News
In this issue ...
Page Page Address for Communications 2 The Firs – One Year On 27 Keep in touch 2 Elgar Works 29 Letter from the Chairman 2 1,000 Miles up the Amazon 33 From the Editor 5 The Apostles in Zûrich 35 Tributes to Donald Hunt 6 Richard Lewis’s Gerontius 37 2019 Annual General Meeting Obituaries 39 and Nominations for Council 14 Letters to the Editor 43 Elgar Society Medal presented to St. Wulstan’s Christmas Card 44 Alexander Walker 16 Branch Reports 46 Elgar Day at the Three Choirs 20 Branch Events 58 Membership Matters 24 Dates for your Diary 62 Delius Society 25 Crossword 70
No. 66 – December 2018 Address for Communications
Contributions for the April 2019 edition of the Elgar Society News should be e–mailed, preferably as Word documents, to the Editor:
Peter James: [email protected]
Full contact details can be found on the back cover. The latest date for submissions for the April 2019 issue is 25 February 2019.
Keep in Touch
Remember: you can keep up to date with the latest Elgarian news online at
Facebook: www.facebook.com
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London Branch Account: https://twitter.com/ElgarLondon
YouTube: www.youtube.com
or, search for ‘Elgar’ or ‘Elgar Society’ or ‘Elgar Birthplace’.
Letter from the Chairman
Dear Friends,
It has been a contemplative time since the last edition of the News, not least because of the deaths of two fine friends of the Society and tremendous Elgar enthusiasts. Donald Hunt, of course, received national recognition for his lifetime in music, and he is praised elsewhere on these pages in fitting fashion by those who knew him better than I did. He and I had, however, invariably cheery conversations when we met and I was always struck by his enthusiasm and erudition (he was a fine editor for the Elgar Complete Edition), both of which qualities
2 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman he brought to his performances. I always enjoyed his musical contributions to the Birthday weekend and particularly treasure his concert/dedication service in St George’s Church, performing works Elgar composed for that place and dedicating the commemorative plaque there. In a much more self–effacing way, Paul Bassett, who died in September following a long illness, was a tremendous asset to the Society. He served on Council for many years and took up the challenge of founding and chairing the Scottish Branch for almost twenty years. Kindly, courteous and devoted to the Branch almost to a fault, Paul would welcome me when I spoke annually to the Scottish Branch amid Edinburgh’s January magnificence, and my times there were some of the happiest of my Chairmanship. I was privileged on 14 October to take part in a Scottish Branch meeting devoted to honouring Paul. A delayed train made me miss the fine violin and piano recital that made up the first half, but we were then treated to an outstanding presentation by Tom Kelly, the present Branch Chairman. He found the words, pictures and music to evoke Paul’s enthusiasm, kindness, persistence and love of Elgar, all of which made up his great contribution to the Society and the other varied causes he espoused. It was a privilege to be there and that visit meant I had to ask one of our Vice–Presidents, Andrew Neill, to take my place in presenting Alexander Walker at the Cadogan Hall in London with the Society’s medal for his championing of Elgar’s works (often premières in the concert venues) in Poland, Belarus, Russia, Finland, Moldova and Romania. I thank Andrew for so kindly finding the time to do so. The soloist in the Elgar Violin Concerto was Alda Dizdari, who gained much publicity in launching prior to the concert her book Kiss Me Again: A Memoir of Elgar in Unusual Places. I read it on my Scottish trip and a review will appear in the Journal ere long. The release of a SOMM recording closes another chapter in the Elgar Society’s story. In my talk to June’s AGM, I anticipated the release of SOMM’s double CD that featured Elgar’s songs for orchestra (Kathryn Rudge, Henk Neven, the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth) and Elgar’s songs for soprano and piano with the soprano Nathalie de Montmollin accompanied by Barry Collett. Both CDs (reviewed in the current Journal) feature
No. 66 – December 2018 3 Letter from the Chairman
first recordings and mark the last of the recording programme agreed years ago when I demonstrated gaps in the discography. We have worked with a number of record companies and artists, but our relationship with Siva Oke’s SOMM Recordings has consistently found ways to record and release works lost for some time or never previously recorded. Barry Collett, of course, has been in the vanguard of bringing unknown Elgar to the general public, so it is fitting that his CD marks the end of his recording career as an executant, leaving a fine legacy that so richly deserved his Society medal some years back. He also steps back from his involvement with Elgar in Performance after many years’ service, and I thank him for his patient (and sometimes otherwise!) advice to the rest of us on the EiP group, whose number Peter Newble is joining, I am pleased to say. In this spirit of valediction to Barry and to the fine recordings we have issued, it is fitting to add my own news, which is that I shall not be standing for Chairmanship of the Society at the next AGM, and a notice advertising for my successor is elsewhere in this edition. The simple reason for this is that I believe I have accomplished everything I wanted to achieve for the Society and it is time to hand over to somebody else to take the Society further forward. With the stability engendered across nearly all aspects of the Society, and with so many good people in place, this is the appropriate time to hand over the reins to a new pair of hands. I hope I shall also be permitted to remain part of EiP, although I shall not be serving on Council, in order to give my successor space to develop her or his ideas. I shall continue to chair the Elgar Complete Edition and am always available to help Meinhard Saremba with the Journal when he asks. With best wishes to you all
