News
In this issue ...
Page Page Address for Communications 2 From the Birthplace Archive 34 Keep in touch, next Edition 2 This is what I do 36 Letter from the Chairman 3 Elgar Society Medal presentations: From the Vice–Chairman 7 Daniel Barenboim 37 Hon. Secretary’s AGM Report 8 Diana McVeagh at Champs Hill 40 AGM and Birthday weekend 10 Parry’s Judith in Canada 42 From the Treasurer 15 The Apostles in Dublin 43 From the Membership Secretary 22 Elgarians in Bamberg 45 Follow the Colours 23 Obituaries 46 Elgar Works 24 The Three Choirs Festival 2015 49 A new book from Pauline Collett 25 Brief items 49 Michael Kennedy Branch Reports 53 and Lady Barbirolli interview 25 Branch Events 62 Elgar’s Interpreters on Record 26 Delius Society 64 The future of the Birthplace 28 Michael Kennedy Memorial Concert 64 From the Birthplace 29 Dates for your Diary 65 Birthplace Events 33 Crossword 70
No. 56 – August 2015 Address for Communications
Contributions for the December 2015 issue of the Elgar Society News should be e–mailed to all the compilers:
Ernie Kay: [email protected] Richard Smith: [email protected] Peter James: [email protected]
Full contact details can be found on the back cover.
The latest date for submissions for the December issue is 25 October 2015.
Keep in touch
Remember: you can keep up to date with the latest Elgarian news on:
Facebook www.facebook.com
Twitter www.twitter.com
YouTube www.youtube.com
then, search for ‘Elgar’ or ‘Elgar Society’ or ‘Elgar Birthplace’.
If you have details of a concert containing a work by Elgar, please notify us by e–mail at: [email protected]
As we are less constrained by space on the Elgar website, wherever possible please remember to include :
– The starting time, full address of the venue and an enquiry telephone number; – Composers of other works in the concert; and – The full names of all performers.
2 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman
Dear Friends I thoroughly enjoyed the Birthday Weekend (despite our team’s gallant last place in Stuart Freed’s excellent quiz), and I hope all those who attended also enjoyed themselves. The various points and highlights are covered elsewhere in this edition of the News, so I am confining my introduction to an edited version of my report to stand as a minute of that part of the meeting and so that the non–attenders have a flavour of the report. We started with the ‘Meditation’ from Light of Life from a new CD, Elgar from Salisbury, played by John Challenger at the Salisbury Cathedral organ. I’ve reviewed it for the Journal, and it’s clear how much I enjoyed this CD. ‘Looking backwards, I covered much of what I wanted to say in the Trustees’ Annual Report, a copy of which all members received in the last edition of the News. However, I did want to put on record some thanks. First, I welcome Helen Whittaker to her first AGM as our Treasurer, and I thank her for so smoothly fitting onto the Executive and for bringing her considerable existing expertise as, inter alia, Treasurer of the East Anglian Branch. ‘Our Vice–Chairman, Stuart Freed, missed our last AGM, but not half as much as I missed him, and I am grateful for his enormous support. He has been indefatigable in updating our website – whilst the site looks virtually the same, the basis upon which it now operates is completely different and offers us greater security, stability and flexibility. ‘The newly configured site also makes available for the first time the Elgar Discography compiled by John Knowles. This exciting new development allows visitors to the site to examine the entire listing, to search by category and by key word. ‘Stuart has also been in charge of the electronic distribution of the News, Journal and Birthplace leaflet. With his introduction of the new method of facilitating the Society website, we can now deliver, through the site, the publications to all of the membership
No. 56 – August 2015 3 Letter from the Chairman
for whom we have an e–mail address. We should all be grateful for Stuart’s time and sheer persistence in helping enhance and modernise the Society’s work. ‘Helen Petchey has her own report later in the agenda, and I am going to criticise her for being so modest. In a recent e–mail, I described her as “admirably efficient”, which she is, and more. For she and I are in frequent touch and she will always put up confidently her point of view, is invaluable as a sounding board for some of my thoughts, and of course she is a repository of Society information going back years. We don’t always agree, but we never fall out about the issues. ‘Geoff Scargill is stepping down from the Executive at Christmas so I wanted to thank him publicly for his contributions to our debates. He has been a tireless advocate for the Branches, has been responsible for reviving I think three, and has steered our German initiative, the recent highpoint of which was the Bamberg weekend in April. He was behind the initiative to present the Society’s Cerificate of Merit to Meinhard Saremba and Wolfgang Armin–Rittmeier, which also occurred at the Bamberg Weekend. ‘I want to recognise the contribution of the members of our Council, on which we have had some changes: Clive Weeks agreed to remain on the Council after his Treasurership, Richard Hall stood down in 2014, and John Harcup stands down at this meeting, whilst we welcome our Certificate of Merit holder, Jon Goldswain, and Roy Whittaker. ‘Spreading the net wider to the managers of the Society, I salute our Archivist & Data Protection Officer, Richard Hall, our Membership Secretary, David Young, helped by David Jones, our News Editors, Ernie Kay, Richard Smith and Peter James, and Journal Editor, Martin Bird. Martin completes his five years as Journal Editor at the end of 2016, so we need a new editor. ‘You may also be interested to know that a Constitutional Working Party is being set up, following meetings held and suggestions put forward by members of West Midlands Branch. ‘One thing I wanted to do this AGM was to refer back to the sad plight of our President, Julian Lloyd Webber, who, in the middle of
4 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman last year, learnt he had to put an untimely and precipitate end to his cello–playing career. He completed a final concert in Malvern – and John Harcup talked of this at our last AGM – and a final recording with the English Chamber Orchestra which he also conducted. The disc was released by Naxos in April and I thought you would like to hear Chanson de Matin from the delightful disc. ‘Finally I pay tribute to all the Branch Officers listed. I am all too aware of the huge amount of thought and action that takes place to enable the Society to run smoothly and achieve what it does. ‘As far as the Branches themselves are concerned, last April I wrote I was planning to visit over the following twelve months our newer Branches, as well of course as longer–established ones. I have already enjoyed immensely my visits and I extend my thanks to all the Branch officials and members for their universally warm welcomes. ‘On 14 June 2014, I received a very friendly welcome from the East Midlands Branch in Leicester on the first anniversary of their rebirth, for which anniversary I cut the delicious cake. As it was also the exact centenary of the Sarajevo assassination that sparked off the First World War, I was appositely presenting a talk on Elgar’s musical and emotional response to the war. ‘It was North–West Branch’s turn in November 2014. The delightful memory of this commemorative lunch has been overshadowed for me by the fact that it was the last occasion I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Kennedy. It was impossible not to warm to Michael, whose humility and easy friendliness in our company were readily apparent. I was especially pleased when the Elgar Society widened in 2010 he criteria for awarding our highest honour, the Elgar Medal, to embrace citizens of the UK in addition to foreign nationals, because we immediately agreed the first recipient should be Michael. In the citation, it read with absolute truth that “no–one has done more to promote the cause over such a long time and contribute so much to Elgar appreciation and scholarship as Michael Kennedy”. ‘As last year, I started 2015 with a visit to the Scottish Branch, this time to talk about Elgar’s Brinkwells music. It is always a great pleasure visiting the magnificent city of Edinburgh and seeing our friends in the North.
No. 56 – August 2015 5 Letter from the Chairman
‘In another magnificent city, York, I was entertained delightfully by the Yorkshire Branch and I hope my talk on the War Music entertained them likewise. ‘My biggest disappointment of the year was anticipating visiting the North America Branch’s convocation in Indianapolis and then having it cancelled owing to the illness of Raymond Leppard, who was due to conduct Elgar as the centrepiece of the weekend. I hope very much that the Branch will come up with a new meeting somewhere. ‘My first visit to the East Anglia Branch was on 11 May after the General and local elections, and after those exertions (I know whereof I speak: I am a Returning Officer for the elections) what a delightful contrast it was to survey all of Elgar’s chamber music in a talk written especially for the Branch. They hold their talks in the beautiful buildings of the Abbey in Bury St Edmunds, and abiding memories of the day include this location, the charming welcome, the delicious cake and a long stroll through the gorgeous gardens and around the streets of the town. ‘South–West Branch takes its turn later in June, and I know I shall enjoy my visit to Bristol – I have been away too long. ‘As far as the West Midlands is concerned, I always regard this weekend and the Three Choirs Elgar Day as two of my visits to the Branch. The talk by Julian Lloyd Webber and lunch are of course in Hereford on 29 July and there is also the Elgar exhibition the West Midlands Branch is staging in All Saints Church during the week. ‘I am now about to complete the set with a trip to our friends at the Southern Branch, who have kindly invited me in 2016. ‘As all my talks have been on the war music or different aspects of the chamber music, I thought we might listen to a short extract from Elgar’s String Quartet. Or is it?’ Here followed an extract from a new CD from Somm Records featuring the arrangement of the String Quartet for string orchestra by David Matthews. The arrangement received funds from the Society, though we did not support the CD, which featured the Orchestra of St Paul’s under Ben Palmer.
6 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman
I finished by talking about the Champs Hill concert on 22 April, when I had the privilege of presenting the Society’s Medal to Diana McVeagh, an event covered elsewhere in the News. We closed the AGM, and heard some more music, extracts from the complete Arthur music, again from a Somm CD with the Orchestra of St Paul’s conducted by Ben Palmer. The CD also included The Spirit of England and With Proud Thanksgiving played by John Wilson and the Philharmonia with the London Symphony Orchestra Choir and Judith Howarth. After the interlude, we had a very positive discussion about the Birthplace, music in education and the date of the next AGM, which will be Saturday 4 June 2016. The following day we held a meeting of Council, when we discussed Elgar in Performance and a report from the conference in Bamberg; we looked ahead to the next year and prospective problems and opportunities; we agreed to award the Certificate of Merit to the Philomusica Choir of Gloucester & Worcester and we mooted the possibility of a ‘reconciliation’ concert in 2018. So we worked as well as played during the weekend, and enjoyed ourselves doing both.
From the Vice–Chairman
If I have learned one thing since taking on responsibility for the Elgar Society website it is that a website is never finished. Just when you think that it’s all done and that everything functions exactly as it should, someone comes along and says ‘Why doesn’t the website ...?’ Fill in your own blank. Often the requested function does in fact already exist, but the person asking the question simply does not know how to do it. On other occasions it means incorporating a new facility, which may sound easy, but often requires considerable development and refinement before it is fully functional. So it was when the Chairman asked if a search facility could be added to the site.
No. 56 – August 2015 7 From the Vice–Chairman
After appropriate research to find a routine that would allow a search to be done across the whole site, the work was commissioned and has been added to the site. Visitors will now see a search panel at the top right of any page of the site, in which a key term can be entered. The result is a series of links within the site in which the key term appears. At the time of writing there are still one or two glitches to be ironed out, but it is to be hoped that by the time you read this the refinement process will have been completed. Back in November I attended a concert in Tewkesbury Abbey given by the Philomusica of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, which was supported by the Society. On reading a comprehensive list of Elgar’s choral works in the programme notes, I was interested to see the following: ‘... with the exception of The Black Knight, Philomusica has performed every single one of them. We honestly believe that no other choir, amateur or professional, can make such a claim.’ As a result I was able to recommend that Philomusica be awarded the Society’s Certificate of Merit, a nomination that the Council were happy to approve. The news was greeted with much surprise and gratitude by the Philomusica’s Chairman and the Certificate will be presented in April of next year at their 1000th concert, the programme of which contains both The Spirit of the Lord and The Music Makers. Stuart Freed Hon Secretary’s report to the AGM
Last year my predecessor, Wendy Hill, asked why the Secretary no longer gives a report to the AGM. This year, I am giving a report, although you may think that the detail of most of what I do is of little interest to anyone except perhaps the Chairman, and possibly the Executive Committee. Anyway, here goes. I would like to thank the Executive Committee for their support. For the most part my tasks include preparing agendas and writing minutes for the Executive Committee, Council and Branch Chairmen, (nine meetings in all this last year) although I have to thank the London Branch Chairman for helping me with the minutes of the latter’s meetings!
8 Elgar Society News Hon Secretary’s Report to the AGM
Anything of note is usually reported in the News, such as presenting the Elgar Medal to Vice–President Sir Andrew Davis in April 2014. This was the only time I have presented the Elgar Medal, but whenever the Medal is given to a distinguished Elgarian I make the arrangements with agents etc, which can be both enjoyable and frustrating.
Last June our President, Julian Lloyd Webber, presented the Elgar Medal to Sir Colin Davis’s daughter, Sheida, at a dinner at the Oxford and Cambridge Club. Sadly Sir Colin died before we were able to present it to him in person, but Steven had written to him to let him know that it had been awarded.
Two more Elgar Medals have been awarded recently: Andrew Neill presented the Medal to Daniel Barenboim at the RFH in April, and Steven presented Diana McVeagh with her Elgar Medal at Champs Hill the following day.
I oversee the arrangements for the Birthday Weekend and I must thank:
• Stuart, who has worked hard to put together a quiz for our enjoyment and has helped me with the arrangements; • Gill Bradshaw, whose advice I sought about local florists, having been let down the last couple of years, and who also tends the Elgar graves regularly; • Mike and Eileen Vockins, who opened their home for us once again; • The tea and coffee makers and washer–uppers in the kitchen, David and Ann Hughes for the cake, and the tea pourers! That first cup of tea after Evensong is always very welcome!
