyle, Wilmington, NC
Melissa Ellis, Apex, NC
Ingrid Hobbs, Greensboro, NC
Chris Jusell, Chesapeake, VA
Timothy Kim, High Point, NC
Kwanghee Park, Hendersonville, NC
Frédéric St. Pierre, Trois-Rivières, Québec
Violin II
*Katie Costello, Greensboro, NC
**Wayne Reich, Greensboro, NC
Debra Anders, Balsam Grove, NC
Joshua Barber, Fayetteville, NC
Amy Blackwood, High Point, NC
Ashley Brown, Wilmington, NC
William Freeman, Hickory, NC
Rachel Godwin, Lillington, NC
Joseph Kilbreth, Kernersville, NC
Elisabeth Malcolm, Garner, NC
Nicole Phillips, Winston-Salem, NC
Holley Ross, Charlotte, NC
Holly Sitton, Horse Shoe, NC
Brian Turner, Burlington, NC
Viola
*Alvoy Bryan, Greensboro, NC
**Noah Hock, Eugene, OR
Sara Bursey, Chapel Hill, NC
Morgan Caffey, Moncure, NC
Jaime DeLong, Clemmons, NC
Joseph Driggars, Birmingham, AL
Katherine Hayden, Raleigh, NC
Susannah Plaster, Simpsonville, SC
Frances Schaeffer, Greensboro, NC
Patrick Scully, Pinehurst, NC
Morgan Smith, Greensboro, NC
John Ward, Greensboro, NC
Anne Marie Wittmann, Greensboro, NC
Violoncello
*Gina Pezzoli, Greensboro, NC
**Deborah Shields, Mebane, NC
Jon Benson, Winston-Salem, NC
Fucheng Chuang, Greensboro, NC
Sarah Dorsey, Greensboro, NC
Michael Hickman, Greensboro, NC
Meaghan Skogen, Whitsett, NC
Paul Stern, Tuckasegee, NC
Rebecca Wade, Gay, NC
Joel Wenger, Raleigh, NC
Double Bass
*Rebecca Marland, Greensboro, NC
**Suzanne Luberecki, Greensboro, NC
Patrick Byrd, Greenville, NC
Andrew Hawks, Raleigh, NC
Emily Manansala, Greensboro, NC
Double Bass, continued
Paul Quast, Jacksonville, NC
Brent Rawls, Hickory, NC
Benjamin Wolf, Greensboro, NC
Di Wong, Greensboro, NC
Flute
*Laura Meyers, East Aurora, NY
Katherine Anderson, Cornelius, NC
*Elizabeth Yackley, Frederick, MD
Oboe
*Connie Ignatiou, Greensboro, NC
Marcia Sternlieb, Greensboro, NC
*Matt Ward, Greensboro, NC
Amanda Woolman, Greensboro, NC
B Clarinet and Bass Clarinet
*Shawn Copeland, Orlando, FL
*Nathan Olawsky, Greensboro, NC
Kenny Tysor, Greensboro, NC
Bassoon
*Elaine Peterson, Greensboro, NC
*Heather Kelly, Cincinnati, OH
Molly Roberts, Greensboro, NC
Horn
*Michael Hrivnak, Greensboro, NC
*Tara Cates, Greensboro, NC
Kelly Dunn, Wake Forest, NC
Jaemi Loeb, New Haven, CT
*Mary Pritchett, Vilas, NC
Trumpet
*Scott Toth, Greensboro, NC
*Mark Hibshman, Greensboro, NC
Luke Boudreault, Graham, NC
Trombone
*Sean Devlin, Gastonia, NC
Chris Cline, Greensboro, NC
Glenn McIntyre, Greensboro, NC
*John Stringer, Xalapa, Mexico
Tuba
*Sam Nettleton, Greensboro, NC
Harp
*Bonnie Bach, Greensboro, NC
Kittie Hampton, Radford, VA
Percussion
*Robert Rocha, Greensboro, NC
David Fox, Weaverville, NC
Mary Schmitz, Swansboro, NC
Julia Thompson, Rutherfordton, NC
† denotes Concertmaster
‡ denotes Assistant Concertmaster
* denotes Principal or Co-Principal
** denotes Assistant Principal
University Symphony Orchestra
Robert Gutter, conductor
Matthew T. Troy, guest conductor
Jaemi B. Loeb, guest conductor
Steven Stusek, saxophone
Susan Fancher, saxophone
Monday, December 8, 2003
7:30 pm
Aycock Auditorium
b
Program
Tragic Overture in D minor, Op. 81 Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Jaemi Loeb, guest conductor *
Prélude à “l'Après-midi d'un Faune” Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Matthew Troy, guest conductor *
Duo Concertante (2002) for two alto saxophones and orchestra Mark Engebretson
North American premiere (b. 1964)
Susan Fancher, alto saxophone
Steven Stusek, alto saxophone
Intermission
Enigma Variations for Orchestra, Op. 36 Edward Elgar
Theme: Andante (1857-1934)
1. Andante
2. Allegro
3. Allegretto
4. Allegro di molto
5. Moderato
6. Andantino
7. Presto
8. Allegretto
9. Adagio
10. Allegretto
11. Allegro di molto
12. Andante
13. Moderato
Finale: Allegro
Robert Gutter, conductor
* In partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the
Master of Music in Conducting
_____
The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should please see one of the ushers in the lobby.
