Edward Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings: Rare Book of the Week

Original sketches and drafts by English composer Sir Edward Elgar for his famous work Introduction and Allegro for Strings have been reunited at the British Library with the sketchbook from which he tore them out nearly a century ago.

The set of original sketches and drafts were from the work completed by Elgar in February 1905 who often wrote down tunes and musical themes into bound sketchbooks which he often recopied into others. The 15 missing pages were ripped out by him in 1930 and given to his violinist friend and former pupil Frank Webb, the incomplete sketchbooks later donated to the Library.

Webb noted the present from Elgar in pencil on the first of the pages 'Given me by EWE [i.e. Edward William Elgar] Nov 6/30 (Torn out of his Sketch book) Sketches for the Introduction & Allegro'. The pages also include elements of a previously unknown piece for organ on which Elgar had begun work.

The pages - which have been acquired for £50,000 by the British Library via Christie’s Private Sales, from the descendants of Frank Webb - will not be reattached to the sketchbook for preservation reasons but will be available to Library researchers and online once it has been digitized.

There are other missing pages in the sketchbooks and the Library is still searching for these.