Since last year’s AGM we have lost a number of stalwart members of the Society and I attended five funerals in as many months. I would like to pay tribute to them – Margot Pearmund, Joyce Greig, Mary Passande, Carl Newton, Walter Cullis, Vivienne McKenzie, Maureen Stainton and, of course, Vice–President Michael Kennedy who was so supportive to the Society and visited the Branches regularly even as he became more frail. Helen Petchey
No. 56 – August 2015 9 AGM and Birthday Weekend
Octavo at the Elgar Birthplace
Those of you who could not be at the Birthplace for their annual Elgar birthday concert on 5 June missed a treat. The concert was by Octavo, a group of eight singers from Gloucestershire and Herefordshire who gave a wide ranging performance of songs drawn mainly from English composers. They began with a rendition of ‘As torrents in summer’ from Elgar’s King Olaf and continued with songs from John Ireland, Gustav Holst and adaptations of folk songs by John Rutter. The songs were interspersed with two poetry readings, one by Alice Elgar which is thought to have inspired Elgar’s Salut d’Amour. Those of us in the West Midlands Branch were particularly delighted when this was followed by Donald Hunt’s choral version of the work sung to the words ‘Somewhere or other’ by Christina Rossetti. Other Elgar songs performed by Octavo were The Shower, Whether I Find Thee and Feasting I Watch. The recital concluded with adaptations of two popular songs, Somewhere over the Rainbow and Blue Moon, but it was Octavo’s encore of Lux Aeterna, the choral version of ‘Nimrod’, that we all felt was an extremely moving and entirely appropriate ending to a wonderful night. Richard Smith
The Annual General Meeting
At the AGM. From left to right: Stuart Freed (Vice Chair), Helen Whittaker (Treasurer), Helen Petchey (Secretary) and Steven Halls (Chairman). [Photo: Joan Roche]
10 Elgar Society News AGM and Birthday Weekend
The 2015 Annual General Meeting of the Elgar Society took place at St. George’s R.C. Church Hall, on Saturday 6 June. The Chairman, Steven Halls, welcomed us and thanked us for sacrificing a trip to Worcester Races. Apologies for Absence were noted and the minutes of the 64th AGM were confirmed. The Chairman’s Report was based upon that printed in the Trustees’ Annual Report (distributed to members with the April 2014 News). He welcomed Helen Whittaker as our new Treasurer and was happy to report Helen’s husband Roy’s recovery from illness. Stuart Freed was thanked for his work on the Society website, which now offers a searchable database of John Knowles’s remarkable Elgar Discography. Helen Petchey was commended in her role as Secretary. The compilers of the News – Ernie Kay, Richard Smith and Peter James – were thanked for their efforts; also Martin Bird, Editor of the Journal. Both publications are now available electronically and we were encouraged to sign up. Martin Bird will step down as Editor of the Journal at the end of 2016 and a volunteer is sought for this important role. We listened to excerpts from two CDs: first the Elgar recording made recently by our President, Julian Lloyd Webber, then the recording of Elgar’s String Quartet arranged for string orchestra by David Matthews, which was sponsored by Elgar Works.
The Chairman visited the majority of Society Branches in 2015 and will visit Southern Branch in 2016. The Society’s highest honour, the Elgar Medal, was presented to Daniel Barenboim and Diana McVeagh. An event at Champs Hill to celebrate the life of Michael Kennedy was attended by Society officers and members. Helen Whittaker, the Treasurer, presented her financial report. She thanked her predecessor, Clive Weeks, for his help in effecting a smooth handover of responsibilities, and explained the financial activities of the Society as published in the Trustees’ Annual Report. The TAR was adopted by the meeting, and the Independent Examiner, Adrian Benselin, was re–appointed.
Helen Petchey, the Secretary, then presented her report. She thanked the Executive and Council for their support during the year. Helen organised the AGM weekend including a trip to Birchwood, for which Mike and Helen Vockins received our thanks. We shared Helen’s sorrow in losing so many friends during the year: Margot
No. 56 – August 2015 11 AGM and Birthday Weekend
Pearmund, Mary Passande, Carl Newton, Walter Cullis, Maureen Stainton and Michael Kennedy, while listening to Elgar’s Elegy for Strings conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. Tasmin Little was appointed a Vice–President of the Society, and Joyce Kennedy was appointed an honorary member.
Helen explained that the AGM had been moved to 6 June in order that the Cathedral Choir would be singing at Evensong in Worcester. The date for 2016 was the subject of a vigorous debate including interventions by Ernie Kay, Sharron Bassett, Richard Smith, Geoff Scargill and John Norris. The AGM is pronounced to take place on the weekend closest to Elgar’s birthday, but Philip Petchey asked that the Executive be granted some flexibility in the matter. The proposed date for 2016 of 4 June, as in the Chairman’s report, is subject to confirmation by the Council/Executive.
In response to questions, John Norris outlined future plans for the Birthplace. The redevelopment plan described by Judith Elkin at last year’s AGM had not received the necessary support from the Foundation Trustees. Looking at other options, it had been decided to approach the National Trust, even though similar discussions some years ago had come to nothing. Somewhat surprisingly, the NT had responded enthusiastically. The negotiations still have a long way to go and it was inadvisable to draw any conclusions at this stage. John reassured us that any future developments will be in accordance with the Elgar family’s wishes. He also responded to the many questions relating to the future of the Birthplace, particularly the archive, the volunteers, and the free access enjoyed by Elgar Society members. We were reminded that Cathy Sloan will leave the Museum soon, and her contribution would be acknowledged.
John Harcup provided us with a written list of issues and concerns upon his retirement from the Society’s Council. John was thanked for his efforts and reminded that he is free to stand again. He received a warm ovation.
Bruce Burley shared an affectionate anecdote of Michael Kennedy, and Michael Trott advised that a memorial concert will take place at North West Branch (see Page 64 for details). Gill Bradshaw was thanked for her devoted maintenance of the Elgar graves. Geoff
12 Elgar Society News AGM and Birthday Weekend
Scargill thanked us all for our contribution to a spirited meeting, and advised us that a 2–CD set featuring an interview between Michael Kennedy and Evelyn Barbirolli is now available, with any profit being donated to the Kennedy/Strauss singing prize. Robert Gilbert
The Quiz
Any members of the West Midlands Branch who believe that our own annual lunch quiz is difficult should have attended this event!
Amiably presented by Stuart Freed, the evening saw over thirty Society members having almost every aspect of their knowledge of classical music tested (or should that be tortured?!).
Have you ever tried to identify two pieces of music being played at the same time? Or two pieces being played backwards at the same time? Do you know about unusual ways in which composers died? Can you identify a composer from his facial hair alone? Or can you identify famous musical celebrities from distorted photographs? If you are this kind of person, you will get some idea of how challenging the evening was! It was worthily won by the team anchored by Andrew Keener.
Above: Contestants ponder the answers to Stuart Freed’s fiendishly difficult questions during the Quiz Evening at St. George’s Hall. [Photo: Joan Roche]
No. 56 – August 2015 13 AGM and Birthday Weekend
An excellent fish and chip supper was provided at a half–way stage of the contest, which was appreciated by all present. It would have been nice to have seen a few more members present, but it was nevertheless a highly successful event. Ian Morgan
After the Quiz. Peter Avis (left) who was on the winning team, with the Question Master, Stuart Freed [Photo: Joan Roche]
Sunday
On Sunday morning, those who had been to early Service and a number of non–conformists (as Michael Trott styled them) met at the Foley Arms in Malvern. As the hotel proudly proclaims, it offers about the cheapest cup of coffee in Malvern and on a sunny morning a splendid terrace on which to sit, looking out over that splendid view. There was still time afterwards to meet up with those who had gone to Mass at St Wulstan’s in Little Malvern and to watch as Hilary Elgar laid a wreath on the Elgar grave and Fr Edward said a prayer giving thanks for the gift of music. The churchwarden told us that having restored the roof at great cost, the church will now have to raise yet more thousands to repair the Nicholson organ (which must have been played by Elgar!). He may seek the indulgence of these pages to appeal to Elgarians! Philip Petchey
Elgar also featured in reference and music, from the Cathedral Choir (The spirit of the Lord is upon me and They are at rest) at Evensong at Worcester Cathedral when Geoff Scargill laid the chaplet to our composer’s memory. The Birthday Tea at the Birthplace as usual
14 Elgar Society News AGM and Birthday Weekend
concluded the weekend. We said tributes and fond farewells to the Director, Cathy Sloan, leaving after eighteen years’ service, and we consumed cake made by Ann and David Hughes and drank Elgar wine. Ernie Kay
Father Edward dedicates the wreath before Hilary Elgar lays it on the Elgar grave [Photo: Richard Smith]
Donald Hunt and Andrew Keener applaud following the presentation of a bouquet to Cathy Sloan at the birthday tea. [Photo: Richard Smith]
From the Treasurer
At the time of submitting the annual accounts for the April edition of the News they had not been examined by our independent auditor. Although he was happy with the substance of the accounts, he required a change in the way the figures were presented, in particular that funds arriving in the accounts from legacies were not included in ‘income’, but were recorded in a change to funds held. These changes were made and the accounts from 2013 were also adjusted. You will note that the total – and most important – figure, i.e., the total funds of the Elgar Society remain the same. Helen Whittaker
No. 56 – August 2015 15 From the Treasurer
Statement of Financial Activities for the year ending 31 December 2014
General Fund 2014 2013 £ £ Income Subscriptions 30709 30559 Gift Aid 7412 4480 Royalties 0 533 Legacies 0 0 Other 3360 0 Donations 12000 2947
Total income 53481 8519
Expenditure Society objectives Journal & newsletters 8552 8720 Events 11469 9080 Member communications 2362 2622 PR & advertising 2482 3108 Sundry 2706 516 Elgar in Perf. inc. Somm 28500 14550 Support to Elgar Birthplace 5173 4820 Administration Travel costs Council & Exec. 2408 1684 Membership admin 528 1682
Total expenditure 64180 46782
Deficit for the year –10699 –8263
Gen Fund b/f 24119 17312 Transfers from Funds 12070 15070
General Fund at 31/12/14 25490 24119
16 Elgar Society News From the Treasurer
Other funds
Received Spent Interest 2014 2013 Restricted £ £ Kay 25 6460 6435
Designated Walker 5000 90 16216 21126 Ballantine 3000 180 14080 16900 Elce 5000 73 36816 41743 Graham 6667 56 20056 13333 Graves & piano 733 227 608 102 Dolan 5000 5000 0
Total 12400 13227 399 92776 93204
Total movements 12400 13227 424 –403
Total funds at 31/12/14 124726 123758
Balance sheet at 31/12/14
Bank deposits 55357 129905 Current account 65794 3165 Branches’ bank balances 4849 5250 Less owed by Society –1274 –14562
Total funds 124726 123758
No. 56 – August 2015 17 From the Treasurer
Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014
1. Basis of accounting These accounts have been prepared on the basis of historical cost in accordance with: • Accounting and Reporting by Charities – Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP 2005); • Financial Reporting Standards for Smaller Enterprises (FRSSE); and • the Charities Act 2011.
2. Accounting policies 2.1 Subscriptions Subscriptions are accounted for in the year in which they are received, except for subscriptions received in advance which are carried forward to the next year.
2.2 Other incoming resources These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when: • the Society becomes entitled to the resources; • the trustees are virtually certain they will receive the resources; and • the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability. Where incoming resources have related expenditure (for example, subscriptions) the incoming resources and related expenditure are reported gross in the SoFA.
2.3 Donations and legacies Donations and legacies are only included in the SoFA when the Society has unconditional entitlement to the resources. This year the Society has allocated the legacies received to two designated funds, the Graham Fund and the Dolan Fund.
2.4 Tax recoverable on subscriptions, donations and gifts Incoming resources from tax recoverable are included in the SoFA at the same time as the income to which they relate.
18 Elgar Society News From the Treasurer
2.5 Branches Although the regional Branches of the Society are constituted under separate rules the income and expenditure of the Branches are included in these accounts. Of the surplus for the year, Branches were responsible for a deficit of £401.
2.6 Taxation The Society is a registered charity no 298062 and accordingly is exempt from taxation on its income and gains where they are applied for charitable purposes.
3. Trustees’ expenses Travel and other out of pocket costs amounting to £2408 were reimbursed to 11 members of the Council, the Executive and Chairmen of Branches in the year when appropriate claims were made (2013 £1684 reimbursed to 12 individuals).
No member of the Council nor any person connected with them has received any remuneration in the year.
4. Donations, sponsorship and projects Grants and other financial support given to institutions were a material part of the total resources expended by the Society. Grants made were as follows:
2014 2013 £ £ Elgar in Performance – grants to 16 organisations (2013 – 13 organisations) 28500 14550 including expenses
5. Restricted funds
Kay legacy The Society is one of the beneficiaries of the estate of a former member. The will specifies that the legacy shall not be used for routine running expenses but shall be devoted to capital or other longer term projects.
No. 56 – August 2015 19 From the Treasurer
6. Analysis of fund assets and liabilities
Unrestricted Restricted Total £ £ £ Bank deposits 48897 6460 55357 Cash at bank 70643 0 70643
Current liabilities –1274 0 –1274 118266 6460 124726 7. Elgar Enterprises A wholly owned trading subsidiary, Elgar Enterprises (a company limited by Guarantee; Registration No: 3821653), was established in 1999. The Articles of Association prescribe that membership is limited to serving members of the Council of the Society and its directors include, inter alia, the officers of the Society.
The company is now dormant and has paid the majority of its funds to the Society, retaining sufficient to meet any remaining liabilities.
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of The Elgar Society
I report on the attached accounts of The Elgar Society for the year ended 31 December 2014.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act; to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act; and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
20 Elgar Society News From the Treasurer
Basis of independent examiner’s report My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
A G Benselin Chartered Accountant 3 Maylands Avenue Breaston Derbyshire
No. 56 – August 2015 21 From the Membership Secretary
It is sad, at the end of June – half way through the year – that well over 100 members have not paid their subscription for this year. In a way I’m ‘preaching to the converted’ because those 100+ members won’t be able to read this as their membership has been terminated and they won’t have received this edition of the News and Journal. I am grateful to Branch secretaries and others who have made tremendous efforts to chase late payers but there comes a time when it just isn’t fair on the vast majority of members who pay on time and without fuss. It is this minority that takes up so much time and effort and also an element of expense. One reason I was given for a late payment was that they thought the sub became due on the anniversary of joining. It doesn’t, as most will know. Subs are due in January – actually 1 January each year. Once again I would encourage members to arrange a Standing Order, if they haven’t already done so, or to make a note in their diary that the sub is due in the New Year. That’s my grumble over and apologies to all of you who do pay the right amount at the right time! David R Young, Hon. Membership Secretary
Subscriptions are payable as at 1 January. Just to refresh your memories the rates are:
Single in UK and Europe £35 Joint £40 Other parts of the World £36 £41 Students in UK and Europe £16 Students elsewhere £17
Payment by cheque, made payable to The Elgar Society, may be sent to me, David R Young, at:
The Rectory, Lydeard St Lawrence, Taunton TA4 3SF
If you pay by Standing Order please ensure it is for the correct amount. There are still a few members who paid at the old rate and therefore still owe the balance.