4 Elgar Society News From the Editor
This edition of the News is dominated by tributes to that distinguished Elgarian Donald Hunt, who sadly died in August at the age of 88. Among the contributors, Dr Simon Lindley’s name will be especially familiar to Yorkshire members. He was Donald’s successor as Organist at Leeds Parish Church (now Leeds Minster), worked with him in the Halifax Choral Society in the 1970s and 80s, and has remained a friend of the Hunt family. If you read the News from the front working towards the back, you will already have learned that our Chairman, Steven Halls, is to resign at the AGM next year. The formal invitation to submit nominations for his successor is on page 14 – and so too is the request for nominations for Helen Whittaker’s successor as Hon. Treasurer. As if that weren’t enough change, our Hon. Membership Secretary, David Young, also announces his departure on page 24. There is no formal process to appoint his successor, as the Membership Secretary is not a member of Council – a suitable volunteer just needs to step forward. Our thanks and best wishes go to all three. Apologies are in order for the fact that August’s edition of the News appeared with black and white photos. Our printers held up their hands and confessed to human error, assuring us that full colour is to be restored from now on. Following Pietro’s appeal in the August News for help with the crossword, I’m delighted to welcome two new compilers. Jolly Swagman’s first puzzle can be found in this issue, while Nebuchadnezzar will be making his debut in April. Finally, it’s well known that Elgar pretended to be ignorant on matters of musical theory. In Elgar as I Knew Him, W.H. Reed relates how when he approached Elgar for lessons in harmony and counterpoint the reaction was, ‘My dear boy, I don’t know anything about those things’. Whatever we may think of Elgar’s affectation, getting to grips with music’s technical jargon can certainly be a challenge. Now an academic has recognised the difficulty. Professor Matthew Bribitzer–Stull of the University of Minnesota, writing in the programme booklet for Covent Garden’s Ring cycle this autumn, has come up with a succinct phrase to describe an interval – ‘a unit of sonic space’. No doubt Elgar would have been grateful for the elucidation. Peter James
No. 66 – December 2018 5 Tributes to Donald Hunt
Elgarian, Conductor, Choirmaster, Composer, Consummate Musician Dr Donald Hunt wore many hats and, as an extraordinarily accomplished all–round musician, achieved an immense amount during the course of a long and fulfilling career. Many of his choral performances were committed to LP and CD, though it’s a real sadness that he was overlooked by recording companies in terms of orchestral endeavour. It is generally accepted that he was one of the very last articled pupils under the traditional system by which cathedral organists emerged from a period of apprenticeship as fully–fledged musicians in their early or mid–20s having often begun cathedral work as a teenager. Few, though, achieved an Assistant Organistship at the age of 17 as did Donald. His mentor, like Donald himself a supremely gifted all–round musical personality, was the legendary Dr Herbert Sumsion, chorister and Assistant to his predecessor, Sir Herbert Brewer. Through Sumsion, it is no exaggeration to say that Donald was one of the last direct links to Elgar himself. Very few musicians were possessed of his innate sense of the Elgarian style, nor of the technical and intellectual accomplishments required to make the most of it. Above all, perhaps, was Dr Hunt’s absolute and complete insistence on the faithful observation of Elgar’s musical markings by the choirs, soloists and orchestras with whom he worked so very effectually for so long. ‘It’s all in the copy,’ he would say (repeatedly!). The Elgarian ‘lift’ of syllables marked in the same manner as a staccato received very particular attention from him. From his native Gloucester, he moved first to St John’s Torquay and then to Leeds, serving the city’s Parish Church with immense distinction from 1957 for eighteen years, reviving the long since gone post of City Organist and also holding choral conducting positions with the Halifax Choral Society (1957–1988), Leeds Festival Chorus and Leeds Philharmonic Society; he succeeded his Leeds precursor, Dr Melville Cook, in the Halifax post, and Herbert Bardgett in his appointments to both the celebrated Leeds choral societies. He supervised major restorations of the LPC and Town Hall organs and that of Worcester in the mid–70s, inviting Langlais,
