Alfredo Casella
Elegia Eroica
"Dem unbekannten Soldaten" (1916)
for large orchestra
Duration: 12'
Instrumentation details:
4 3 4 3 - 6 3 3 1 - timp, perc(4), hp, cel - str
Casella - Elegia Eroica for large orchestra
Audio preview
Work introduction
The measured
steps of a funeral march pace through this work, composed during World War I;
yet it is much more than a cortège. It begins with a cry of pain, its harsh
harmonies still retaining some beauty, thanks to Casella’s masterful scoring. Beauty
and pain of another kind characterize the lullaby a mother sings to her dead
son, a tune evoked again and again in the course of the work. The Elegia
eroica has – sadly – lost none of its topicality to this day; it is at
once timeless and timely music.