The plot of Elgar’s King Olaf cantata has been criticized for it lack of cohesion, but the musical settings contain power, majesty, stirring melodies, joyous lyricism and a finale of immense proportion and emotional effect. As a lesser work of a great composer, it certainly bears study. As a work on its own, King Olaf rewards performers and listeners with superb moments. A final a capella Chorus, As Torrents In Summer, is frequently performed on its own.Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf is widely considered to be the best of Elgar’s pre-Enigma compositions. He was commissioned to write this work for the North Staffordshire Music Festival in 1896, and he chose to adapt sections of Longfellow’s Tales of a Wayside Inn with the assistance of his neighbour, the translator H A Acworth. Acworth reduced the length of Longfellow’s twenty-two sections to just eight with added material.
| Instrument (fx guitar, sang m.m.) | Bas Voice, Orkester, SATB |
| Genrer (Fx Pop, Rock, Børn m.m.) | Romantic |
| Type (fx Instrumentskole o.lign.) | Partitur, Vokal partitur |
| Niveau | Medium |
| Sideantal | 186 |
| Media (fx Bog, CD, DVD m.m.) | Noder |
| Publisher/Producent | Novello, Novello & Co Ltd. |
| Bidragydere | Elgar, Edward (Composer) Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (Writer) |
| Sprog | Engelsk |