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In 1924, Elgar was appointed Master of the King's Musick. There had been talk of the
position being abolished following the death of his predecessor, Sir Walter Parratt. But
although Elgar had argued strongly for the position to be retained, he claimed to attach little
personal importance to his appointment. He had been knighted some twenty years earlier and a
member of the Order of Merit since 1911, both honours that he considered far more
prestigious.
The Master of the King's Musick has few official duties but he normally writes the occasional
small work to commemorate a Royal occasion. With the Imperial March, the Coronation Ode and The
Crown of India Suite behind him, Elgar was well practised in writing such works on
quite a grand scale. But his time in the role lacked Royal occasions of comparable significance
and Elgar had by this time all but given up composing. As a result, he wrote only two works in
response to his position. The first, Good Morrow, was a carol written in November
1929 to wish King George V a speedy recovery from a serious illness. The composition of the
second, The Nursery Suite, was prompted by the birth in August 1930 of Princess
Margaret. The work is dedicated to "The Duchess of York and the Princesses Elizabeth and
Margaret Rose."
Elgar had just completed The Severn Suite so was
free for the act of composition to proceed relatively quickly. Elgar conducted the first
performance of the work in HMV's recording studio, Kingsway Hall, on 23 May 1931. It was
intended that the work should be recorded in its entirety but this plan was thwarted because the
final piece (Dreaming- Envoy) proved to be ten seconds too long. Such were
the limitations of recording techniques at that time! A further session at the Kingsway Hall was
arranged for 4 June, at which the recording of the work was completed. This latter performance
was attended by the Duke and Duchess of York, later to become King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth, now the Queen Mother.
The work's public premiere took place in August 1931 at a Promenade Concert. It was well
received and was later performed as a ballet at Sadler's Wells. The work marks a return
to the style of The Wand of Youth suites, capturing
with remarkable skill images of childhood. Particularly apt are the contrasts between the serious,
sad and merry dolls; The Wagon Passes contains echoes of the frantic central
passages of the Third Movement of the Second
Symphony; while Dreaming - Envoy recalls the adagio of the First Symphony. But the inventiveness of the
orchestration of Wand of Youth is not quite there and,
overall, the work slightly disappoints, leaving the impression of a Master attempting but not quite
succeeding in recreating the success of the earlier suites.
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