Elgar composed the piece on his 1894 Broadwood Square piano while residing at Birchwood Lodge, Great Storridge in Herefordshire.
[2] The premiere was on 5 October 1899 at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival with Elgar himself conducting and Clara Butt singing, dressed as a mermaid.
In 2010, the British composer Donald Fraser made a version of Sea Pictures for SATB chorus and strings.
The first recording of that version was made by the English Chamber Orchestra, Rodolfus Choir and conductor Kenneth Woods in Abbey Road Studios in 2013.
Fraser's arrangement was hailed by Stephen Johnson in BBC Music Magazine as "beautifully realised, performed with warmth and understanding, and sympathetically recorded.