Patrons are encouraged to take note of the exits located on all levels of
the auditorium. In an emergency, please use the nearest exit, which may
be behind you or different from the one through which you entered.
Steven Stusek is Assistant Professor of Music (saxophone) at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro. He holds degrees from Indiana University, Arizona State University, and the
Conservatoire de la Région de Paris. While in Paris, he was in the saxophone class of Daniel
Deffayet at the Paris Conservatory. Other teachers include Jean-Yves Formeau, Eugene
Rousseau, David Baker, Joseph Wytko and Larry Teal. Some of his awards include a Medaille
d’Or in Saxophone Performance (Conservatoire de la Région de Paris); winner of the Saxophone
Concerto competition (Indiana University); Semi-finalist, Concert Artists Guild Competition;
Vermont Council on the Arts prize for Artistic Excellence; and Finalist (and taken under
management) in the Nederlands Impressariaat Concours for ensembles (The Netherlands, 1998).
He performs frequently in the US and Holland with Dutch accordion player Otine van Erp in the
duo 2Track. Composers who have written music for him include academy award winner John
Addison, Joan Tower, James Grant, Allen Shawn, Eric Nielsen, Dennis Kitz, Dorothy Robson,
Daniel Michalak, Stacy Garrop, Mitchell Turner and Greg Carroll. Dr. Stusek has taught at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Indiana Univerisity, Arizona State University, Ball State
University, and Middlebury College. He was director of Big Band Utrecht (The Netherlands) and is
a founding member of the Bozza Mansion Project, an Amsterdam-based new music ensemble.
Dr. Stusek is a Vandoren performing artist and clinician.
Susan Fancher’s career has featured hundreds of concerts internationally as a soloist and as
the member of chamber music ensembles, with performances in many of the world’s leading
concert venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Amphitheater at the Chautauqua
Institution, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Filharmonia
Hall in Warsaw, Orchestra Hall in Malmö, Sweden, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts,
and at ISCM festivals in Albania and Bulgaria, the Gaida Festival in Lithuania, Hörgänge and
Wien Modern Festivals in Vienna, and on CBS Sunday Morning. Tours have taken her to
Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and throughout the US. Concert highlights include
concerto performances with Vienna’s Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Western New York’s Four
Centuries Chamber Orchestra and the Amherst Chamber Ensembles, the Kalamazoo Symphony
Orchestra, and Sweden’s Malmö Philharmonic Orchestra and Östgöta Symphonic Wind
Ensemble. Susan Fancher has recorded over 10 CDs available on the Philips, New World
Records, Lotus Records Salzburg, Extraplatte and Innova labels. The most recent additions to
her discography are a solo CD entitled Ponder Nothing on the Innova label, which features her
composer-approved arrangements of music by Steve Reich and Ben Johnston, and a recording
as soprano saxophonist with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet and the Arcata String Quartet on
New World Records of Forever Escher by Paul Chihara. Susan Fancher is a regularly featured
columnist for the nationally distributed Saxophone Journal. She holds the prestigious Medaille
d’Or from the Conservatoire of Bordeaux, France, and the Doctor of Music degree in saxophone
performance from Northwestern University. Her principal teachers were classical saxophone
masters Frederick Hemke, Jean-Marie Londeix, and Michael Grammatico, and Chicago jazz
legend Joe Daley. Susan Fancher uses and endorses Selmer and Vandoren products.
