Elgar’s first published part-song dates from 1890 and marks the beginning of his association with the publishers Novello. It was a cautious and rather inauspicious start from their point of view; they offered no money to the composer, merely a hundred copies in lieu of copyright. When My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land first appeared, it was said to be ‘crude, ill-written for the voice, laid out without knowledge of the capabilities of the human voice &c &c!’, as Elgar told his friend Jaeger many years later. Yet it is a fine song, despite a conventional setting. In the third verse the melody is given to Soprano and Tenor I, while the other parts sing the words to a repetitive, rhythmic motif—an ‘accompaniment’ device Elgar later used in two of his greatest songs, Death on the Hills and Serenade. One might also note in passing that Lang’s poem has the theme—popular in Victorian times and frequently used by Elgar—of youthful love, often unfulfilled and/or brought to an end by premature death.

from notes by Geoffrey Hodgkins © 1998