The plot of Elgar’s King Olaf cantata has been criticized for it lack of cohesion, but the musical settings contain power, majesty, stirring melodies, joyous lyricism and a finale of immense proportion and emotional effect. As a lesser work of a great composer, it certainly bears study. As a work on its own, King Olaf rewards performers and listeners with superb moments. A final a capella Chorus, As Torrents In Summer, is frequently performed on its own.Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf is widely considered to be the best of Elgar’s pre-Enigma compositions. He was commissioned to write this work for the North Staffordshire Music Festival in 1896, and he chose to adapt sections of Longfellow’s Tales of a Wayside Inn with the assistance of his neighbour, the translator H A Acworth. Acworth reduced the length of Longfellow’s twenty-two sections to just eight with added material.
| Instrument | Bas Voice, Orkester, SATB |
| Genre (Fx Pop, Rock, Barn m.m.) | Romantic |
| Typ (fx Lärobok, samling m.m.) | Partitur, Vocal partitur |
| Niveau | Medium |
| Sidor | 186 |
| Media | Noter |
| Publisher/Producent | Novello, Novello & Co Ltd. |
| Bidragsgivare | Elgar, Edward (Composer) Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (Writer) |
| Språk | Engelska |