noblewoman who was emigrating to Australia at the time of the piece’s composition. The grand
finale, variation fourteen (“E.D.U.”), is a ebullient and energetic representation of the composer
himself, whose nickname was “Edu,” according to his wife.
The enigma of the Enigma Variations remains unsolved, despite the research that uncovered the
dedications of each variation. Elgar said that all the variations are based on a theme that is never
itself heard and that the tune presented in the introduction which permeates the work is itself a
variation on that unheard theme. For a hundred years, scholars have sought to unravel the
mystery of the absent and yet present theme, finding answers in places as diverse as the second
movement of Mozart’s “Prague” symphony, “Rule Brittania,” and Charles Stanford’s Requiem. It is
speculated that the main theme of the Enigma Variations is actually a countertheme or at least
counterpoint to the “real” underlying theme. Whether or not the enigma is ever unraveled, the
Enigma Variations remain an important landmark in Western symphonic music and the history of
orchestral music in Great Britain.
— Program notes by Jaemi Loeb and Matthew Troy
Robert Gutter is currently Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro and also serves as Music Director of the Philharmonia of Greensboro. In 1996 he
received an appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of
the Ukraine in Kiev. He is founder and artistic director for the International Institute for Conductors
in Kiev as well as the 2003 Catania Conductors Institute. In his 35 years as a professional
conductor, he has devoted himself to both professional and non-professional orchestras in over
twenty seven countries and in the major cities of New York, Washington D.C., Paris, London,
Vienna, Milano, Stuttgart, and St. Petersburg. In addition to his symphonic engagements, he has
appeared with opera companies both in the United States and in Europe. Prior to accepting his
orchestral posts in North Carolina in 1988, he served as Music Director and Conductor of the
Springfield, Massachusetts Symphony. In 1986 he was named "Conductor Emeritus" of that
orchestra. Gutter served as principal trombonist with the Washington National Symphony. He
holds the bachelor and Master degrees from Yale University.
Jaemi B. Loeb is a first year M.M. student in instrumental conducting under the guidance of
Robert Gutter. She comes to UNCG from Brown University, where she graduated magna cum
laude in May of ‘03 with honors in Music and a second major Modern Culture and Media. While at
Brown, Jaemi served as assistant conductor to Matthew McGarrell with the University Wind
Symphony for 7 semesters and to Paul Phillips with the University Symphony Orchestra for 3
semesters. She also served as a member and principal player of the French Horn sections of
both ensembles, and studied French Horn privately with David Ohanian. During her time at Brown
Jaemi conducted several university musicals including: Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and Emma,
an original musical by Stephen Karam. Jaemi received awards from Brown’s Music Department
(the Margery McColl award, the Buxtehude Premium, and the Faculty Premium) and the
university at large (Timory Hyde Memorabubble Intern Award and Faculty Scholar) for both
scholarship and performance. Other studies have included conducting workshops and seminars
with Gunther Schuller, David Effron, Donald Portnoy, Paul Vermel, Peter Perret, Gustav Meier,
Marin Alsop, and Frederick Fennell as well as French Horn studies with R. Allen Spanjer and
John Ericson.
Matthew Troy received his Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, studying viola under Dr. Scott Rawls. Upon graduating, Troy began playing principal
viola in The Philharmonia of Greensboro, where he has also served as guest conductor on
several occasions. Also active as a teacher, Troy is currently on the string faculty of the Music
Academy of North Carolina. Not limiting himself to instrumental music, Troy is also an
experienced vocalist. He has sung with the UNCG men’s a capella group The Spartones, the
Greensboro Opera Company, and has been featured as a clinician for high school choral
students at Salisbury State University in Salisbury, MD. He is also currently the Music Director for
the Triad Harmony Express men’s a capella chorus in Winston-Salem and has written
arrangements for their current repertoire. Other conducting engagements have been with the
Greensboro Symphony Youth Chamber Orchestra and the Salisbury Symphony Youth Orchestra,
where he has recently been appointed as conductor.
