Elegiac Variations was commissioned by Shirley Edwards in joint memory of Jan Stammers and Jane Longhurst. Inevitably, a work written to commemorate two close friends and colleagues has many personal connotations that contributed to its inception but I hope that it is also possible to listen to it as a piece of pure music. The work takes the form of Double Variations; that is to say, there are two related themes first played in the prologue by each of the solo violas in turn. These may be taken to represent the two persons commemorated. Variations 1 and 3 elaborate on the first theme, while Variations 2 and 4 elaborate the second. Variation 5 brings the two themes together and the work concludes with an Epilogue, in which the themes are transformed in character. The first performance was given by the Musicians of All Saints at St Johns Sub Castro on the 24th January 2004. The soloists were James Widden and Ellie Blackshaw with Andrew Sherwood conducting. Https://youtu.be/BcZvrq6SRpA?si=TVYI9pdrFhsrjJcQ