Salut d’Amour

He wrote is especially for Caroline Alice Roberts, dedicated it ‘to Alice’ in an attempt to hide the identity of the object of his affections for a time. But not for long. They became engaged on 22 september 1888. Salut d’Amour had obviously not missed its mark ! The music represents Elgar’s first meeting with Alice : Elgar taking the violin part (masculine theme : flugel horn) and Alice the piano part (feminine theme : tenor horn) with the two themes coming together at the end. Caroline Alice spoke fluent German, and the piece was originally entitled Liebesgrüss. On publication, however, the French title was used and it is by this name that is became world famous.