Johannes Brahms:
Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Brahms spent the summer of 1880 in the resort town of Bad Ischl, one of his favorite places to
escape the big city of Vienna. In that summer, he simultaneously completed the Tragic Overture
and the Academic Festival Overture. A light-hearted pastiche of student songs, Academic
Festival Overture is something like the polar twin of the somber, dramatic, and dark Tragic
Overture. Early sketches of the Tragic Overture date back to the late 1860’s, but it seems that
filling the commission for the jocular Academic Festival Overture and the resulting neglect of his
usual, more serious musical tone, incited Brahms to finally bring the sketches to life. According to
a letter to his friend, the publisher Simrock, Brahms “could not refuse [his] melancholy nature the
satisfaction of composing an overture for a tragedy,". Brahms had no specific literary or dramatic
tragedy in mind for the overture, nor was he inspired by personal misfortune. Rather, the overture
was for Brahms a way to balance the boisterousness of the Academic Festival Overture.
Premiered in Vienna on December 26, 1881 with Hans Richter conducting, the Tragic Overture is
blend of Classical and Romantic symphonic styles characteristic of Brahms’ work. Adhering to the
sonata form, the piece is Classical in dimension and architecture. The development section
(marked Molto piu moderato) is relatively short, the weight of the piece being on the exposition.
The recapitulation is short, balanced by long coda, typical of Classical sonata forms. Phrases are
generally even and symmetrical, given the overture a feeling of balance much prized in Classical
symphonic writing. However, melodic events occur in an order not unlike what one finds in the
symphonies and overtures of the archetypal Romantic: Beethoven. For example, using a device
like one used by Beethoven in the first movement of his first symphony, Brahms does not repeat
the exposition section, but uses the first eight bars of the exposition to begin the transition into the
development, referencing the Classical convention of repeating the exposition section. Similarly
Romantic is the recapitulation, which begins not with the primary theme, but with the bridge
material that leads into the second theme, much like the recapitulation in the first movement of
Beethoven’s third symphony. The most Romantic element of the Tragic Overture is its harmonic
structure. Unlike a Classical sonata form movement, which would begin with a strong and
unequivocal statement of the tonic, the Tragic Overture opens with 20 measure of unclear tonic,
vacillating between D minor and F major, until measure 21, where D minor is confirmed as tonic.
Like many Romantic symphonic works, the overture remains tonally mobile, modulating quickly
and often. D minor is never far, though, and the unmistakably solid final cadence gives the ending
a feeling of finality necessary to complete such a dramatic and dynamic overture.
Claude Debussy:
Prélude à “l’Après-midi d’un Faune”
The Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Claude Debussy was written between the years 1892-
1894, and first published in 1895. The music for this piece is based on the poem bearing the
same name by Stephane Mallarmé. Although Mallarmé was 20 years older than Debussy, the
two became friends in the 1890’s. Debussy took an immediate liking to the work of Mallarmé and
also set Apparition to music in 1884. At this time Debussy was a student at the Paris
Conservatory where he befriended Raymond Bonheur (1851-1938) to whom he would later
dedicate the Faun.
Mallarmé completed the first version of the poem in 1865, then under the name “Monologue d’un
Faune”. He took it to the author Theodore Banville and actor Constant Coquelin in hopes that
they would arrange to have it performed on the stage. He was promptly rejected on the grounds
that there was nothing theatrical about the work. Again this happened in 1875 to a second
version, now under the title “Improvisation du Faune”. Finally the poem was published in 1876
and proved to be stage worthy in 1913 when the Faun was choreographed and performed by the
famous dancer Vaslav Nijinsky shortly before the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
By 1882 the popularity of the Faun was spreading. While at the conservatory Debussy won
several prizes, among them was a fellowship in Rome in 1885. This is where Debussy met
Mallarmé and attended the famed Tuesday evening gatherings at Mallarmé’s home where he led
informal lectures on poetry and his ideas. This was something that Mallarmé did until his death in
1898.
