Two lost Elgar songs discovered

30 May 2013, 10:26

Researchers have found two songs by Edward Elgar in the British Library that were previously thought to be lost.

The songs, titled 'The Muleteer's Serenade' and 'The Millwheel' were originally known about only because of diary entries made by Elgar's wife, Alice, that suggested he'd been working on them around the turn of the 20th century.

Sketches for the songs appeared in the original composition notes for Elgar's vocal work King Olaf, but director of Elgar Works (a charity set up to increase the performance of his music) John Norris told Reuters how he found the full works:

"When I went and looked at the sketches we sort of gradually removed the later editions and came to realise that actually they weren't just sketches, there were complete solo songs underneath the later editions."

The songs are due to be performed on June 2nd at a special celebration of the composer's 156th birthday, at the Elgar Birthplace Museum in Worcester.