I have stumbled upon this quote while reading through Elgar's Enigma Variations. It is not his, but American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's, taken from his Elegiac Verse, In The Harbour:
'Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending;
Many a poem is marred by a superfluous verse.'
 |
| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1883) |
The placement of the quote, scribbled at the second ending of the piece, makes it even more meaningful in two ways. Firstly, the Finale is Elgar's XIV variation, similar to Longfellows' XIV stanza, where this quote originates. Secondly, according to the foreword in the Novello edition of the full score, some of Elgar's friends thought he might want to rework the original ending. At first Elgar was against the idea, but he seemed willing to consider it. At first he struggled to find a satisfying conclusion, however, in the end he did finish the piece with an extended ending. He must have been so relieved to know that the piece has finally come to conclusion, that he felt an urge to mentioned this quote.
As long as I can remember, I have always struggled to finish my artworks. I loved to begin a new work, but working on it for so long as to reach a point of satisfaction when you know this piece is truly finished was something I always found very hard to achieve. I believe that this skill, this perseverance, is what makes the difference, is what makes you eventually succeed - not only in art, but in life in general.
-PW
 |
| Sir Edwar Elgar (1857-1934) (c) Alamy |
No comments:
Post a Comment