When reading the text to “Afternoon of a Faun” the reader is overwhelmed by the sense of
ambiguity that Mallarmé creates. This is related to other parts of the Impressionist Movement
that was occurring at this time. In the same way painters were “blurring the lines” in their works,
Mallarmé was blurring the meaning of his text by destroying syntactical elements in favor of
phonological ones, thus creating uncertainty. We are not sure what is real and what is fantasy.
Whether we are in the present tense of remembering events past.
Debussy shows his deep understanding of the poetic devices in how he translates this into his
music. The most direct relationship is how Mallarmé blurs syntax and how Debussy blurs
tonality. We begin with a solo flute melody that seems to just hang in the air. During this we are
not sure what key we are in, major or minor. The interval of the tritone is very exposed. As the
piece progresses we hear how Debussy expands this idea to chordal motion and transfers it to
different instruments. Each time this melody occurs it is harmonized and accompanied by
different chords. Some of them are traditionally viewed as dissonant. But because of their
surroundings and Debussy’s use of timbres the dissonance loses the sense of urgency to be
resolved. Also connected with the poem is how the piece is developed entirely out of the opening
idea. However, with Debussy’s exceptional writing he is able to provide both contrast and unity
throughout the piece.
Mallarmé’s highly erotic and sexual imagery comes across in Debussy’s music very well. This
picture is of a faun relaxing in the sun on a hot summer day. He catches a glimpse of several
nymphs and goes chasing after them. Once he catches them and their encounter is over, the
faun is left with remnants of the their presence but we are not sure whether this really happened
or was it just the dream of the faun. As modern poetry can be said to be rooted in Baudelaire and
Mallarmé, so modern music can be said to have been awakened by the music of Debussy’s
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.
Mark Engebretson:
Duo Concertante for two saxophones and orchestra
Duo Concertante was commissioned by Frederick Hemke for performance with his son, Frederic,
and the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mariusz Smolij. The piece is scored
for two solo alto saxophones and a small orchestra. The Duo is a one-movement work that pits a
soaring lyrical theme performed by one soloist against a driving rhythmic theme played by the
other. The two soloists are then matched against the orchestra. As the music progresses,
elements of one theme can be heard to invade the other: the fun is in listening to see which idea
(if any!) ultimately emerges as the “winner.” The listener will note a limited number of “special
effects” are employed in the saxophone parts, most notably tone color changes and quarter-tones
(those beautiful, “between the notes” pitches). The abstract nature of the title reflects some of the
ideas I was thinking about during composition of the piece, especially with respect to the rather
classically oriented structure of the piece. The high-octane energy and over the top expressivity
should, however, strike the listener as altogether contemporary.
Mark Engebretson, Assistant Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at UNCG, has
recently undertaken composing a series of high-powered solo works entitled “Energy Drink” and
writing music for large ensembles. He lived for five years as a freelance composer and performer
in Stockholm and Vienna, earning numerous commissions from official funding organizations. His
music has been presented at many festivals, such as Wien Modern (Vienna), Gaida Festival
(Vilnius, Lithuania), Hörgänge Festival (Vienna), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), Indiana State
University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, Indiana), the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival,
ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan) and World Saxophone Congresses
(Pesaro, Italy, Montreal, Canada and Minneapolis, Minnesota). Recent performances include
premieres by the Wroclaw (Poland) Philharmonic Orchestra and the State University of New York
at Fredonia Wind Ensemble and a presentation by the Jacksonville Symphony. His work “She
Sings, She Screams” for alto saxophone and digital media has been performed countless times
worldwide, and has been released on three commercial compact disc recordings, two of which
are on the innova label. As a performer, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician
worldwide, and he is a former member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet. Dr. Engebretson
previously taught composition at the University of Florida, music theory at the SUNY Fredonia
and 20th-century music history at the Eastman School of Music. He studied at the University of
Minnesota (graduating Summa cum Laude), the Conservatoire de Bordeaux (as a Fulbright
Scholar), and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree. At
Northwestern he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta
Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick
Hemke. His teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat and Jean-Marie Londeix.