6 Elgar Society News Tributes to Donald Hunt no less, to give the opening concert. At Leeds Town Hall a similar role was allotted to Flor Peeters. His productive artistic relationships with leading European musicians also included Pierre Villette, who came to Worcester to hear his music. Donald’s own compositions were exquisitely crafted, if not always that easy to perform. The beautiful Quam dilecta for unaccompanied choir takes some beating. There’s a chance in January on Choral Evensong on Radio 3 to hear the Choir of Ely Cathedral under their director Paul Trepte, perhaps Dr Hunt’s most celebrated Leeds student, broadcast the Second Service of the evening canticles, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis – one of two significant works from the Boosey and Hawkes imprint. The move to Worcester Cathedral and the Three Choirs came in 1975 and found him adept and imaginative as a festival director and organiser. He possessed administrative gifts rarely found to such an extent in professional musicians, as well as an easy warmth when he and his wife Jo acted as generous hosts at many social occasions. The move to Worcester Cathedral and the Three Choirs came in 1975 and found him adept and imaginative as a festival director and organiser. He possessed administrative gifts rarely found to such an extent in professional musicians, as well as an easy warmth when he and wife Jo acted as generous hosts at many social occasions. He demanded, and got, high standards from his singers and the clarity and expression of his conducting were remarkable. He sustained close and productive personal and professional partnerships with his colleagues at Gloucester, Dr John Sanders, and at Hereford, Dr Roy Massey.
Retiring, somewhat reluctantly, from the Cathedral in 1996, Donald remained busy locally and nationally as well as making a number of highly successful trips abroad as a guest conductor, perhaps most notably in South Africa. He became Principal of the Elgar School of Music and was integral to the Elgar 150th anniversary event at Worcester in 2007. In his mid to late 80s, he produced two notable anthologies – firstly in the Elgar Complete Edition, the substantial tome comprising all
No. 66 – December 2018 7 Tributes to Donald Hunt
of the part–songs, and more recently for the London firm of Cramer, a collection of Elgar’s church music including music written for the great composer’s ‘home’ choir at St George’s Catholic Church in Worcester. He was immensely proud of the achievements of his and Jo’s four offspring – Jacqueline, Tom, Nick and Jane, and of their grandchildren and great–grandchildren. He followed sport enthusiastically, particularly so in respect of Leeds United and Worcester County Cricket. He will be much missed by family, friends and colleagues, and particularly, of course, by what might be referred to as the Elgar Community. We have all lost a friend as well as a mighty musician. Simon Lindley
Donald Hunt at an event at Greyfriars in Worcester given by the Elgar Chorale, which he founded.
8 Elgar Society News Tributes to Donald Hunt
When chairing the Annual General Meetings of this Society the attendance of a Vice–President was always welcome. Frequently, shortly after the meeting had begun, Donald Hunt would slip quietly into the back of the hall and sit attentively before enjoying chatting to old and new friends after the meeting had concluded. Although I lived in Yorkshire when Donald was active in Leeds he did not really cross my ken until he moved to Worcester and filled, so successfully, the large shoes of Christopher Robinson.
Donald’s first appearance at a Three Choirs event (Gloucester) was in 1950 when he was only twenty. He was then Assistant Organist to his mentor, Herbert Sumsion. Donald’s first Three Choirs Festival as Organist and Master of the Choristers was in 1975 in Worcester, his new home. I recall, in particular, a special performance of The Dream of Gerontius and, later, Donald showed his affinity with French music in a performance of Messiaen’s Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine, the first time I heard the Ondes Martinot live. In 1978 the Festival, which I again attended in full, ended with Donald conducting Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.
In 1976 RCA produced a boxed set of two LPs containing Elgar’s ‘The Complete Organ Music’. This was played on Worcester’s cathedral organ with Christopher Robinson playing Cantique, the two sonatas and Hugh Blair’s arrangement of Carillon. The remaining music was played by Donald and this really made its mark. I was particularly struck by Herbert Brewer’s arrangement of The Kingdom Prelude, and the Prelude to For the Fallen arranged by Harvey Grace. Donald’s graceful management of what is in effect a summary of the whole work demonstrates what a magnificent organist he was. In addition there were Brewer’s arrangement of the Prelude and ‘Angel’s Farewell’ from The Dream of Gerontius, George Clement Martin’s version of the Imperial March and Donald’s fine performance of the Vesper Voluntaries. For me, Donald had arrived not only in Worcester but more widely as a leading British musician. Before writing this I also took the opportunity to listen, once more, to the broadcast of the Coronation Ode from the 1990 Three Choirs Festival. Here Donald directed a wonderful, balanced and, at times, serene performance which, with its varied movements, can be a challenge to bring off without either appearing to hold back or by seeming ‘over the top’.