22 Elgar Society News Follow the Colours
We welcome warmly the following new members of the Society
Mr Thomas Andersohn Norway Mr Trevor Battersby Evesham Mr Mark Beale Peterborough Mr John & Mrs Lilian Bray Ipswich Mr Terry Brennan Tuckahoe Miss Harriet Butterworth Orcop Hill Mrs Polly Corbishley Sherborne Mr Michael Crockett Cofton Hackett Dr Peter Elliot Emsworth Mr Gerald Everett Woodford Green Mr Franco Fronte & Sadie Willsher London Mr Paul Henry Richmond Mr Charles Hines Malvern Mr Derek Holland Hayes Chris & Julie Kavanagh Cheltenham Mrs Lynne & Mr Stephen Lindner Malvern Mrs Christine & Mr Ivor Miskelly Sandy Mrs Jeannie Morrison London Mr Paul L Nevins Market Drayton Katherine O’Carroll & Robert Atkins Woldingham Mr Ben Palmer London Mrs Marion & Mr John Pardoe Hartlebury Mrs Sue Pearse Shorwood Rise Miss Nicola M Perks Malvern Mrs Kathleen Povall Frodsham Dr Matthew Riley Bourneville Dr Christopher Roberts London Mrs Laura Shephard Dunfermline Mr David Sleeman Yealhampton Mr Kenneth Smith Narborough Dr Kathrin & Mrs Beruch Stephan Germany Mr Martin & Mrs Sandra Stone Whitchurch Mr Tom Torley Flackwell Heath Mr Paul & Mrs Julia Turner Macclesfield
No. 56 – August 2015 23 Elgar Works
How time flies – four months have passed since I last reported on Elgar Works with seemingly very little progress to report since then. We did get Road to Recognition, the second volume of family diaries covering the years 1897–1901, out in early April, but the next Complete Edition volume, which was scheduled for delivery to the printers at much the same time, has still to go. The volume, containing all of Elgar’s works for small orchestra, is around three months behind schedule. Not that we’ve been idle. The last issue of the News reported on some of the volume’s achievements, not least the discovery that the small orchestra arrangements of Canto popolare and the two interludes from Falstaff are not mere cut–and–paste jobs from the larger works: as well as some re–orchestration, both have been restructured and extended; and it now seems a long time since we discovered that Elgar recast Pleading not as an orchestral song but an orchestral miniature. But there are yet more recent discoveries to report. Air de ballet, Elgar’s 1881 work long thought to be lost, is found to survive in the form of a copyist’s inaccurate full score and a number of orchestral parts, some in Elgar’s hand. Put together, we have a performable work which is unlikely to have been heard since the day Elgar first met Charles Buck at the British Medical Association concert in Worcester’s Shire Hall in August 1882. And then there is the handful of fragments which we cannot fully explain. All seem to be related to Three Characteristic Pieces of 1899 but are clearly not sketches for that work. Elgar created Three Characteristic Pieces by re–editing his Suite in D of 1888 and our best guess is that these are passages from the earlier work which Elgar removed in shaping the later work. With so many gems to accommodate, the volume will run to over 500 pages, our longest to date, so we hope that subscribers will be sympathetic to its late delivery. Inevitably, the late publication of this volume has consequences for our wider publication schedule. We had hoped to publish a further volume in each edition before the end of the year, and while the next Collected Correspondence volume, a second edition of Jerrold Northrop Moore’s The Windflower Letters, should still be out towards the end of the year, we are already up against tight deadlines to get a further Complete Edition volume out in 2015. Donald Hunt’s volume of Accompanied Part–songs is now more likely to appear in the early months of 2016. John Norris
24 Elgar Society News A new book from Pauline Collett
Pauline Collett’s Elgar Lived Here first appeared in 1981 published by Thames Publishing, and rapidly became a standard reference work for anyone interested in exploring Elgar Country and further afield, and seeing the places in which so much great music was written. In the light of more recent research, Pauline has re–written, expanded and updated her book, and it was published in July by Spiegl Press of Stamford. All twenty–eight houses and flats that Elgar occupied are included, and are illustrated by plans, photographs and her own drawings. It is now available from the Elgar Birthplace Museum, priced at £15.00, and a review will appear in a later Journal. Evelyn Barbirolli and Michael Kennedy
During a meeting of the North West Branch in February 2004, Lady Barbirolli was deep in conversation with Michael Kennedy and she was allowed to choose twelve recordings of music which meant a great deal to her. The conversation between these two highly professional people, who were also close friends, was both wide–ranging and intriguing. Of the twelve pieces of music that Evelyn chose to play, many were conducted by Sir John Barbirolli and some of the participants (orchestral players and solo artists) were among the professional musicians whom John and Evelyn came to regard as their friends. The musical items were wide–ranging and included works by Brahms, Corelli, Elgar, Handel, Haydn, Kreisler, Lehár, Mahler, Puccini, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Wagner. The programme was privately recorded and is now issued as a unique memorial to these two great people who are sadly no longer with us. The double–CD set is being issued at £10 per set plus postage/ packing of £1.35 (UK), £3.85 (Europe) or £4.90 (rest of the world). To place an order, please contact either of the following Branch officers: David L Jones (project coordinator) e–mail: [email protected] Tel: 0161 439 7176; Willowbrook House, Spath Lane East, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, SK8 7NL. Geoff Scargill (NW Branch chairman) e–mail: [email protected] Tel: 0161 432 6992; 43 Fullerton Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, SK4 4EN.
No. 56 – August 2015 25 Elgar’s Interpreters on Record
Years ago, someone once boasted to me that they had copies of all the Elgar records ever made. Then it was unlikely: now it would, I think, be impossible – by my reckoning there are well over 300 versions of Salut d’Amour alone!
Although Jerrold Northrop Moore’s first analysis of Elgar’s own recordings, which had appeared in 1963 as a BIRS pamphlet, included a limited listing of other recordings, by 1977 this was way out of date. At which point, the Society published a 70–page A5 booklet (for the princely sum of £1.20 including postage!) in which I attempted, as described in the preface, ‘to list for the first time all the records of Elgar’s music that have ever been made’. It generated quite a lot of interest from all over the world, and all Elgar’s own recordings having by then been issued on LP, requests came in to hear some of the other contemporary records listed in the booklet, many of which Elgar would have known and which had been unavailable for many years. And so ‘Elgar’s Interpreters on Record’ became the title not just of the booklet but also the Society’s first LP. A second LP rescued from the BBC archives presented recordings of Elgar Choral Songs conducted by Adrian Boult.
The 70s and 80s saw an enormous growth in Elgar recordings, and in 1985 Thames Publishing produced a second edition, which included an introductory essay and photographs of recording sessions as well as reproductions of adverts. I managed, just as we were going to press, to include details of the first Elgar CD.
26 Elgar Society News Elgar’s Interpreters on Record
But that’s all 30 years ago and since then the number of Elgar new recordings and transfers to CD of old recordings has been colossal (including a number of CDs produced by the Society with the ‘Elgar’s Interpreters on Record’ badge). Over the years I have attempted to keep my computer database up to date and recent research has enabled the inclusion of recording date and location to be included as widely as possible. And now all this can be accessed via the Society’s website at http://elgar. org/elgarsoc/discography/. A search can be made on title or artist in the different areas (orchestral, choral etc). I hope this is very much work in progress (I aim to upload updated files every few months) and that those who use it will contact me at [email protected] to point out errors and omissions.
Yes – over 300 versions of Salut d’Amour! John Knowles
Reminder: to access John Knowles’ discography, visit:
http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/discography/
THE ELGAR BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM CROWN EAST LANE, LOWER BROADHEATH, WORCESTER WR2 6RH (signposted off A44 Worcester–Leominster Road) Tel: 01905 333224 Fax: 01905 333426 e–mail: [email protected] Website: www.elgarmuseum.org OPEN EVERY DAY, 11AM TO 5PM (last admission 4.15 pm. Closed 24 December 2015 to 1 February 2016 inclusive) Elgar Society members admitted free (please show your new Membership Card) Please pre–book parties of ten or more with the Museum Events leaflets available on request
No. 56 – August 2015 27 The Future of the Birthplace
As members will know from the AGM report, there have been discussions about a possible role for The National Trust in the future management of the Museum. Sam Driver White, Chairman, and Ian Savage, the Interim Director, report that there was a meeting between the National Trust and the Birthplace Management Committee on 8 July where the National Trust presented a proposal for the future. There was a further Management Committee meeting on 17 July which is likely to be the first of several meetings in the next couple of months because some of the issues that need discussing are complex. Any decision needs to be made by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and a meeting has been arranged for the 21 September with a view to giving the National Trust a decision by the end of September. The Elgar Society is not a direct party to these negotiations. However, at our AGM, Steven Halls asked for members to help in identifying the Society’s concerns and role regarding the Museum so that these might be taken into account.
The Elgar Birthplace photographed in 2007 [Photo: Richard Smith]
28 Elgar Society News From the Birthplace Interim Director
As Cathy takes the next step in her career, it is clear that she has achieved an incredible amount during her time as Director of the Birthplace Museum and that her enthusiasm and knowledge will be greatly missed. With the future direction of the Museum being the subject of major discussions, I have been asked to step in as Interim Director to support the team of staff and volunteers in the day to day running of the Birthplace. Having been in post now for just a week, I am impressed by the knowledge and commitment of all those I have met. I’m confident we will continue to deliver our busy programme of events with the same success we have achieved already this year, while welcoming visitors and ensuring they have an informative and enjoyable experience. I’m looking forward to working with the team and helping to prepare for whatever the future holds. Ian Savage
From the Birthplace
It used to be said that classical music in general, and especially Elgar, appeals to a very particular person – British, white, middle–aged and middle class. If this ever really was the case, it surely had more to do with what Elgar was perceived to stand for, rather than the music itself. If recent visitors to the Birthplace are anything to go by, it would appear that barriers are at last starting to be broken down. In March we were delighted to welcome guitarist Xuefei Yang to the Museum. Xuefei has transcribed Salut d’Amour for guitar, and has recorded it for her new CD. The purpose of the visit was to film a promotional video, which is now available for all to see on YouTube. Just go to www.xuefeiyang.com and scroll down to find the link to the video. We all hope that recordings and videos like this will bring a new audience to Elgar, and consequently new visitors to the Birthplace.
No. 56 – August 2015 29 From the Birthplace
Above: Xuefei Yang playing at Elgar’s Birthplace. [Photo: Neil Muir] Further evidence that Elgar is now being appreciated further afield may be found in the make–up of some of the groups which have recently visited Broadheath; choirs from Kleve in Germany and The Hague and junior orchestras and bands from Idaho, Singapore and Japan. But maybe one of the places you’d least expect to hear Elgar is a little nearer to home. As I sat down to write these notes, I heard the Cello Concerto coming from the lounge. Returning there I realised that I’d left the television on and that great music was being played as background music in the café on Coronation Street! Apparently Elgar is one of café proprietor Roy Cropper’s favourite composers. I’m not normally a fan of background music, but am willing to make an exception on this occasion. Our events programme is proving successful again. Donald Hunt’s Tuesday morning talks have drawn very appreciative audiences. This year there are also two guest speakers – Andrew Keener on Sir Malcolm Sargent, and we are especially thrilled to be welcoming Diana McVeagh for the September event. In October, Donald will be talking about Gershwin, and his season finale in November is entitled ‘Elgar and Me’. Donald’s fascination with the music and life of Elgar began when he was a choirboy at Gloucester Cathedral, and his distinguished career has seen him perform Elgar all over the world. We had another fantastic evening in April from Gabrielle Bullock and Sounds Arty. ‘Poets Laureate, lauded…and left out’ was a fabulous evening of music and poems by the Poets Laureate and the Masters of the Kings’ and Queens’ Music – and those who didn’t quite make it and perhaps should have! This is the third year that
30 Elgar Society News From the Birthplace
Gabrielle and her team have written and performed a show to raise funds for the Elgar Birthplace Museum, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their tremendous efforts. And judging from the reaction of the near capacity audience, everybody’s looking forward to a new show in the not too distant future. Our annual art exhibition featuring works by David Birtwhistle and John Harris is now well underway. Both artists are heavily influenced by Worcestershire and Herefordshire scenes, and these naturally feature in the exhibition, which runs until 31 August. The Elgar Fun(d) Raisers go from strength to strength. They are a fantastically dedicated group from our team of staff and volunteers who arrange events to raise funds for the Museum. In April they hosted a Gardeners’ Question Time at the Museum when a large audience quizzed Cliff Wood, the head plantsman from Laylocks, our local nursery. They are currently planning a quiz night to be held on 23 October, and the Elgar Lottery is gaining more and more players. Each quarterly draw offers prizes of £100, £50, £20 and £10, and for their next draw, which takes place on 28 August, a special bonus prize, courtesy of Andrew Jowett and THSF is being offered – two top tickets for Birmingham Symphony Hall’s concert featuring the Winners of the 2015 Tchaikovsky International Competition, with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. To buy your lottery ticket, which currently cost £9, please telephone the Birthplace, or go to the Museum’s on–line shop. The Elgar Birthday Weekend kicked off with the Birthday Concert in the Carice Elgar Room on the Friday evening, and what an exhilarating evening that was. For the first time at these events, the concert was given by a chamber choir, and Gloucestershire–based Octavo gave us an evening of superb musicianship in a wonderfully varied programme of songs celebrating the beauty and drama of the countryside, mixing traditional songs with Elgar, Finzi, Holst, Britten and Byrd, amongst others. The weekend ended with the traditional tea party at the Birthplace on the Sunday afternoon. As always this was a very happy occasion, but this time tinged with sadness with the knowledge that it was the last such event under Cathy Sloan’s leadership at the Elgar Birthplace Museum.