Sir Edward Elgar:
Enigma Variations, Op. 36
In 1899, 18 years after he conducted the premiere of Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Hans Richter
premiered an orchestral work by a little known English composer, Edward Elgar. At the time it
was common sense that there was no such thing as a great English composer. But, the half hour
long orchestral work entitled “Variations on an Original Theme” convinced many that common
sense isn’t always to be trusted. Meeting with success as a composer later in life (most of his
important works were composed after his fortieth birthday),Elgar supported himself and his wife
early in his career by giving violin lessons, conducting an amateur orchestra and serving
occasionally as an accompanist in local clubs. The story of the Enigma Variations begins on an
October evening in 1898, when Elgar sat at his piano improvising and unwinding after a long day
of teaching. A tune that he happened upon caught his wife’s attention and she interrupted his
musing so that he would play it again. After some searching, Elgar found the melody once more
and continued to improvise on it. As Elgar describes it, he then asked his wife: “ ‘Whom does that
remind you of?’ ‘Why’ she said, quick as lightning, ‘that's Billy Baker going out of the room.’ ”
Thus began a series of musical portraits including of friends of the Elgars and the Elgars
themselves.
Containing some of the most breathtakingly beautiful moments in all of Western symphonic
music, the Enigma Variations is a set of 14 variations following an elegantly beautiful introduction.
The first variation (“C.A.E.”), in G minor, is a loving and tender tribute to Elgar’s wife, Caroline
Alice Elgar. The difficult and soloistic second variation, “H.D. S-P.,” depicts the struggling of Hew
David Stuart-Powell, an amateur pianist with whom Elgar often played chamber music. Variation
three, “R.B.T,” shifts to G Major to represent the ebullient Victorian eccentric, Richard Baxter
Townshend. An old friend of Alice Elgar, Townshend was a gentlemen actor with a very high
pitched voice and piercing blue eyes who was often to be found riding around on a tricycle,
ringing its bell and chuckling. Townshend’s brother in law and friend to both Elgars, William
Meath Baker occupies the mostly G minor fourth variation, “W.M.B.” Baker was an energetic and
hot tempered country gentleman who, though he loved the serenity of the country life and its
attendant pastimes out of doors, would often storm into and out of rooms, slamming doors behind
him. The fifth variation, “R.P.A.,” is a tribute to the amateur pianist Richard P. Arnold. Son of the
poet Mathew Arnold, Richard’s lyrical nature is depicted in C minor. Variation six (“Ysobel”)
moves into C Major to portray Elgar’s favorite viola student, Isabel Fitton, whose instrument takes
over the spotlight of the movement. The next variation (“Tryote”) is dedicated to Arthur Troyte
Griffiths. An architect by trade, Griffiths was a very enthusiastic, though largely incompetent
pianist. Returning to G Major, variation seven (“W.N.”) depicts Winifred Norbury, an easy going
and utterly unexciteable friend of Elgar’s. Another shift into the minor mode brings us to the most
famous of the variations and perhaps some of the most beautiful music in the symphonic
repetoire, “Nimrod.” Dedicated to Elgar’s best friend, Augustus E. Jaeger, the title of the variation
is the name of an Old-Testament patriarch known as a hunter, forming a pun on Jaeger’s last
name, which is the word for hunter in German. It is said that this variation simultaneously depicts
what Elgar saw as a Jaeger’s noble and beautiful character and a specific walk that the two men
took together during which they discussed Beethoven for hours. The tenth variation (“Dorabella”)
is labelled Intermezzo for its lighter character. Again in the major mode, this variation depicts the
young niece of William Baker, Dora Penny, whose stutter (or laugh) is mimicked in the
woodwinds. George Robert Sinclair, organist at Hereford Cathedral is the subject of variation
eleven, “G.R.S.” Sinclair’s bulldog, Dan, who had a penchant for throwing himself into rivers
despite his poor swimming abilities, trots along at his master’s side. Since the viola dominated
variation six, the cello dominates the twelfth variation (“B.G.N.”), dedicated to the well known
cellist and inspiration for Elgar’s later cello concerto, Basil G. Nevinson. Variation thirteen,
labelled Romanza, contains no initials, only “***.” The quotation from Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea
and Prosperous Voyage, leading many to believe that it is dedicated to Lady Mary Lygon, a local