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 adaptsections 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.