No. 56 – August 2015 31 From the Birthplace
When Cathy came to the Birthplace in 1997, the Elgar Centre was an empty boarded–up shell and fund–raising for its completion was proving difficult to achieve. With the realisation that lottery money would be needed to complete the project, an application was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Cathy saw this through to a successful completion. The following months saw many long days and nights designing and writing the exhibitions for the new Centre – all completed in time to open for the 2000 Three Choirs Festival, and then the Official Opening by Dame Janet Baker in October.
Since then, the Museum has worked hard to keep improving what it has to offer to an increasingly demanding public. The last 15 years have seen the completion of many projects, major and minor: the introduction of Audio Guides, portable chairs for the less able visitor, an Introductory Video, a car park extension, the Jubilee Garden, the Digitisation project, Interactive displays, the Museum achieving Accreditation status, and a major refurbishment project. Add to these two royal visits and numerous successful applications to various funding bodies to enable the Museum to purchase manuscripts and other memorabilia at auction. These are just a few of the many projects which Cathy led, and it’s been a privilege to work under her gentle, and sometimes not so gentle guidance to help to bring these and other developments to completion. Judging by the number of people who attended her farewell party, and the comments passed by those present, I won’t be the only person who will miss her. Chris Bennett, Museum Supervisor
Cathy with baby Max and Ernie Kay at the opening of the Family Jubilee Garden at the Birthplace in 2012 [Photo: Chris Bennett]
32 Elgar Society News Dr Donald Hunt: illustrated talks
Tuesday 8 September, 10.30 am with guest speaker Diana McVeagh, the renowned Elgar and Finzi scholar.
Tuesday 13 October, 10.30 am ‘Rhapsody on Gershwin’ with Donald Hunt An affectionate look at the music of one of America’s most popular composers.
Tuesday 10 November, 10.30 am ‘Elgar and Me!’ with Donald Hunt A personal journey through the music of Elgar.
All talks feature recorded and / or live performances. Tickets are £6 per talk. Talks begin at 10.30 and end at approx. 12.15, with free interval drinks. Other Birthplace Events in 2015
Thursday 9 July to Monday 31 August David Birtwhistle and John Harris Exhibition David and John will be returning to the Museum over the Three Choirs Festival period to exhibit their paintings and prints for the twelfth year. Museum admission applies.
Friday 25 September, 7.30 pm An anthology of English Song An evening with Felicity Rogers and Tom Hunt accompanied by Donald Hunt. Tickets £8.50 including refreshments.
Wednesday 18 November, 10.30 am to 4.30 pm An introduction to Elgar Find out about the man and his music with guest speakers, plenty of music and wonderful original archive material. Tickets £18.95 to include all sessions, Museum entry and all refreshments. (continued overleaf)
No. 56 – August 2015 33 Other Birthplace Events in 2015
Tuesday 8 to Sunday 20 December Inspired by Elgar An exhibition of selected pieces from our painting competition which celebrate the life and music of England’s great composer. All work is for sale. Museum admission applies
Again, tickets are available from the Elgar Birthplace Museum by telephoning 01905 333224, from our website www.elgarmuseum. org, or by visiting us in Lower Broadheath, just 3 miles west of Worcester, off the A44.
From the Birthplace Archive
For this look at some of the more quirky items in the archive at the Birthplace, we are returning to the fabulous Elgar family scrap albums. This volume covers the years 1865–1904 but is particularly rich for the years from 1890, and is the source of several stories which have appeared in this column.
The postcard reproduced overleaf is entitled ‘Pomposo & Circonstanzo – Pot pourri from Ye Merrie Golfers of Malvern’. It is supposedly by ‘Rodeltock’ – probably a combination of Rodewald, Elgar and Bantock, all of whom were members of the ‘Skip the Pavement’ Society. The Society was founded ostensibly to encourage the new school of young English composers, but it soon became more light–hearted and, after concerts, the members ‘skip the pavement’ and retire to the nearest pub for a quiet drink and, perhaps, some musical discussion.
I’m not sure how much discussion went in to the composition of this little masterpiece, but it must have made quite a sound, with Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ and Fifth Symphonies sandwiching Till Eulenspiegel, possibly some Wagner, Ein Heldenleben and Cockaigne. Chris Bennett
34 Elgar Society News From the Birthplace Archive
No. 56 – August 2015 35 This is what I do – the Archivist
It may not be widely known within the membership that the Society has its own archive distinct from the Birthplace and from other Elgarian collections, whether in public or private hands. Every organisation creates records in the course of its objectives and activities, and the Elgar Society is no exception of course, but what exactly constitutes its archive? It was not until 1994 that the Society instituted an archive programme on the recommendation of the late Carl Newton, who was concerned at the risk to the Society’s records in the absence of an active and ongoing policy of locating, preserving and curating essential material. After more than 40 years since the Society’s inauguration there had been changes in personnel, an increasing range of activities, and an inevitable problem of storage, all of which constituted a potential threat to the archives. Council accepted the report and its underlying justifications for keeping an archive: operational (valuable information on the running and organisation of the Society’s business); legal (certain items may need to be kept for statutory reasons); and historical (essential material for future reference and research). Moreover, increasing regulation of charitable bodies had implications for compliance in record keeping. Carl was appointed honorary archivist in 1994 and collected a considerable quantity of material from the then Secretary, the backbone of which were the AGM and National Committee (later Council) minutes dating from 1950, accounts, correspondence, programmes and cuttings (some predating the Society’s start), which were later enlarged by further intakes from other officers. The Branches were also notified during 1994 and encouraged to keep the archivist informed of their holdings. The major difficulty of where to store the Society’s archive was then addressed. Carl was able through his professional contacts to arrange the most appropriate place of deposit, namely the Worcestershire Record Office. Originally this was housed in the redundant church of St Helen’s in the city centre, then relocated to a purpose–built repository on the County Hall site at Spetchley, and more recently relocated again to The Hive in The Butts back in the city centre. This new building has brought together both the county and the university libraries as well as the county archive
36 Elgar Society News This is what I do – the Archivist
and archaeology service under its irregular golden dome. Deposits of new archive material are made here by the current honorary archivist and added to the Society’s collection. Proper and secure environmentally controlled storage is guaranteed by the Record Office, which will also catalogue the material as its time and resources permit, though the hon. archivist maintains his own database of all additional material as he processes it before deposit. Thus has the Society’s archive been preserved and made available for members to consult at any time during The Hive’s opening hours. The present hon. archivist succeeded Carl Newton in June 2003 and has endeavoured to continue his pioneering work. He was himself a professional archivist with Cumbria County Council at Carlisle, then at Kendal, retiring in 2013 after 40 years’ service. Richard Hall, Honorary Archivist
Daniel Barenboim is awarded the Elgar Society Medal
It was my privilege and honour to present the Society’s medal to Maestro Barenboim at the end of his second concert with the Berlin Staatskapelle at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 April. This turned out to be a remarkable event that followed an astonishing and unforgettable performance of Elgar’s E flat Symphony preceded by the Tchaikovsky Concerto with violinist Lisa Batiashvilli. The performance of the Symphony was, somehow, both revelatory and familiar as the Staatskapelle performed music the players clearly loved and which now sat easily beneath their fingers. Was this the secret I wonder? It was partly familiarity with the music, for by now the orchestra has played the work enough times to find it comfortable without it becoming over–familiar. This and Barenboim’s devotion and understanding of the music are a potent and completely rewarding combination. Of the five works performed during the two evenings of the Orchestra’s residency on the South Bank it was the Elgar that seemed to surprise some critics most: apparently appearing to them as a forgotten masterpiece. Although this reaction surprised me it has to be welcomed. From the opening bars most listeners knew
No. 56 – August 2015 37 Elgar Society Medal: Daniel Barenboim
they would be in for an exciting experience: the Symphony bursting on the audience as if a dam had been breached. In the sunset ending Barenboim achieved something few conductors manage: a combination of peace, resignation, certainty and melancholy. The performance exposed orchestration I had barely noticed before, the layout of the orchestra assisting in this. The violins were divided with the harps and brass to the right with the cellos left (behind the first violins) and the violas opposite, adjacent to the second violins. Seemingly from nowhere the oboe played its mournful threnody in the Larghetto supported superbly by the other instruments, the orchestra by now completely at home in the unfriendly acoustic of the Festival Hall. You could have heard a pin drop, as was the case at the end as Barenboim’s hands held 2,500 listeners in suspense for twelve seconds before the applause began. It struck me that the performance was more lithe, more cohesive and tighter than in Barenboim’s recent recording with the same resources. Indeed I can think of at least one distinguished critic who loathed it. I have been listening to this symphony for over fifty–one years and this must rank as one of the finest performances I have ever heard as well as being an unforgettable musical experience. Some forty or more years ago, through the kindness of Jerrold Northrop Moore, I met Daniel Barenboim in EMI’s Abbey Road Studios. He was recording the Violin Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. I recall a mixture of intense music making mixed with a great deal of banter. How good it was to be reminded of that time. As we know, a great musician can work miracles. Alas it has rarely happened to Elgar before in this way. Sir Mark Elder has achieved a miracle in Manchester, as did Sir Colin Davis at the Barbican; but these are, and were, home–grown. Barenboim has taken his love of the music and taught it to an orchestra that had rarely played a note of Elgar’s music and which has now become part of its life. We should not be surprised; but this is rare indeed. In fact I do not think I can recall anything similar. There lies the miracle. It was clear to me that this award meant a great deal to him. He stressed this when we met and made it clear in his acceptance speech when he said (I paraphrase):
38 Elgar Society News Elgar Society Medal: Daniel Barenboim
‘This is a wonderful honour which I accept in the name of my colleagues in the Staatskapelle. From learning this work the members of the Orchestra have grown to love the music and it has been a privilege for me to bring this Symphony to London. ‘England has meant a great deal to me and this is why this medal means so much. Tonight, perhaps many of us may have been thinking of someone who was the “greatest Elgarian” – she would have been seventy years old this year.’ Elgarians perhaps owe more to Barenboim’s first wife than they realise. A few years ago, for an interview with the Berliner Zeitung Barenboim said: ‘My greatest honour has been that I was able to perform with Jacqueline du Pré, who was so much a part of this world, and through her grew to know the music of Elgar.’ Andrew Neill Extracts from Reviews of the Staatskapelle Concert It’s refreshing to report, at a time when column inches are choked full of alarm about immigrants to the UK, that an Argentine–Israeli conductor and a German orchestra have taken a British classic, brought it to London and made it sound better than ever: possibly better than it has ever sounded. This was the effect of Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin’s performance of Elgar’s Symphony No 2, the climax to their triumphant pair of concerts at the Southbank. Neil Fisher – The Times The playing was luxuriant, whether in the surging tuttis of the opening statement, or the hushed intimacies that are such an essential recurring part of this symphony’s texture. Brass and woodwind were outstanding, while the string playing, audibly urged on by Barenboim at times, was richly committed in quiet and loud passages alike. Martin Kettle – The Guardian Elgar’s Second Symphony even transcended that of the Strauss – yet more tonally intense, with a flaring ardour that went to the heart (and the heartbreak) of this deeply English creation. It stood reaffirmed as the grand masterpiece of European music it is. We know this and I am sure Barenboim and many in his orchestra would agree, too! Paul Driver – The Sunday Times
No. 56 – August 2015 39 Elgar Society Medal: Daniel Barenboim
Then a man came on with a microphone for more unexpected action. Barenboim was presented with the medal of the Elgar Society. He has received quite a few medals, he said, but this was one that meant an enormous amount. His career – especially in this country – began when he conducted his wife, Jacqueline du Pré, in Elgar’s Cello Concerto. ‘She would have been 70 this year.’ No encore was needed. Fiona Maddocks – The Observer
Left: Andrew Neill congratulates Daniel Barenboim. [Photo: via Andrew Neill]
Diana McVeagh and Champs Hill visit 22 April 2015 I had never visited the Sussex house but I had heard that it boasts a lovely garden adorned with sculpture and a concert hall the walls of which are covered with fine art. Thus I could not refuse the invitation sent to the Elgar, Delius and Strauss Societies ‘to attend a luncheon and concert to commemorate the life of Michael Kennedy CBE, who died on 31 December 2014’. By chance, I heard Diana McVeagh would be going so it was the perfect opportunity to present her with the Elgar Society’s Medal. Colleagues wanted it to be a surprise for her which meant that I had to keep the secret all through the traffic jams on and off the M25 as I drove Diana, Ann Vernau and John Norris to the event. Arriving too late for coffee, but just in time for drinks and delicious canapés, it was a very merry throng who then processed into the concert hall set out for lunch to hear three recitals, the first of which was a fine performance of Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata,
40 Elgar Society News Diana McVeagh and Champs Hill visit
Op.18. A superb lunch followed, and between courses we admired both the art from the Newlyn School on the walls and Delius’s 1892 Violin Sonata in B major. Finally, we heard Elgar’s Violin Sonata performed excellently by Diana Galvydyte and Svetlana Kosenko. Then came the time for presenting our Silver Medal, which is the Society’s highest honour and its purpose is to recognise at least a decade of significant achievement in supporting and promoting Elgar. Announcing that the recipient was Diana McVeagh, I pointed out she is one of several recognized Elgar biographers. Her Edward Elgar: His Life & Music appeared in 1955, and it has from the beginning been hailed as a classic, being both biography and analysis of his works. I mentioned the richness in her critical writings, and not just those about Elgar, for her works on other composers such as Gerald Finzi: His Life and Music (2010) are exemplary. But, if Edward Elgar: His Life & Music is literally a bookend at the start of her career as an Elgarian scholar, then the book at the other end of this long shelf is the highly acclaimed Elgar the Music Maker (2007, revised 2013). Diana was delighted at the award and at the surprise, and she received prolonged and deserved applause as we posed for a picture below the Hadley bust of Elgar on display. We could then go out and enjoy the sun–soaked garden, and it was a happy car that crawled home later that day. Steven Halls
Right: Steven Halls presenting the Elgar Society Medal to Diana McVeagh [Photo: Andrew Neill]
No. 56 – August 2015 41 Parry’s Judith in Canada 3 May 2015
Elgar’s admiration for Hubert Parry’s music, albeit qualified, has been well documented, as have Elgar’s indebtedness to Parry’s articles in Grove’s Dictionary of Music and his liking of the man. Professor Jeremy Dibble believes that, as a jobbing violinist in 1888, Elgar may have played in the première of Parry’s oratorio Judith at the Birmingham Triennial Festival. The magnificent Koerner Hall at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music witnessed a remarkable event on 3 May 2015: the North American première and first modern revival of Parry’s Judith. Toronto’s Pax Christi Chorale, under their artistic director Stephanie Martin, soloists, boys from St Michael’s Choir School in Toronto and a professional orchestra gave a convincing account, appropriately operatic at times, of a dramatic work abounding in melodic invention. The demanding ‘Wagnerian’ role of Judith was ably sung by soprano Shannon Mercer. Mezzo–soprano Jillian Yemen as Meshullemeth, tenor David Menzies as King Manasseh and baritone Michael York as the High Priest of Moloch and Messenger of Holofernes also gave strong support, and boys from St Michael’s Choir School sang well as the children. Diction was excellent and the entire forces were directed by Stephanie Martin with masterly control throughout. The success of Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens prompted a Birmingham Festival commission for a large choral work for 1888. Parry intended to offer an oratorio, to be called The Regeneration of Manasseh. The priests of the Israelites demand the children of King Manasseh of Judah for sacrifice to the ancient god Moloch. The widow Judith intervenes to save the children, narrowly avoiding death at the hands of the furious worshippers. It is a bloodthirsty story: several artists have painted Judith with the head of the enemy general Holofernes, whom she has decapitated to save Israel. On the advice of friends Parry renamed the work Judith. The première on 29 August 1888 under Hans Richter was such a success that it brought the composer a series of choral commissions at provincial festivals. The fine music of Meshullemeth’s ballad, ‘Long oft in Egypt’s plenteous land’ (Parry’s words), was later set as the tune Repton to words of the American Quaker poet John Whittier; this became one of the most popular hymns, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.
