Elgar finished the piece in July 1888, when he was romantically involved with
Caroline Alice Roberts, and he called it
"Liebesgruss" ('Love's Greeting') because of Miss Roberts' fluency in German. On their engagement she had already presented him with a poem "
The Wind at Dawn" which he set to music and, when he returned home to London on 22 September from a holiday at the house of his friend Dr. Charles Buck in
Settle, he gave her ''Salut d'Amour'' as an engagement present. The dedication was in French:
"à Carice".
"Carice" was a combination of his wife's names
Caroline Al
ice, and was the name to be given to their daughter born two years later. It was published a year later by
Schott & Co., a German publisher, with offices in
Mainz,
London,
Paris and
Brussels. The first published editions were for violin and piano, piano solo, cello and piano, and for small orchestra. Few copies were sold until Schott changed the title to ''"Salut d'Amour"
with Liebesgruss'' as a sub-title, and the composer's name as 'Ed. Elgar'. The French title, Elgar realised, would help the work to be sold not only in France but in other European countries. The first public performance was of the orchestral version, at a
Crystal Palace concert on 11 November 1889, conducted by
August Manns. The first recording of that version was made in 1915 for
The Gramophone Company with an orchestra conducted by the composer. As a violin-and-piano piece ''Salut d'Amour'' had been recorded for The
Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd (predecessor to The Gramophone Company) as early as 1901 by Jacques Jacobs, leader/director of the
Trocadero Restaurant orchestra.
Auguste van Biene recorded a
cello transcription in 1907. ==Legacy==