The Classical Music Book

219

See also: Great Service 52–53 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ Elijah 170 –173 ■ The Ring Cycle 180 –187 ■

A Child of Our Time 284–285

NATIONALISM 1830–1920

anxieties—and the final swell of

singers and orchestra in the chorus

that exhorts Gerontius to “Go forth

upon thy journey, Christian soul.”

In Part Two, Gerontius’s soul is

guided by an angel past demons,

who sing a sardonic fugal chorus,

and a choir of angels, whose hymn

“Praise to the Holiest in the Height”

begins with a dramatic triple forte

and ends in intricate eight-part

harmony. This leads toward the

climax, a deafening orchestral

crescendo as the soul is finally led

to judgment. Elgar rewrote this

climactic passage at the insistence

of his friend and publisher August

Jaeger, who asked for something

more dramatic than the composer’s

first attempt. The piece ends with

the soul being taken in the arms

of the angel and dipped into the

soothing waters of Purgatory.

From disaster to success

Due to poorly prepared performers,

The Dream of Gerontius had a

disastrous premiere in Birmingham

in 1900. However, after acclaimed

performances in Germany, the work

established itself as one of Elgar’s

masterpieces—a daring work for its

Edward Elgar Born in 1857 near Worcester,

England, where his father owned

a music shop, Elgar was largely a

self-taught musician. As a young

man, he played in orchestras and

gave music lessons, marrying

Alice Roberts, one of his pupils, in

1889. She encouraged him to move
      to London and spend more time
      on composition. His breakthrough
      work was Enigma Variations
      (1899), after which he wrote a
      series of large-scale compositions,
      including The Apostles (a choral
      piece), a violin concerto, and two
      symphonies, which brought him
      recognition in Britain and Europe.

Although depressed by World

War I, in 1919 he wrote his

String Quartet, Piano Quintet,

and Cello Concerto. After Alice’s

death in 1920, Elgar composed

little. He received many honors,

but his music was out of fashion

when he died in 1934.

Other key works

1899 Enigma Variations

1901–1930 Pomp and

Circumstance Marches

1905 Introduction and Allegro

for Strings

1919 Cello Concerto in E minor

The Dream of Gerontius

As life drains

from his body,

Gerontius joins

with his assistants

in prayer.

Gerontius

awakens in a

place without

time or space.

The guardian angel

of Gerontius takes

him to the

judgment throne.

Gerontius

is lowered into the

lake of Purgatory and

promised that he will

one day reawaken to

God’s glory.

time that develops late Romantic

operatic style into a choral work,

combines it with resourceful

orchestral writing, and produces

a setting of unusual power.

The Dream of Gerontius quickly

transcended the question of

doctrine that almost denied it

an early performance in Worcester

Cathedral, Cardinal Newman’s

words seeming too Catholic for

the Anglican Church. Its emotional

force and abiding themes of loss

and hope in the face of death

continue to exercise a universal

appeal to audiences of every faith. ■

Gerontius

encounters God

and is judged.

US_218-219_Elgar.indd 219 27/03/18 4:49 PM