42 Elgar Society News Parry’s Judith in Canada 3 May 2015
The first performance of Judith received critical acclaim, yet George Bernard Shaw’s detestation of the work, along with Parry’s Job, seems to have contributed to its subsequent retreat into the shadows of the choral repertoire. However, the distinguished writer on music R O Morris wrote that Judith is the most characteristic music that Parry ever wrote, the dominant impression one of a ‘winning naïveté and homeliness’. ‘Who,’ he wrote, ‘would have dreamt of finding in this eminent Victorian the same innocence of soul that is so lovable in Heinrich Schütz?’ Parry’s oratorio is characterised by many rousing choruses, assured writing and a healthy robustness. Of particular note is the felicitous use of woodwind. We hear the influence of Bach, Handel and other composers, but this is not to detract from Parry’s own delightful invention. For the Toronto performance York University in Ontario had prepared a special digital edition of the score to circumvent difficulties with Novello, and Professor Jeremy Dibble of the University of Durham, who was flown over to give a pre–concert talk, supervised the enterprising project. The performance, which received a standing ovation, was recorded, and it is hoped to raise sufficient funds to allow its commercial release (see website paxchristichorale.org). Michael Trott The Apostles in Dublin 9 May 2015
A long–standing invitation to visit Dublin to stay with Elizabeth and Francis Craven was made even more enticing when Elizabeth told me that there was to be a performance of The Apostles by the Guinness Choir of which she had been, until prevented by ill health, a member. The choir, dating back to 1951, had given The Apostles amazingly in 1989. They have over the years been greatly supported by Guinness (now Diageo) who are now sadly withdrawing funding. The choir plans to continue so hopefully this was not a swansong. The RDS concert hall is substantial and while by no means full held a goodly number, among whom it was gratifying to note quite a number of younger people; hopefully the Elgarians of today and tomorrow.
No. 56 – August 2015 43 The Apostles in Dublin 9 May 2015
The choir and semi–choir, from Kilkenny College, and orchestra (which had obtained a shofar for added authenticity) were conducted by David Milne. From the first chords of the Prelude his obvious sympathy with Elgar and this work was evident from his phrasing and mastery of his forces. The orchestral strings, although not large in number, produced a mellow full tone supporting, in particular, a gloriously liquid toned clarinet and plaintive oboe. The brass section blazed and growled menacingly, especially in Judas’s soliloquy. Chorus and soloists all were exemplary in their diction (from the back of the hall it would have been possible to transcribe texts such was the clarity of delivery). As in most choirs, we would have welcomed more men to give extra depth and a more rounded balance. Of the soloists, Mary Callan Clarke (Virgin Mary/Angel) opened a little diffidently but quickly got into her stride and sang with a warm bright clarity, floating effortlessly over the multi–layered textures of the finale. Louise Winter, replacing at two days’ notice Patricia Bardon who was unwell, brought great conviction to her role of The Magdalene – a deeply troubled woman, not a hysteric as she can appear. Andrew Boushell – Narrator/St John – was a clear lyric tenor. Jeffrey Ledwidge – a ‘John Carol Case’ Jesus – produced a fine gentlemanly sound: a very consoling voice but would I follow him ‘forsaking all other’. Eoin Supple and John Milne – St Peter and Judas – gave of their best to both roles. Peter’s desperate denials and Judas’s disillusion and despair were well characterised. The soliloquy is a great test and at times the upper registers stretched Mr Milne. The choir had said their last rehearsals were challenging. If so, it was not evident on the night. The transition from piano to orchestral rehearsal is always a shock. All involved had much to be proud of. The choirs, orchestra and soloists, guided and nurtured by David Milne, are to be thanked for their enterprise and commitment in bringing this still under–performed and underrated masterpiece to an audience hopefully eager to hear and learn more of Elgar’s output. I certainly was glad to have been among their number. Martin Passande
44 Elgar Society News Elgarians in Bamberg
In April a group of seventeen UK Elgarians spent a memorable six days in Germany. In addition to enjoying a holiday in the UNESCO World City, Bamberg, we visited Nuremberg (including the Nazi Documentation Centre and the site of the Hitler rallies). The highlight of our visit was however an Elgar Weekend organised by Society member Meinhard Saremba, to whom we owe a great debt for his continuing promotion of EE in Germany. The programme included an introductory talk on Gerontius by conductor Florian Csizmadia (another Society member, currently completing a dissertation on the three oratorios – the first such dissertation for a German university!), the Andrew Davis performance of Gerontius in St Paul’s Cathedral, a choir singing the Bavarian Dances, a showing of The Man behind the Mask, with the kind permission of John Bridcut, live performances of Elgar’s major string works by local chamber orchestras, and a terrific performance of the Sea Pictures by the Australian mezzo, Deborah Humble. The weekend was supported by the Society under its Elgar in Performance scheme and by the Elgar Family Trust. (Hilary Elgar contributed a note of welcome to the official brochure.) During one of the concerts Paul Grafton, Elgar’s great–nephew, presented the Society’s Certificate of Merit to Meinhard and to the other Mover and Shaker capturing a rising tide of revived interest in Elgar’s music in Germany, Wolfgang–Armin Rittmeier, our Man in the North. Wolfgang has established a special website (edward–elgar. de), devoted solely to spreading the Elgar word in Germany, and has just distributed the first newsletter of the Elgar–Freundeskreis (Friends of Edward Elgar). It was a very happy time in Bamberg with the bonus that we were pioneers, showing the flag for Sir Edward. Several useful contacts were made during the visit and it is hoped that a further holiday will take place during June 2016, to meet and encourage new ‘Elgarfans’ (when in doubt use an English word when you are speaking German!) and take in a performance of the First Symphony in Hamburg. Watch this space for further news of Elgar in Deutschland! Geoff Scargill
No. 56 – August 2015 45 Obituaries
Vivienne Mary McKenzie (1931–2015)
Born and educated in Derby and Malvern, Vivienne McKenzie was the daughter of a surgeon. She trained as a secretary and personal assistant, becoming an efficient organiser. After marriage to Peter Bint, she and Peter lived in various parts of Britain, raising a family of three boys, John, Ralph, and Robert.
After the end of her marriage in the mid–1970s, she came to Worcestershire, where she was a housemistress at several Malvern schools and met Jack McKenzie, Curator of the Elgar Birthplace Museum. Jack and Vivienne were married in 1977. Their wedding reception took place at the Worcester home of Nella Leicester, who had known Elgar when he lived nearby at Marl Bank. Vivienne threw herself into the role of supporting Jack at the museum in Broadheath, her organisational skills coming to the fore. Jack retired in 1983 and died in 2001 at the age of 90. Vivienne nursed him during his last years of ill health in their home at Callow End until he had to go into a nursing home.
A stickler for historical accuracy and one who consequently kept chairmen on their toes at annual general meetings, Vivienne was warm–hearted and always had Elgar’s memory and the welfare of his Birthplace Museum at heart. Her interests were varied (music, ballet, poetry, woodlands, wildlife, animal welfare and waterways) and she was active in supporting many local good causes, including Malvern Museum.
Vivienne broke her ankle in December 2014, and the complicated break was treated in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. However, when her health deteriorated, lymphoma was discovered and she died on 28 February.
Members of the Elgar Society joined Vivienne’s family at a funeral service at Worcester Crematorium on 7 April. Michael Trott
46 Elgar Society News Obituaries
Margaret Sanders
It is with great sadness that we record the death of Margaret Sanders, former documentation officer at the Elgar Birthplace, at the age of 77. Margaret had previously worked in Worcester Library for many years, eventually becoming its reference librarian, a post for which she was supremely well suited, adding a sense of order and a retentive memory to her professional qualifications and an objectivity that meant she was prepared to go to any lengths to help, whoever the person and however seemingly trivial the enquiry. Those qualities made an ideal person to appoint as the Birthplace’s first documentation officer following her retirement from the County Library Service, though, typically modest, she needed to be persuaded that she could do the job of organising the archival collections and making them readily available to those wishing to use them. The new Centre was opened in 2000 with an improved archive and research facility lodged in one part of the Birthplace Cottage. Margaret approached the task with her customary dedication and determination, applying those professional skills she had developed throughout her library career, but also ensuring in her own quiet but firm way that those who used the materials should respect them and abide by the rules. That included the growing number of volunteers who were enlisted to assist in the enormous task of sorting and indexing the thousands of items within the archival collections, and whom Margaret had to train and supervise. It is an enormous tribute to her that the archive was made available only a year later in 2001, and though much remained to be done the foundation of the archive as it presently exists had been firmly laid. In 2005 Margaret felt that it was time for a second retirement, though she remained a familiar figure at events held at the Birthplace. Although this note has placed some stress on her professional achievements, it is as much for her friendliness and her willingness to help anyone at any time, sometimes at the cost of her own convenience, that her friends and former colleagues will remember her. Michael Messenger
No. 56 – August 2015 47 Obituaries
Maureen Stainton
Maureen Stainton was born in 1932, the daughter of Rod and Ivy Cooling. Thus it was that she was distantly related to Elgar on her father’s side: Mary Elgar (1798 – 1894) (who was Elgar’s aunt) was her great–great–great–grandmother.
Her parents kept a corner shop and she was brought up in Dulwich and Enfield, attending Latymer School (like Joyce Greig). By the time she left technical college, her parents had moved to High Wycombe and she became Secretary to the Chief Postmaster there. Intelligent and ambitious, she moved to London and worked in the Solicitor’s Department. Here her boss was Neale Stainton. He was married to Laura del Bono, a well known theatrical agent, and after Maureen took early retirement she worked part time in Laura’s business. She enjoyed meeting the stars and particularly had happy memories of conversations with Ava Gardner whom she used to bump into in Hyde Park when walking the Staintons’ corgi.
After Laura’s death, she married Neale in 1996 and they enjoyed twelve happy years together, Maureen proving a devoted wife when ill health forced Neale’s move to a nursing home in his latter years.
She was someone of many interests, and music was an abiding passion. She loved travel, particularly to Switzerland. She was a member of the Swiss Railway Society and in 1986 published Ticket to the Top: a Guide to some of the Mountain Travel Systems in the Swiss Bernese Oberland. She was a long standing member of the London Branch of the Elgar Society, and served on its Committee. She was a regular attender at the birthday weekend. A person of quiet but evidently very strong faith, her funeral, attended by many of her friends, was at the church of St Mary The Boltons in West Brompton. Philip Petchey
48 Elgar Society News Obituaries
Michael Morris
It’s my sad duty to inform you that dear Michael Morris passed away on Wednesday 17 June. As you may be aware, he was one of the last living people to talk to Sir Edward Elgar, having sung under his direction as a cathedral chorister at the 1933 Hereford Three Choirs Festival. Not only did he spend 53 years in the Festival choir, for many of those he was also the Chorus Superintendent. He also claimed to be one of very few people to have persuaded E.E. to give him his autograph, having pestered him repeatedly on his way back to his lodgings after a concert at the 1933 Festival. I’m honoured to have counted him amongst my friends. His funeral was held at Hereford Cathedral at on Wednesday 1 July. Robert Green
Three Choirs Festival Hereford – 25 July to 1 August
The 2015 Hereford Three Choirs Festival will have taken place just before you receive this Elgar News; a full report on our events will be in the next edition.
Brief Items
Elgar in Scotland The BBC SSO have, for a long time, been Scotland’s best exponent of Elgar’s music, but since Peter Oundjian joined the RSNO as Musical Director in 2012 things are improving by leaps and bounds at the RSNO! Whereas, in time gone by, we would have been lucky to get any Elgar from the RSNO, their 2014/2015 season has been a revelation, with an outstanding performance of the ‘Enigma’ under Rory Macdonald’s baton, and superb performances of the Introduction and Allegro, the Cello Concerto and The Dream of Gerontius with Peter Oundjian conducting. It has been such a pleasure to hear these works at the Usher Hall, especially The Dream of Gerontius
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with Sarah Connelly, Alan Opie and Toby Spence as Gerontius, who all gave most feeling performances, whilst Peter Oundjian and the orchestra gave a beautifully interpreted reading of the whole work. I look forward to next season’s programme! Paul Bassett Nimrod – ‘Soul Music’ on the BBC
As part of their ‘Soul Music’ series, BBC Radio 4 is planning to include a programme on ‘Nimrod’. Some of you may remember that they previously broadcast an item on the Dream of Gerontius in the same series. One of the compilers of ‘Soul Music’, Karen Gregor, is hoping to track down one or two very strong, personal stories from people who have memories of ‘Nimrod’ – having heard it at a memorable event, for example, or perhaps it was something significant in their childhood. If you can help please contact Karen at [email protected]. It is hoped that the programme will be broadcast in December 2015. Richard Smith For sale – a bronze bust of Elgar John Durham has for sale a bronze bust of Elgar sculpted by Percival Hedley which is approximately 20 inches high. The artist was responsible for the bronze in the National Portrait Gallery. This bronze, one of seven, was cast from a wax of the original NPG bronze using laser technology. Another copy of this run of seven is at the Birthplace. A wax of the same bust appears on the covers of the Solti recordings of the symphonies. If you are interested, please contact John on [email protected].
