The Romance in E minor for violin and piano is a work by Edward Elgar composed in 1878 or 1879 and published in 1885 as his Opus 1.
Contents
The Romance was dedicated to Oswin Grainger, an older friend of Elgar's from a Worcester orchestra they played in, who was an amateur musician and grocer by trade. It was published by Schott's in 1885 and the first performance was on 20 October, in Worcester.
Structure
Andante 12/8 E minor
Following the 4 bars of introduction by piano, violin shows the subject shown in excerpt 1.
Excerpt 1
Then, the same introduction by piano induces the exposure of excerpt 2, in G minor, played by violin.
Excerpt 2
The music reaches passionate climaxes twice before excerpt 1 reappears. Double stop of violin leads the quiet end of the work.
It is a short work, with performing time about 5 minutes.