Elgar - La Capricieuse, Op. 17

Edward Elgar: La capricieuse, Op.17

Edward Elgar is well known for the grand splendour of much of his music, but La capricieuse contains
different attitudes for the player and for the audience. This short piece features a blend of bright, high
passages and solemn lower passages, written at a turbulent time for the composer. A time after an
unsuccessful period in London, in which he had moved to Worcester and taught around schools. It was
here that he met Fred Ward, a skilled student of his, to whom he dedicated this virtuosic piece.

Few of Elgar’s works explores the relationship between the violin and its accompaniment as La
capricieuse does. The variation in dynamics and tempo makes the piece suitable for some of Elgar’s more
playful and vigorous melodies. Elgar’s music is characterised by the bold melodies and striking colours
that symbolised Britain on the edge of a rebirth of its musical values. It comes at the end of the 19th and
beginning of the 20th century, where Elgar preceded and inspired composers such as Vaughn Williams
and Britten. This time saw the revolution in British music where it was created not just as a pleasing
pass-time entertainment for the composers and audiences, but to mark Britain’s influence in the music
world.

La capricieuse, as many of Elgar’s works do, marks an essential influence for a new generation of
composers in search of means to change the world’s attitude towards music.