For sale – boxed set of Elgar on record
Patricia Syms has in her record collection the original box set, in excellent condition, of Elgar on Record. The set contains six vinyl discs, a book by Jerrold Northrop Moore, and two programmes of Elgar concerts she attended. If this is of any interest to your members, Patricia would be delighted with almost any offer. Please reply via [email protected].
50 Elgar Society News Brief Items
From the Malvern Observer 10 June 2015
Developments are taking place to improve the current Cathedral Plaza shopping centre in Worcester. The area will have informal seating that will be used for a number of public events. ‘Worcester’s composer, Sir Edward Elgar’s “Angel’s Farewell” inspired the design of this contemporary interpretation with the score of the music illustrated in the layout of the paving and street furniture.’ I am all agog! Ernie Kay Herbert Sumsion Violin Sonata A ‘lost’ violin sonata composed by a former organist at Gloucester Cathedral has been rediscovered. Herbert Sumsion composed the Sonata for Violin and Piano in 1920, but it was presumed lost. It was rediscovered among an archive of documents owned by his grandson, after an enthusiast alerted him to its possible existence. The piece had its first public performance at the Cathedral in May. Violinist Rupert Marshall–Luck, who specialises in recording and performing works of early 20th–century British composers, tracked down the manuscript after he became ‘intrigued by a passing mention’ of it in an article in the Elgar Society Journal. via John Greig
The Elgar Clematis Many of you will know that there is a rose named ‘Sir Edward Elgar’. It was first launched in the UK in 1992 by David Austin Roses Ltd. It has cerise–crimson flowers and is of the Double/Full bloom type. It has, according to the company, ‘a light exceptionally fine old rose fragrance’. Not to be outdone, John Richards Nurseries of Malvern have just launched a clematis which they have named ‘Elgar’. It produces abundant pendulous deep–pink and violet flower buds in early spring. The flowers are nodding spiky bells and have been measured at up to 100mm across. The variety is suitable for any aspect, as long as it is open to the sky, and withstands cold winters. Richard Smith
No. 56 – August 2015 51 Brief Items
A plaque to Marie Hall
A plaque was unveiled by Malvern Civic Society in Church Street on 16 July to ‘Marie Hall (violinist 1884 – 1956) who as a child played for pennies on Church Street. She was a pupil of Elgar and became one of the foremost violinists of her age. Vaughan Williams dedicated The Lark Ascending to her.’ Ernie Kay
Dorothy Howell
In the late 1970s when I first became chairman of the West Midlands Branch of the Elgar Society, there was a small quiet lady of about 80 on the committee named Dorothy Howell. Miss Howell tended the Elgar graves for several years and was herself buried nearby when she died in 1982. Someone told me she was a distinguished musician. Indeed she was. Only recently did I learn that before the war Dorothy Howell was an acclaimed pianist and composer who at one time was called ‘the English Strauss’; her symphonic poem Lamia was performed at no fewer than seven Promenade concerts. She taught at the Royal Academy of Music for over 40 years. How I wish I had known this when she was alive and in our midst!
Dorothy Howell’s Lamia (a beautiful queen of Libya in ancient Greek mythology) and her Piano Concerto were apparently recorded a few years ago, and there was an exhibition of the life and works of this Handsworth–born musician in Birmingham Central Library. Michael Trott
Like the rushing of the wind?
I subscribe to the British Library’s online newspaper service. Their scanning has produced an interesting pairing of Elgar’s part–songs in the 1904 Morecambe Festival: ‘It’s oh! to be a wild wind’ followed by ‘Farting I watch’. Martin Bird
52 Elgar Society News Branch Reports
EAST ANGLIA: We have met in Bury St Edmunds four times this spring.Unfortunately I missed Christopher Bishop’s talk entitled ‘Recollections of a record producer‘, when he spoke to the meeting in March: however I’ve heard what an enjoyable afternoon it was and I wish I had been there.
During the interval of a performance of The Kingdom at Snape Maltings recently I overheard someone remark ‘very Elgar’: a subject for discussion on its own, but I wonder what her comment would have been had she attended our April and May meetings. Dr Donald Hunt guided us through some of Elgar’s part songs, as he remarked, barely scratching the surface of Elgar’s output. Hearing some of these compositions for the first time I wouldn’t have immediately thought ‘very Elgar’! A thoroughly entertaining afternoon listening to Dr Hunt whose talk was liberally interspersed with examples of these seldom–heard works.
In early May the Branch welcomed the Elgar Society Chairman and his wife to Suffolk. Dr Steven Halls’s talk ‘From the shed to the world’ was a journey along Elgar’s timeline, explaining how Elgar’s early compositions for small bands and music for Powick hospital evolved into his later chamber works. Both talks illustrated that even whilst composing his more familiar and famous works Elgar was also able to keep his publishers happy with shorter pieces that could be played or sung by just a few musicians.
Tom Kelly finished our spring programme with a talk on Elgar’s First Symphony. Although on more familiar territory, we were guided by Tom to the heart of this great work, its phenomenal success and its interpreters I certainly felt I’d learnt a great deal.
Thank you to our speakers who came and shared their knowledge and gave us four enjoyable afternoons.
The meeting closed with some of us looking forward to an outing to Ely cathedral and a performance of The Dream of Gerontius.
The next meeting in Bury St Edmunds is on 10 October at 2 30 pm, when the speaker will be Michael Butterfield on ‘Elgar and Wagner’. Bev Simpson
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EAST MIDLANDS: Writing this in mid–June I find myself reflecting on another year that seems to have flown by. We have but one more meeting, in ten days time – Dr Christopher Kent: ‘Schumann’s influence on Elgar’– before we take a break. Since the last News appeared we have welcomed Anthony Payne, Andrew Dalton, Dr John Harcup and his wife, and Paul and Sharron Bassett. All have delivered talks of great and diverse interest, ranging from the early days of the recording industry, via Elgar’s medical conditions, and his great friend Billy Reed to the realisation of the Third Symphony. All meetings have been attended by the same loyal band of supporters, the only blip occurring when a certain match featuring local rivals using what I term the misshapen ball was held in town on the same day as our event. (The opening day of Proms bookings could also have been responsible for a few absentees). Our 2015/16 programme is now complete and should be in members’ hands by the time these words are read. We resume on 10 October with Donald Hunt on Carl Nielsen, followed by Peter Walden on those who have been a source of inspiration to him (14 November), concluding for the Christmas break with the meeting on 13 December when members are invited to choose their favourite piece of music and to say what it is that they like about it. All these meetings are at 2.00pm and in the Garden Room, Unitarian Chapel, East Bond Street, Leicester. Please contact our Branch Secretary Ken Smith (details on the back cover of the News) to request a ‘slot’ to deliver your chosen music at the December meeting. Once again, many thanks to all who have helped plan, organise and deliver our meetings, to our speakers, and above all to members and visitors who have supported us. Have a good summer and see you in the autumn. Howard Newton LONDON: In March Rob Cowan, a regular presenter on Radio 3, talked about the interpretation of Elgar by non–British performers. Those who listen to his programmes will know that he has a great love for Elgar’s music and it was interesting to hear a variety of interpretations including some previously unknown recordings. Sir Adrian Boult was the focus for our April meeting, with a talk by the conductor Adrian Brown, who spoke of Boult’s life and artistry
54 Elgar Society News Branch Reports with particular reference to Elgar. In May, Steve Williams and his colleagues presented a fascinating audio–visual history of the Three Choirs Festival and looked at the part played by Elgar and Ivor Atkins in establishing the actual starting date. The June AGM was followed by Iain Farrington giving us a guided tour through Falstaff before giving a superb performance of his piano transcription of the work.
In addition to the regular Branch meetings, a party of members went to the concert at the Royal Festival Hall in April for Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle’s performance of the Second Symphony. After the concert, Daniel Barenboim was presented with the Elgar Medal and gave a moving acceptance speech. In May we were privileged to attend a very special day at Champs Hill Music Room, an event organised in memory of Michael Kennedy. A full report appears elsewhere in this issue. Finally in this season, several members attended the Birthday Weekend in Worcester. Ruth Hellen
NORTH AMERICAN: The two up and coming events attracting the North American Elgarians are this year’s Three Choirs Festival in July and a Chicago–located open–air performance of The Kingdom in August. Each year a sizeable contingent of North American members led by the Branch Chairman makes the pilgrimage across the Atlantic for the Three Choirs Festival. This year’s 300th meeting in Hereford will be no exception. In addition a force of Elgarians will be gathering in Chicago’s Loop Community Area for performances of The Kingdom on Friday and Saturday, 21 and 22 August. The performances will take place in the city’s Grant Park, where the music will be projected from a bandshell known as the Jay Pritzger Music Pavilion to an audience, some of whom pay to be seated, some of whom will gather gratis on the lawns beyond the seating area. The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra will be led by the Uruguayan conductor Carlos Kalmar. Soloists will be Erin Wall, soprano, Jill Grove, mezzo–soprano, Garrett Sorenson, tenor, and Brian Mulligan, bass–baritone. Arthur S. Reynolds
No. 56 – August 2015 55 Branch Reports
NORTH WEST: The New Year began with a very successful AGM with four new members elected to the Branch committee. A regular feature of our AGMs (apart from the refreshments being supplied by the committee!) is that four of our members talk about then play a piece of music that has a special meaning for them.
Unfortunately our speaker in February was unable to come at the last moment. The talk was to have been about In the South. David Jones, the Branch Vice–Chairman, stood in and gave a terrific presentation about the work. Geoff Scargill also spoke about ‘Elgar and Dreams’.
The March meeting was Barry Collett speaking about ‘Elgar and the Great War’. This was a first class and authoritative presentation with an excellent attendance, boosted by a minibus of new faces from Prestbury and Macclesfield.
April saw Simon Baggs, violinist and orchestral leader, talking about Elgar from a performer’s perspective. This was an outstanding afternoon.
Our season ended with our annual Mawbey’s tour, this time to Dr Buck’s Settle and Giggleswick School, where we had a fascinating guide to the school and a performance on the school’s organ by Giggleswick’s Director of Music.
In June, 27 members attended Choral Evensong in Liverpool’s magnificent Anglican Cathedral and after refreshments had a superb guided tour of the cathedral before going to a memorable performance of Gerontius by the Liverpool Phil.
For those suffering from withdrawal symptoms during the close season the usual informal get together in July at the Ship Inn in beautiful Styal village helped ease the pain.
A feature of the end of the 2014–15 season has been a marked increase in numbers at our meetings, so we ended the year on a high note and are looking forward to the coming season, which begins at the Royal Northern on 3 October and will contain a brilliant catch. Geoff Scargill
56 Elgar Society News Branch Reports
SCOTTISH: Our March meeting welcomed Dr Christopher Redwood, Chairman of the South West Branch of the Elgar Society. He gave his excellent presentation on ‘Elgar, Delius and Holst’: three of Britain’s greatest composers who all died within six months of one another in 1934. Christopher described the efforts they made to promote British music and played excerpts from the compositions of all three. The meeting opened with live music from Leon Coates (piano) who gave us the piano transcription of Dream Children beautifully, before he, Heather Fleck (violin) and Heather Coates (cello) played Three Movements for Piano Trio – Elgar/Rooke.
Our May speaker was John Norris, a member of the Elgar Society for almost 30 years, who presented ‘Tales from the Elgar Complete Edition – discovering Elgar’s lost works’. Having established Elgar Enterprises, the Society’s publishing imprint, in 1999, he relinquished this responsibility in 2006 to set up Elgar Works, an independent charity aimed specifically at stimulating performances of Elgar’s less well known works. This led almost immediately to an invitation to take over the responsibility for publishing the Elgar Complete Edition, a near full–time pre–occupation which has taken him into the darker recesses of the British Library and other music archives. A selection of his more interesting findings formed the basis of his fascinating talk.
Pianists Sean Morrison and Emily Ruuskanen, pupils of Gill Mantle at the City of Edinburgh Music School, performed some live music for us. Together they played Rachmaninov’s Waltz for four hands at the start of the recital and, to close it, Poulenc’s Sonata for four hands. Individually, Sean played Schumann’s Intermezzo from Carnaval and Rachmaninov’s Elegy, and Emily played first Liszt’s Consolation No. 2 and then six pieces for keyboard from Bach’s French Suite. The young musicians prefaced their performances with their reasons for liking the pieces they performed so beautifully.
At the time of writing, May, we look forward to a very special afternoon in June with Adrian Brown and his presentation ‘Elgar and World War One – The Spirit of England’. Adrian will examine how Elgar’s compositional contribution affected both himself and the war effort. He will discuss its genesis and analyse its words and
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music. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Adrian Brown was one of Sir Adrian Boult’s most gifted pupils. He is the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Karajan Conductors’ Competition. The prestigious orchestras he has conducted include the Berlin Philharmonic, the CBSO, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. The meeting will commence with a recording of The Spirit of England with Richard Hickox and Felicity Lott.
