Lang Lang! Simon, Elgar & Beethoven: Mar 14, 2026
- 16 minutes ago
- 9 min read
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Now DIVE IN Below to read and watch stuff!
Carlos Simon
Fate Now Conquers
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American composer Carlos Simon (1986 - ) has been a rising star for many years. Just in the past handful of years he has been the Composer Chair of the Boston Symphony and Composer-In-Residence for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His music has been commissioned and performed by major orchestras around the world, including by the Colorado Symphony. In recent seasons we have performed Fate Now Conquers, Elegy: A Cry From the Grave, and his trombone concerto Troubled Water. Fate Now Conquers is one of Simon's most frequently performed concert openers, and just one listening will clarify exactly why - as it thrills audiences each time.
About the music:
Carlos Simon's "Fate Now Conquers" was inspired by an entry from Ludwig van Beethoven's journal; an excerpt from Homer's "The Illiad": “But Fate now conquers; I am hers; and yet not she shall share In my renown; that life is left to every noble spirit And that some great deed shall beget that all lives shall inherit.”
In Carlos Simon's own words: "Using the beautifully fluid harmonic structure of the 2nd movement of Beethoven’s 7th symphony, I have composed musical gestures that are representative of the unpredictable ways of fate. Jolting stabs, coupled with an agitated groove with every persona. Frenzied arpeggios in the strings that morph into an ambiguous cloud of free-flowing running passages depicts the uncertainty of life that hovers over us.
We know that Beethoven strived to overcome many obstacles in his life and documented his aspirations to prevail, despite his ailments. Whatever the specific reason for including this particularly profound passage from the Iliad, in the end, it seems that Beethoven relinquished to fate. Fate now conquers.”
"Fate Now Conquers" was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra and premiered March 26-29, 2020. A typical performance lasts just 5 minutes.
Resources:
Edward Elgar
Enigma Variations
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Edward Elgar 1857-1934 was an English composer who paved the path for Ralph Vaughan Williams and other English composers to make a sort of reawakening of English composition and style. He was largely self taught and a late starter. He enjoyed a fair amount of success during his lifetime but his music did wane in popular opinion and only found a revived sense of value in the mid 1900s. Other than the Cello Concerto, his most famously popular works include Pomp and Circumstance, and the Enigma Variations.
About the music:
Elgar finished composing the Enigma Variations in 1899. The piece was premiered that same year in London and served to launch Elgar’s career from that moment forward.
The Enigma theme is original material which came about during an improvisatory moment at the piano. He spun the variations out from the theme based on characteristics of various friends and colleagues.
Enigma Variations consists of the theme followed by 14 variations, each with initials giving away the identity of the subject. In a program note from 1911, Elgar wrote “This work, commenced in a spirit of humour & continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of the composer's friends. It may be understood that these personages comment or reflect on the original theme & each one attempts a solution of the Enigma, for so the theme is called. The sketches are not 'portraits' but each variation contains a distinct idea founded on some particular personality or perhaps on some incident known only to two people. This is the basis of the composition, but the work may be listened to as a 'piece of music' apart from any extraneous consideration.”
Variation I - C.A.E.
For his wife, Caroline Alice Elgar. Embedded in this variation is a tune Elgar would whistle as he approached, to let Alice know he was home.
Variation II - H.D.S-P.
For pianist friend Hew David Steuart-Powell, who would warm up before rehearsals by playing “vanilla” scales and passages. Elgar wrote thorny chromatic passages in this variation to lovingly tease about Steuart-Powell’s dislike of chromaticism.
Variation III - R.B.T.
For Richard Baxter Townshend, an amateur actor who was known for shifting his vocal range from a very low “old man” pitch to a very high pitch. This is represented in the bassoon and the oboe, respectively.
Variation IV - W.M.B.
For William Meath Baker, a caretaker of public buildings in Stoke-on-Trent, who Elgar characterizes in this very short movement as hurriedly leaving a room with an inadvertent bang of the door after giving instructions to his guests.
Variation V - R.P.A.
For Richard Penrose Arnold, an amateur pianist who enjoyed philosophical conversation despite what Elgar described as being “continually broken up by whimsical and witty remarks.” This is evident in the somber theme carried by the string basses while the wind instruments provide the interruptive remarks.
Variation VI - Ysobel
For Isabel Fitton, a viola student of Elgar’s. This is where we reach the viola joke portion of the performance! Elgar composed this variation to point out a technical challenge for less experienced string players - string crossings. This variation starts with notes bouncing from a middle pitch to a much lower and then much higher pitch, imitating this challenging technique with which Ms. Fitton possibly struggled.
Variation VII - Troyte
For Arthur Troyte Griffith, an architect and painter. This one features wildly fast notes and punctuated rhythms in the timpani and lower strings.
Variation VIII - W.N.
For Winifred Norbury, who along with Elgar served as joint secretary of the Worcestershire Philharmonic Society. Her laugh is embedded in this variation.
