
Primary lesson plan for Theme (Enigma), variations 11, 6 & 7 (PDF).Primary lesson plan for Theme (Enigma), variations 11, 6 & 7 (PowerPoint).
#Enigma variations composer Pc
To save to your computer: PC - right-click and save, Mac - ctrl-click and save. To enable all images to work in the Powerpoint files please save the file to your computer. Take a look at our video masterclasses for inspiration. These lesson plans are ideal for music lessons, but you can of course use the Ten Pieces in many other subjects and activities.

His wife had been right to stop him from quitting!ĭownload lesson plans for six weeks of learning and activities for Elgar's music as Powerpoint presentations or PDFs. These Enigma Variations where an instant, huge success and within a couple of years he was made Master of the King's Music and was knighted.

Then in 1899 encouraged by his wife Alice, he wrote a set of pieces based on a mysterious theme of his own and used each version to describe one of his friends. He felt like he didn't quite fit in he was from a humble family of amateur musicians, he was self-taught, he was even the 'wrong' religion and so for much of his early adult life he felt that his face just didn’t fit the mould of 'great classical composer'.Įlgar tried everything moving from the countryside to London, hanging out with orchestral players and conductors, entering competitions but no one seemed interested in his music and he often considered giving up completely. We now know however that Elgar was in just as much personal turmoil as everybody else. He wrote lush romantic music at a time when the rest of the musical world was in turmoil. We often think of him as the creator of the ultimate English sound. Dan can be heard falling down the bank into the River Wye in bar 1, paddling upstream in bars 2 and 3, and then rejoicing at landing back on the bank with a bark in the second half of bar 5!Įdward Elgar BORN: 1857 / DIED: 1934 / NATIONALITY: BritishĮdward Elgar was a truly great British composer but it took him many years to find fame.

Listen out for: How Elgar created the sounds of Dan the bulldog in variation 11. One captured the quirks of a friend (6 - Ysobel), one represented the memory of another friend being caught in a thunderstorm (7 - Troyte), and one was the result of a friend's challenge to make music from the sound of his barking bulldog falling into a lake (11 - G.R.S.)!Įvents from our lives, the way we speak, the way we move, the things we like to do – Elgar showed that all of these can be conveyed in music. Elgar's variations show how music can convey personality, an event, a memory or a moment in time - but also how the same piece of music can be changed slightly and then take on a different character completely.Īfter creating a theme based on his own personality (Enigma), Elgar wrote short musical variations that reflected the people around him.