On Saturday 19 September, Michael Butterfield will give us his audio visual presentation entitled ‘Jaeger’. August Johannes Jaeger was Elgar’s agent at Novello. He was also ‘Nimrod’ in the ‘Enigma’ Variations. Michael will discuss Jaeger’s long friendship with Elgar, and the significant influence that he had on a number of Elgar’s most important compositions, including the ‘Enigma’ Variations and The Dream of Gerontius. Paul Bassett
SOUTHERN: 2015 opened with fond ‘Memories of Uncle Ted’ from our committee member Christine Walters, speaking about the lasting friendship between the Elgar and Walters families. Here was a vivid reminder of Elgar’s positive friendship with children and a disclosure of a plausible solution to the ‘Enigma’ question. It was good to welcome many visitors and newcomers to Christine’s presentation.
Leading trombonist Sue Addison shared her commitment to the instrument, illuminating its development and her researches into Elgar’s attempts to learn it, playing an instrument comparable to Elgar’s trombone. A good audience at Winchester greatly enjoyed the reminiscences and anecdotes of Peter Worrell, violinist with the Hallé for 43 years, particularly on that most passionate Elgar conductor Sir John Barbirolli, in ‘JB, Elgar and the Hallé’
David Bury demonstrated musical parallels between Elgar and the contemporary composer he most admired, Richard Strauss, with well chosen extracts from both composers. David’s claim that Strauss is the greatest opera composer stimulated lively discussion amongst members!
58 Elgar Society News Branch Reports
Conductor Leslie Olive gave us a conductor’s perspective on The Dream of Gerontius born of a deep love of the work and vast experience with choirs and orchestras. Members of Southern Branch were among those who enjoyed and will cherish memories of the magical day at Champs Hill described elsewhere in this issue of the News. Our future programme is detailed in the ‘Branch Events’ section which follows. William Cole
SOUTH WESTERN: Our March meeting was addressed by John Drysdale who spoke about Elgar’s earnings. John is a musicologist and former investment banker. This talk has been reviewed very favourably by other Branches and we also were most impressed. He covered almost every aspect of Elgar’s remunerated activities including unsatisfactory earnings from his compositions, but reasonable rewards in later life from conducting and making records.
In April we had a talk from Professor Bernard Porter, who is a professional historian and he talked on Elgar and his understanding of Empire. He provided a thorough account of all the evidence relating to Elgar’s feelings towards the British Empire as they developed through his life. In particular he demonstrated how the popular idea of jingoism was very wide of the mark. There were copious musical examples, ending with ‘For the Fallen’ from Spirit of England, which represented the mature Elgar’s feelings on war and patriotism.
There was a gratifyingly large attendance at the South West Branch meeting on 30 May 2015 to hear its former Chairman Michael Butterfield’s presentation ‘Elgar’s use of the Seventh’. Opening with obvious examples from the Serenade for Strings, ‘Enigma’ Variations and Second Symphony he then moved on to discuss ‘hidden sevenths’, i.e., melody lines that extended by that interval with a single intervening note. All of this was splendidly illustrated by excerpts from the relevant scores, painted ‘in glorious technicolour’ for easy following.
Just when your correspondent was beginning to think ‘Yes, but other composers made use of that interval too,’ Michael turned
No. 56 – August 2015 59 Branch Reports
his attention in that very direction, starting with a Bach fugue and making a particular reference to Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47, which he said was a particular favourite of Elgar’s. Altogether this was a fascinating insight into the composer’s methods, without being too technical for those who do not consider themselves musicians. We were privileged to have a visit from the Society’s Chairman Steven Halls on 27 June. He spoke on ‘Edward Elgar’s Music and the Great War’. He described Elgar’s creative and emotional reaction to World War I, culminating in his acceptance of the post–war commission to write a work for the Loughborough Carillon. This was a splendid PowerPoint presentation with numerous musical illustrations. He covered Elgar’s pre–war output in outline, and looked more closely at the post–war works. Christopher Redwood
WEST MIDLANDS: Several of our members attended the concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall on 15 February which included performances of three Elgar works: Polonia, Sospiri and Une Voix dans le Désert. The quality of CBSO string tone was paramount here, and Andris Nelsons conducted all these Elgar rarities with an empathy which must surely stem from his knowledge of Wagner and Strauss, who contributed so much to Elgar’s own musical language
On 14 March, Mathew Riley, senior lecturer in music at Birmingham University, explored ‘Elgar’s Second Symphony and 19th–Century Traditions’. In a series of carefully chosen musical extracts, links to symphonies by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Glazunov, Stanford, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Mendelssohn and Cowan, were expertly demonstrated. A thoroughly thought– provoking afternoon.
The Branch AGM on 11 April was followed by a presentation of ‘Letters to Nimrod’ by four of our members, David Parkes, John Harcup, and Wendy and Bernard Hill. In addition to showing how important it was for Elgar to have this helpful and sympathetic colleague, there was a brief introduction to Jaeger the man and pithy and fascinating sidelights on the state of music performance, publishing and criticism at the time.
60 Elgar Society News Branch Reports
On 9 May, Dr Peter Nardone, Organist and Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral, spoke about ‘Elgar’s Church Music’ from a performer’s perspective. Dr Nardone is a gifted singer, keyboard player and, as his presentation showed, teacher. His presentation was delivered with much humour and wit as well as, above all, a passion for the music of Elgar that goes well beyond the title of this presentation. It is good to know that for that music within Worcester Cathedral is in the hands of a committed and enthusiastic Elgarian. Richard Smith
Dr Peter Nardone [Photo: Richard Smith]
YORKSHIRE and NORTH EAST: We had an excellent meeting in June, given by Andrew Lyle who had worked on Elgar’s Music for the Powick Asylum. He spoke very highly of Barry Collett and also spoke of his own work for the Elgar Complete Edition – playing and sometimes humming excerpts of the music, which is light and tuneful. In November we have Barry Collett himself.
We have a break now until 19 September when David Lloyd–Jones will speak about ‘Conducting and Editing Elgar’. We expect to be back in the Bedingfield Room of the Bar Convent for this meeting. The excellent café will be open. You will always find a warm welcome at our meetings. Marc Seccombe
No. 56 – August 2015 61 Branch Events
For further details see Branch Reports or contact the relevant Secretary (see back cover)
(EA = East Anglian; EM = East Midland; L = London; NA = North America; NW = North West; Sc = Scottish; So = Southern; SW = South Western; WM = West Midlands; Y = Yorkshire and North East)
Sat 12 September 2015, 1.30 pm (So) Billy Reed The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, Havant Paul Bassett
Sat 19 September 2015, 2.00 pm (Sc) Jaeger St Mark’s Unitarian Church, Michael Butterfield Castle Terrace, Edinburgh
Sat 19 September 2015, 2.00 pm (Y) Conducting and The Bar Convent, Blossom Street, York Editing Elgar David Lloyd–Jones
Sat 19 September 2015, 2.30 pm (WM) Elgar and Germany Elgar Birthplace Museum Geoff Scargill
Sat 3 October 2015, 2.30 pm (NW) What makes Elgar Royal Northern College of Music an Enigma? Stuart Freed
Sat 10 October 2015, 1.30 pm (So) Elgar and Landscapes St Lawrence Parish Rooms, Winchester Stephen Johnson
Sat 10 October 2015, 2.00 pm (EM) Carl Nielsen Unitarian Chapel, Leicester Donald Hunt
Sat 10 October 2015, 2.30 pm (EA) Elgar and Wagner St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Michael Butterfield Bury St. Edmunds
Sun 11 October 2015, 2.30 pm (WM) Sir Edward Elgar Elgar Birthplace Museum Jerrold Northrop Moore
62 Elgar Society News Branch Events
Tue 13 October 2015, 7.30 pm (L) Britten and Elgar Queen’s College, Harley Street, W1 David Matthews
Sat 17 October 2015, 2.00 pm (Y) Elgar in the The Bar Convent, Blossom Street, York Recording Studio David Jones
Sat 31 October 2015, 2.15 pm (SW) Elgar at Marl Bank Bristol Music Club, St. Paul’s Road, Clifton Michael Trott
Mon 2 November 2015, 7.30 pm (L) Elgar’s orchestral songs Venue to be confirmed Terry Barfoot
Sat 7 November 2015, 2.30 pm (NW) World War One: Royal Northern College of Music the view from Wittenham Clumps Andrew Neill
Sat 14 November 2015, 1.30 pm (So) Branch AGM and The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, Havant Lively Wives and Lovers Martin and Jane Bird
Sat 14 November 2015, 2.00 pm (EM) Sources of inspiration Unitarian Chapel, Leicester Peter Walden
Sat 14 November 2015, 2.30 pm (WM) Piers Plowman : Elgar Birthplace Museum Elgar’s Bible? Peter Sutton
Sun 15 November 2015, 2.00 pm (Sc) Sir Malcolm Sargent : St Mark’s Unitarian Church, Elitist with the common touch? Castle Terrace, Edinburgh Andrew Keener
Sat 21 November 2015, 2.00 pm (Y) Powick Asylum Music The Bar Convent, Blossom Street, York Barry Collett
Sat 28 November 2015, 2.15 pm (SW) The Music Elgar heard The Bristol Music Club, Clifton Christopher Redwood
No. 56 – August 2015 63 Branch Events
Sat 5 December 2015, 2.30 pm (NW) Desert Island Discs Royal Northern College of Music Geoff Scargill Sat 5 December 2015, 2.30 pm (WM) Don’t mention the war Elgar Birthplace Museum Martin and Jane Bird Tue 8 December 2015, 7.30 pm (L) Starlight Express – Queen’s College, Harley Street, W1 a centenary celebration Kevin Mitchell Sun 13 December 2015, 2.00 pm (EM) Members’ choice Unitarian Chapel, Leicester of music
Delius Society
The Elgar Society has a reciprocal agreement with the Delius Society, whereby we offer each other’s members a reduced subscription of 50% for the first year of membership. Contact Membership Secretary Paul Chennell: [email protected] Details of Branch events can be found on the Delius Society website: www.delius.org.uk
Michael Kennedy Memorial Concert
On Monday 5 October at 7.30 pm, a memorial concert for Michael Kennedy will be held in the Concert Hall of the Royal Northern College of Music, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD, and will be conducted by Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. It will include a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music plus works by Elgar. Tickets, price £20 each, can be obtained from the RNCM Box Office from 29 July. Proceeds from the concert will go to a new Michael Kennedy Memorial Fund which will support RNCM students through bursaries and scholarships. RNCM Box Office telephone: 0161 907 5555.