Variation IX - Nimrod
For August Jaeger (Jaeger = hunter in German, and therefore is related to Nimrod the biblical hunter), a trusted friend and colleague. Elgar wrote that this variation is in remembrance of “a long summer evening talk, when my friend grew nobly eloquent (as only he could) on the grandeur of Beethoven, and especially his slow movements.”
Variation X - Dorabella
For Dora Penny, a close friend whose gentle stutter is depicted in the woodwinds.
Variation XI - G.R.S.
For George Robertson Sinclair’s dog Dan! This variation depicts Dan bounding off, falling into the river, paddling back to shore, and then barking once back on dry land. “G.R.S. said, 'Set that to music'. I did; here it is”
Variation XII - B.G.N.
For Basil George Nevinson, a cellist friend. Elgar wrote "The variation is a tribute to a very dear friend whose scientific and artistic attainments, and the whole-hearted way they were put at the disposal of his friends, particularly endeared him to the writer”. This variation begins and ends with a cello solo.
Variation XIII - ***
For Lady Mary Lygon, a sponsor of a local music festival whose initials were removed and replaced by asterisks for publication. Potential reasons for this given by scholars suggest either a superstition about the number 13, or avoiding untoward associations between Lygon and Elgar given the intimate emotional intensity of the music.
Variation XIV - E.D.U.
For himself! E.D.U. being a homophonic version of the nickname “Edoo” that Elgar’s wife Alice called him. In this variation he briefly quotes the C.A.E. (Alice) and Nimrod (August Jaeger) variations.
After the final measures of the score, Elgar wrote “Bramo assai, poco spero, nulla chieggio”, I long for much, I hope for little, I ask nothing. This piles on to the Enigma thematic element, leaving people wondering what to make of it.
A typical performance lasts about 35 minutes.
Resources:
🤓Have Some Fun!🤓
Take a moment to consider how you might adapt a tune or some lyrics to suit particular characteristics of family members, colleagues, friends. What aspects would you keep or change for each person to convey their personality and one or two specific character traits?What instruments would you choose to highlight each of them? How would you envision the instruments playing either individually or together to create the sound of each person?
Try it out! You're doing just what Elgar did when he imagined the Enigma Variations!
If you do this activity please share about it in the comments below! I love hearing about your experiences nerding out!
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 1
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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802, just after he published his first two Piano Concertos. After this time he began to develop a personal style that deviated from the influence of Classical era composer Franz Joseph “Papa” Haydn and Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus “Wolfie” Mozart, the other two composers along with Ludwig who formed the First Viennese School. 🤓nerrrrrrrds!🤓
About the Music:
Ludwig van Beethoven composed and (possibly - see below) premiered Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1795, revised it in 1800, and published it in 1801, all between the ages of 25 and 31.
Technically it’s the third piano concerto he wrote, following an unpublished concerto and his Piano Concerto No. 2 which he composed in 1788 (and possibly premiered in 1795 - see above) but didn’t publish until later in 1801 after the publication of Piano Concerto No. 1. Confusing. I know. But now you can totally win Jeopardy! (Except for not knowing for sure whether it was the first or second piano concerto that he premiered in 1795. Best not to wager a large amount on that one…)
This piano concerto is the least often performed of his five concertos for piano and orchestra but it is delightful, beautiful, fun, and not one bit wompwomp at being 5th place.
The 3 movement structure is typical for the Classical era of Mozart and Haydn - Fast, Slow, Fast.
Allegro con brio (Lively with zest)
Largo (Slow)
Rondo. Allegro scherzando (Rondo form. Lively, playful)
The third movement rondo is a commonly used form during the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic era. A primary theme or statement is separated again and again by new thematic material such that the form can be understood as A, B, A, C, A, D, A, etc. This give a sense of strophic song form - Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, etc - which give listeners something to hold on to and look forward to after each new flight of fancy.
A typical performance lasts about 35 minutes.
Resources:
🤓GET NERDY!🤓
There is lots of musical dialogue between the orchestra and soloist in a concerto and this Beethoven Piano Concerto is no different! Consider how tricky it can be to have a dialogue between one person speaking (the solo piano) and dozens of people speaking (the orchestra).
Gather your nerd crew for some fun! First come up with a short sentence or phrase you can all say together. Next choose one person to come up with a different sentence or phrase. Try alternating between the group and the individual. It takes some coordination!
Make it more complicated by having the “orchestra" repeat their phrase together at a steady pace and then adding the “soloist” repeating their different phrase simultaneously. Try to achieve a balance of volume between the individual and the group so each can clearly hear the other. How soft did the “orchestra” need to become in order to hear the “soloist”? Try it again and this time have the soloist determine how loudly or softly to speak, so the orchestra must listen carefully and respond accordingly. Reverse those roles as well. Is it easy to be successful? Challenging? How/why?
Extra nerd points if you mimic the Rondo form of the final movement by choosing an A theme phrase, and alternating between that and a different B theme phrase, C theme phrase and so on. Choose anything! A random page of a book, eyes closed, wherever your finger lands on the page! The last text message you sent! Make it silly or serious or both! As long as “orchestra” and “soloist” engage in a pattern of A, B, A, C, A etc.
COMMENT BELOW ON THE RESULTS OF YOUR EXTREME NERDERY!
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