Mina, portraying his pet dog, was Elgar's last piece of light music. It was originally written in 1932 for piano, and Elgar made this orchestral version in 1934. Owing to ill-health Elgar was unable to finalise the orchestration, which was completed by friends so that he could hear a recording of the piece before his death. It is a short, whimsical piece portraying the dog's capricious and affectionate nature.

This Acuta score constitutes the first appearance in print of the original scoring of Mina, comprising the partial orchestration completed by Elgar and the filling-in of the remaining gaps in the scoring (on the same MS pages) by his musical colleagues. The score was given by Elgar on his deathbed to His Master’s Voice executive Fred Gaisberg and by dint of some fast work by H.M.V. a recording was made for Elgar to hear a few days before he died.

An expanded scoring, for full orchestra, by J. Ainslie Murray, was published by Keith Prowse Ltd. in late 1934 (parts and piano-conductor score).

ISBN : 978-1-873690-09-3

Duration : 4 minutes.

Orchestral requirements : 1 1 2 1  2 0 0 0 Cel Glock Strings (minimum 2-2-2-1-1).

Difficulty : Straightforward.

Study score : Available from Acuta Music in a limited edition of 300 copies. Includes detailed Editorial commentary. See "Sales" bookmark for price and ordering details.

Orchestral parts, Conductor's full score : Available for sale from Goodmusic. Click here for link to Goodmusic's Mina web page.

Copyright : Although Elgar's music is out of copyright, the Acuta Music and the Acuta/Goodmusic editions of Mina  constitute a "copyright edition" for the purposes of performance and recording, and should be disclosed as such on PRS or MCPS returns.