Nursery Suite

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The Nursery Suite is one of the last compositions by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934). Like Elgar's Wand of Youth Suites it makes use of sketches from the composer’s childhood.

There are seven movements and a coda:

1. Aubade (Awake)

2. The Serious Doll

3. Busy-ness

4. The Sad Doll

5. The Wagon (Passes)

6. The Merry Doll

7. Dreaming – Envoy (Coda)

The composition of The Nursery Suite came about when Elgar mentioned in September 1930 to HMV (the Gramophone Company) that he had lately run across a box of musical sketches from the days of his youth. HMV suggested that as Master of the King's Musick he might suitably draw on them for a work to mark the recent birth of Princess Margaret Rose (then fourth in line to the throne). The suite was dedicated to Princess Margaret, her older sister Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and their mother.

Most of the movements are light, and predominantly gentle. The exception is 'The Wagon (Passes)', of which the Elgar authority Michael Kennedy notes that as the wagon rumbles towards us the music takes on a sinister quality like that of the moment in the Scherzo of the Second Symphony, when ‘the wheels go over my head’. Anthony Payne drew on the form of this movement for the ending of his elaboration of the Third Symphony sketches.

The Nursery Suite was one of the first pieces of orchestral music to receive its première in a recording studio (Kingsway Hall, London) rather than a concert hall. At its première on 23 May 1931, all but the two last movements were recorded under the baton of the composer. The last two movements were added when the whole suite was performed on 4 June 1931 before an invited audience including Elizabeth, age 4, and her parents. The piece takes about 25 minutes to perform.

The choreographer Frederick Ashton used The Nursery Suite for a new ballet (his last) in 1986 for Elizabeth II’s sixtieth birthday gala at the Royal Opera House.

[edit] References

Notes to EMI CD CDM 7 63280 2 (The Nursery Suite and other short pieces. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Charles Groves).