From the Bavarian Highlands, Op 27 is a work for choir and orchestra by
Edward Elgar.
It is a set of six choral songs Elgar wrote under the collective title Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, as a remembrance of a holiday the Elgars had enjoyed in
Upper Bavaria, mostly at
Garmisch, in the autumn of 1894.[1] The song lyrics were adapted to Elgar's music by the composer’s wife
Alice with words "adapted from the Volkslieder[2] and Schnadahüpfler[3]"[4] imitating the spirit of the dances.[5] Alice gave the songs sub-titles in recollection of favourite places visited during the holiday. It was originally arranged with piano (1895) then later arranged with orchestral accompaniment (1896). It was dedicated to Mr and Mrs Slingsby Bethell, the proprietors of the Garmisch
pension where the Elgars had stayed.[6]
^A "Schnadahüpfl" (various spellings, South German) is a little four-line spontaneous ditty that includes yodeling, probably originating as a harvest dance, since a "Schnader" was a "Getreide-Schneider" or one who cut his grain with a scythe (farmer), and "Hüpfer" is a little dance