64 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
This section is only as comprehensive as the data we are aware of. If you know of an event including a MAJOR Elgar work please send information to [email protected]. The period to be covered is from the 1st of the month of publication – August, December and April – to approximately 5 months ahead. We’d rather hear about an event twice than not at all! The Compilers Sat 1 August, 5.00 pm Martin–Luther–Gedächtniskirche, Berlin Sun 2 August, 6.00 pm Katholische Heilig–Kreuz–Kirche, Berlin Thu 6 August, 7.30 pm St Marienkirche, Pirna Sat 8 August, 5.00 pm Annenkirche, Annaberg–Buchholz Sospiri / Bach / Brahms / Gowers / Parry / Willan / Vierne / Whitlock / Bridge / Putt / Howells / Bovet Smith, Organ Sat 1 August, 7.30pm Bridgewater Hall, Manchester In the South / P & C No.1 / Rossini / Puccini / Leoncavallo / Coates / Rodgers / Stanford / Wood / Arne / Parry Dazeley / Hallé Orchestra / Bell Wed 5 August, 6.30 pm Royal Albert Hall, London Froissart / Walton / VW / Williams BBC NOW / Otaka Fri 7 August, 7.30 pm Sagbladfabrikk, Hamar Piano Quintet / Beethoven / Enescu Vertavo Quartet / Horton Fri 21 August, 6.30 pm Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago Sat 22 August, 7.30 pm Wall / Grove / Sorensen / Mulligan / The Kingdom Grant Park Orch & Chorus / Kalmar Sun 23 August, 3.00 pm Royal Grammar School, Worcester Sea Pictures / Venables / Lampard / Hemmerle Vaughan Williams / Gurney / Taylor / Finzi Sun 30 August, 8.00 pm Alte Oper, Großer Saal, Frankfurt Introduction and Allegro / Cello Concerto / Dvoák Krijgh / ASMF / Marriner Mon 31 August, 3.30 pm Southwell Minster Angel’s Farewell / Parry / Tomlinson / Walton Cook, Organ Fri 4 September, 8.00 pm Beethovenhalle, Bonn Symphony No. 1 / Beethoven / Schoenberg Staatskapelle Berlin / Barenboim Tue 8 September, 7.30 pm Royal Albert Hall, London Enigma Variations / Rimsky–Korsakov / Tchaikovsky St Petersburg PO / Temirkanov
No. 56 – August 2015 65 Dates for your Diary
Tue 8 September, 7.30 pm Symphony Hall, Birmingham Fri 11 September, 7.30 pm Royal Albert Hall, London Sun 13 September, 5.00 pm KKL Concert Hall, Lucerne Dream of Gerontius Koená / Spence / Williams / BBC Proms Youth Choir / Vienna Philharmonic / Rattle Fri 11 September, 7.30 pm Riviera Centre, Torquay Nimrod / P & C No.1 / Mozart / Sibelius / Ravel / Borodin / Handel / Walton / Sullivan / Vaughan Williams / Wood / Parry Bournemouth SO / Zielhorst Fri 11 September, 7.30 pm St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth Allegretto on GEDGE / Violin Sonata / Bliss / Parry / Holst Marshall–Luck / Rickard Sat 12 September 2015, 11.00 am St Mary & St Alkelda’s, Vesper Voluntaries / Camidge / Bairstow / Middleham Farrar / Walton / Dyson Honeybourne Sun 13 September, 6.00 pm St Thomas Episcopal Church, Houston Sea Pictures / Wagner Taylor / Potts Thu 17 Sep, 8.00 pm, Sat 19 Sep, 6.00 pm L’Auditorium de Lyon Enigma / Brahms / Mantovani Orch Nat de Lyon / Slatkin Sat 19 September, 7.00 pm Chicago Symphony Center In the South / Corigliano / Mussorgsky Chicago SO / Muti Mon 21 September, 8.00 pm Philharmonie, Berlin Tue 22 September, 8.00 pm Konzerthaus, Berlin Symphony No. 1 / Beethoven / Schoenberg Staatskapelle Berlin / Barenboim Fri 22 September, 7.30 pm St Martin–in–the–Fields, Trafalgar Square Serenade for Strings / Handel / Corelli / Bach / Peacock / Mozart / Pachelbel / Vivaldi Trafalgar Sinfonia / Setterfield Fri 25 September, 7.30 pm Barbican Hall, London The Music Makers / Prokofiev Guildhall School SO and Chorus Sat 26 September, 7.30 pm De Montfort Hall, Leicester Serenade in E minor / Dvoák / Bernstein / Haydn Leicester Symphony Orchestra / Andrews Sat 3 October, 7.30 pm De Montfort Hall, Leicester Gerontius Bardi Orchestra / Leicester Bach Choir / Efland
66 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
Sun 4 October, 4.00 pm Christ & Saint Stephen’s Church, New York Sea Pictures / Wagner Taylor (official CD launch)
Mon 5 October, 7.30 pm Royal Northern College of Music Elgar / Vaughan Williams Elder / Davis A memorial concert for Michael Kennedy See Page 64 for details Thu 8 October, 7.30 pm Birmingham Hippodrome Sat 10 October, 2.30 and 7.30 pm Fri 16 October, 7.30 pm Sadlers Wells, London Sat 17 October, 2.30 and 7.30 pm Fri 30 October, 7.30 pm Theatre Royal, Plymouth Sat 31 October, 2.30 and 7.30 pm Enigma Variations (with choreography by Frederick Ashton) Birmingham Royal Ballet Thu 29 October, 8.15 pm Schouwburg Ogterop, Meppel Fri 30 October, 8.15 pm Nieuwe Veste, Breda Sat 31 October, 8.15 pm Cunerakerk, Rhenen Sun 1 November, 11.30 am Staadsgehoorzaal, Leiden Mon 2 November, 8.15 pm Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Thu 5 November, 8.15 pm Muziekcentrum, Enschede Fri 6 November, 8.15 pm Cultura, Ede Sat 7 November, 8.00 pm Grote Kerk, Muiden Sun 8 November, 11.00 am and 8.15 pm De Doelen, Rotterdam Piano Quintet / Schubert Gvetadze / soloists of Amsterdam Sinfonietta Tue 3 November, 7.30 pm The Hexagon, Reading Carillon / Vaughan Williams / Ibert / Dvoák Callow / Flanders SO / Latham–Koenig Wed 4 November, 7.30 pm Cadogan Hall, Sloane Terrace, London Carillon / P & C 3 and 4 / Ibert / Blackford / Swerts Callow / Flanders SO / Latham–Koenig Thu 5 November, 8.30 pm Auditorio de Ferrol, El Ferrol Cello Concerto / Sibelius / Schubert Queyras / Galicia SO / Payare Fri 6 November, 8.00 pm Kleiner Saal, Hamburg Sospiri / Ferneyhough / Purcell / Handel / Birtwistle / Hämeenniemi Kumar / Bombay Jayashri / Ensemble Resonanz Fri 6 November, 8.00 pm Artrix, Bromsgrove Violin Sonata / Mozart / Glazunov / Matthews Stillman / Lane
No. 56 – August 2015 67 Dates for your Diary
Sat 7 November Herford Cathedral, Germany Sat 14 November Bad Kissingen, Germany King Olaf de Montmollin / Garulo / Horn / Herforder Munsterchor / Thüringen Philharmonie / Kagl
Wed 7 October, 7.30 pm Hereford Cathedral Introduction and Allegro / Sea Pictures (arr. Fraser) / Vaughan Williams / Sawyers Fredrick / English String Orchestra / Pre–Concert Talk at 6:30 pm Academia Musica Voices / Woods
Thu 8 October, 7.30 pm Malvern Theatres Froissart / Vioin Concerto / Brahms Sitkovetsky / Pre–concert talk at 6:30 PM English Symphony Orchestra / Woods
Fri 9 October, 7.30 pm Elgar Concert Hall, University of Birmingham Piano Quintet / Brahms Sitkovetsky / Waley–Cohen / Pre–concert talk at 6:45 Lansdown / Sharp / Hammond
Sat 10 October, 4:00 pm Elgar Concert Hall, University of Birmingham Fantasia and Fugue / Piano Quintet (arr. Fraser) / Mahler Madlala / English Symphony Orchestra / Woods Pre–Concert Talk at 3:15 pm
Sat October 31, 2015, 7:30pm Holy Innocents Church, Fallowfield Symphony No. 2 / Holbrooke / Vaughan Williams The Manchester Beethoven Orchestra / Lennon
Thu 12 November, 7.30 pm Lower Pulworthy, Hatherleigh, Devon Fri 13 November, 11.00 am Bridport Arts Centre Fri 13 November, 8.00 pm Ilminster Arts Centre Sat 14 November, 7.30 pm The Hub, Lyme Regis Violin Sonata / Beethoven / Brahms / Ravel Rosa / Lane
Thu 12 and Fri 13 November, 9.00 pm Sala São Paulo, Brazil Sat 14 November, 4.30 pm Symphony No. 1 / R. Strauss São Paulo SO / Wigglesworth
Fri 13 November, 8.00 pm Auditorio Edgar Neville, Málaga Cello Concerto / Schumann Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga / Portal
Sat 14 November, 7.30 pm Worcester Cathedral The Music Makers / Stanford Worcester Festival Chorus
68 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
Wed 25 November, 7.30 pm Lighthouse, Poole Thu 26 November, 7.30 pm Great Hall, Exeter Fri 27 November, 7.45 pm The Anvil, Basingstoke Symphony No. 2 / Beethoven Bournemouth SO / Sinaisky
Thu 26 November, 7.30 pm Town Hall, Cheltenham Enigma Variations / Glinka / Glazanov Benedetti / Oxford Philomusica / Papadopoulos
Fri 27 November, 7.30 pm St Martin–in–the–Fields, Trafalgar Square Serenade for Strings / Mozart / Saint–Saëns / Brahms / Bruckner Thames Chamber Orchestra / Marshall
Sat 5 December, 7.30 pm Oaklands School, Waterlooville, Hants Symphony No. 1 / Shostakovich / Ravel / R Strauss Havant SO / Butcher
Fri 11 December, 8.00 pm Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto Serenade for Strings / Panufnik / Beethoven Lelek / Sinfonia Toronto / Nurhan Arman
Thu 14 January 2016, 12.15 pm Stockholm Concert Hall Organ Sonata / Hollins / Bach / Bingham Hammarström
Fri 15 January 2016, 6.00 pm St Giles, Cripplegate, London Te Deum / 4 Choral Songs / Go Song of Mine / Benedictus / Organ Sonata (Presto) Disley / BBC Singers / Brough
Fri 15 January 2016, 7.30 pm Barbican, London Symphony No. 2 / Butterworth / Clyne BBCSO / Oramo
Sun 17 January 2016, 7.00 pm Barbican, London Cello Concerto / Tchaikovsky / Dvoák Weilerstein / LSO / Heras–Casado
Sat 30 January 2016, 8.15 pm Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Enigma Variations / Delius / Grieg Nederlands PO / Young
No. 56 – August 2015 69 An Elgarian Crossword
No 20, set by PIETRO
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9
10 11
12 13
14 15 16 17
18
19 20
21
22 23 24 25
26 27
28 29
Six of the clues lead to a group of distinguished 25s, and are not further defined. Across 1 Composer needs support of a naval vessel. (6) 4 Sticky London clay – a dead loss. (8) 10 The Kingdom’s first held in dreadful awe after pussy is heard to get the bird. (9) 11 Make Enigma – keen, I drop out and pasty stuff results. (5) 12 Sorely troubled, E. needs a cup of tea. (4,3) 13 Honourable setting for God’s work. (7) 14 Show deference to In the South, a top composition. (3,4,3) 17 Composer starts to have a heavy night. (4) 19 See 28. 20 Dips Weber’s work in sticky situations. (6,4) 22 Jollier substituting female for male. (7) 23 A way to calculate how Elgar struggled with a bassoon entry. (7) 26,9 ‘Canto’ played in dire fashion – it means nothing to me. (1,4,4) 27 Seasonal gift for weary St George – nothing left out, but take half each first. (6,3) 28,19 Work on my aria, a Rossetti setting. (2,4,2,4) 29 Criticize endless Alassio trip. (6)
70 Elgar Society News An Elgarian Crossword
Down 1 Breakdance. (5) 2 Bids to perform ‘It isnae me’ – i.e. I’m somehow excluded. (5) 3 Island country welcomes The Crown of India – but it’s not an island. (8) 5 Eavesdropped on Drover Hugh’s first mistake – a half–easy entry. (9) 6 Wanderers nod off – meanwhile a Dvoák symphony starts. (6) 7 Lay down the law at Giselle rehearsal. (9) 8 Wishes to sing Arne composition after the end of Rosemary. (9) 9 See 26. 14 Swelling terribly in my gut, Elgar’s Falstaff leads off. (9) 15 To rue Op.1, ‘Sun Dance’, is beggarly. (9) 16 Comic–book character Orpheus managed to grab ‘er. (9) 18 Advance program notes – ‘am not excluded,’ soprano concludes. (8) 21 Stamp about. (6) 23 Internet connection mangles ‘Sad Doll’s’ ending. (4) 24 Amber fluid. (5) 25 Strange lady keeps a guardian. (5)
Solution to the April 2015 Crossword (No. 19)
T O F F S P L A S G W Y N H R T R F U S M E L O P E M E N T T I A R A
S I R C E R Y N
A B S E N C E R O O K E R Y
N S E D T A
G E A R S H I F T I P O D
U R T N O C E U
I O T A G O L F L I N K S
N P E A A T
E X C E R P T R U R A L L Y
F A E A A I T M
A U N T S B O N O N C I N I
N T T L C E E L
P O P O L A R E T A S T E
No. 56 – August 2015 71 FOUNDED 1951 Registered as a Charity No 298062
President : Julian Lloyd Webber F.R.C.M. Chairman : Steven Halls
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION : Single membership: UK and Europe: £35.00; outside Europe : £36.00; Joint membership: UK and Europe: £40.00; outside Europe : £41.00; Student membership: UK and Europe: £16.00; outside Europe : £17.00. Renewable on 1 January each year. Joint membership is available for two persons residing at the same address and sharing a single copy of the Journal and News. Renewals, and applications for membership should be sent to the Hon.Membership Secretary at the address below. A surcharge of £4.00 is applied to payments not remitted in sterling, to cover exchange commssion and conversion loss. Payments may be made by Visa, Maestro or Mastercard, quoting the type of card, its number, three–digit card security number and expiry date, the amount to be paid and the name on the card if different from the member’s name. Those paying by credit card may do so by telephone, or by e–mail using the on–line membership application, renewal, Gift Aid and Standing Order forms which can be found on the Society website at http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/membership. They are also available from the Hon. Membership Secretary. CHAIRMAN : Steven Halls, 28 Nottingham Road, Bingham, Notts NG13 8AT Tel: 07900 162170; e–mail: [email protected] VICE–CHAIRMAN : Stuart Freed, 6 Carriage Close, St John's, Worcester WR2 6AE Tel: 01905 339371; e–mail: [email protected] HON.SECRETARY : Helen Petchey, 12 Monkhams Drive, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 0LQ Tel: 020 8504 0295; e–mail: [email protected] HON.TREASURER : Helen Whittaker, Long Lea, 9 Green Fall, Poringland, Norwich, NR14 7SP Tel: 01508 494591; e–mail: [email protected] HON.MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY : David Young, The Rectory, Lydeard St Lawrence, Taunton TA4 3SF Tel: 01984 667735; e–mail: [email protected] BRANCHES AND BRANCH SECRETARIES
EAST ANGLIAN (Bury St Edmunds) Robin Self, ‘Sospiri’, 27 Coucy Close, Framlingham, Suffolk IP13 9AX Tel: 01728 621 577; e–mail: [email protected] EAST MIDLANDS (Leicester) Ken Smith, 34, Chaucer Road, Narborough, Leicester, LE19 3EH Tel: 0116–286–5300; e–mail: [email protected] LONDON (Marylebone) Ruth Hellen, 30 King James Avenue, Cuffley, Herts EN6 4LR Tel: 01707 876079; e–mail: [email protected] NORTH AMERICAN Lee Kaufman, 8921 Moydalgan Rd., St. Louis, MO 63124 Tel: 314–991–4816; e–mail: [email protected] NORTH–WEST (Manchester) Pat Hurst, 60 Homewood Road, Northenden, Manchester, M22 4DW Tel: 0161 998 4404; e–mail: [email protected] SCOTTISH (Edinburgh) James Carter, Apartment No. 5, Stewart House, The Maltings, 161 Slateford Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1PB. Tel: 0131–443–9201, e–mail: [email protected] SOUTHERN (Southampton / Portsmouth) Wendy Wiseman, 3, Broomhill Cottages, East End, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 5S Tel: 01590 626516; e–mail: [email protected] SOUTH WESTERN (Bristol / Cardiff / Exeter) Michael Butterfield, 14 Southdown Road, Westbury on Trym, Bristol, BS9 3NL Tel: 0117–909–2503; e–mail: [email protected] WEST MIDLANDS (Worcester) Richard Smith, 24 Crown Lea Avenue, Malvern, Worcs, WR14 2DP Tel: 01684 438358; e–mail: [email protected] YORKSHIRE & NORTH EAST (York) Rev. Marc Seccombe, 39 Marlborough Road, Town Moor, Doncaster DN2 5DF Tel: 01302 321505; e–mail: yorkshire–[email protected] EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL : Martin Bird, 18 Holtsmere Close, Watford, Herts, WD25 9NG e–mail: [email protected] COMPILERS OF THE NEWS : Richard Smith, 24 Crown Lea Avenue, Malvern, Worcs, WR14 2DP Tel: 01684 438358 e–mail: [email protected] Ernie Kay, 76 Graham Road, Malvern, Worcs, WR14 2HU Tel: 01684 567917; e–mail: [email protected] Peter James, Orchard Cottage, The Street, Walberton,W. Sussex, BN18 0PQ Tel: 07817 654807; e–mail: [email protected] SOCIETY WEBSITE : http://www.elgar.org SOCIETY E–MAIL ADDRESS : [email protected]