No. 66 – December 2018 9 Tributes to Donald Hunt
It is for others to provide a detailed tribute to Donald for his contribution to music making in Worcester and his influence on others in the region. However, we should not forget the formation of the Elgar School of Music, his support for the Birthplace and his involvement in the Elgar Complete Edition. He was a great supporter of this Society and a distinguished Vice–President for many years. I end these memories by recalling one of the most extraordinary days I have ever experienced. This was when Donald conducted The Apostles and The Kingdom in Worcester Cathedral on the afternoon and evening of a very hot 25 August 1984. Nine years earlier, in 1975, the Marchioness of Aberdeen had conducted both works over a weekend, and Philomusica under the late James Cowley performed them in Tewkesbury two years later on 27 May. As far as I know this was the only time the two works have been performed in Worcester in a single day. This unforgettable day will be remembered by one member of the chorus who whispered to me, as we left the Cathedral, ‘Never again’!
Britain is a London–centric nation and, as Elgar found out, it was necessary for him to try and find his way in the capital. For Donald things and the time were different. He managed to make a name as a distinguished musician in centres away from London. He brought his brand of rigour, new ideas and originality to the music of Worcester and, more widely, to the Three Choirs community. Elgarians, in particular, have every right to feel blessed by his willingness to conduct much (if not all) of Elgar’s choral music and his commitment to making music in Worcester and its neighbouring towns and counties. Donald will not be forgotten. Andrew Neill
When I was first appointed as Secretary of the Elgar Society (in 1996 – and I was Wendy Hillary then) someone said to me, as I was planning the first programme of events for the Birthday Weekend, ‘Ask Donald Hunt; he’ll do anything for Elgar.’ And so it was. He was a lovely man to talk to about music, always helpful and keen to be ‘of service’. We will miss him deeply. Wendy Hill
10 Elgar Society News Tributes to Donald Hunt
Some Enchanted Mornings – Donald Hunt at the Elgar Birthplace Museum With the death of Donald Hunt, Elgar’s Birthplace has lost one of the greatest supporters it ever had. Many of us have enjoyed concerts conducted by Donald in Worcester Cathedral and elsewhere. What not everybody will realise is that these often resulted in a sizeable cheque being delivered to the Birthplace. He was generous in sharing his experience and knowledge of Elgar’s music with all of the staff at the Birthplace, and he was ever willing to gather his friends and colleagues together to give fund–raising concerts, recitals and shows at the Birthplace. In 2011 he had an idea to expand things in that direction. Early in that year Donald came to see Cathy Sloan and myself with the idea of staging a series of musical talks at the Birthplace. Cathy and I were thrilled that so eminent a musical personality would be willing to put on a whole series of talks, especially as we were then still struggling to compile the Museum’s events list for the year; and if it did mean a few late Friday evening finishes, it would be worth it. But no, Donald wasn’t proposing the usual evening event, but an informal mid–morning coffee–time event. As such, he would be talking on a wide range of musical topics which would hopefully attract an audience of not necessarily musicians, but of people who just loved listening to music – and music of all sorts. Donald was true to his word and, as the first series progressed, word spread about how enjoyable these talks were and what a lovely atmosphere he generated. Audiences started to grow and Tuesday mornings at the Elgar Birthplace Museum became a regular event on people’s calendars. Over the next six years we were treated to Donald’s thoughts on a vast array of musical topics. The music of the Severn Valley was always going to feature heavily and there were talks on the Worcester Three Choirs Festivals, the music and poetry of Bredon Hill, the music of Gloucestershire, the life and music of Vaughan Williams, and talks on various aspects of Elgar’s life and music. And we were treated to Donald’s thoughts on Nielsen, Mendelssohn, Mahler and Mozart. There was French music, Easter music, Christmas music and music in times of remembrance. And his love of twentieth–century American composers came through
No. 66 – December 2018 11 Tributes to Donald Hunt
with talks on Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers, among others. About 50 talks in total. Donald also brought in several guest speakers, great specialists in their own fields, so we enjoyed Tony Dyson on Frederick Ashton and The Sanguine Fan, Roberta Morrell on Gilbert & Sullivan, Barry Smith on Warlock, and many more.
Chris Bennett (left) in discussion with Donald prior to one of his many illustrated lectures given at the Elgar Birthplace. However his greatest co–star was his wife Jo, who came to every presentation loaded with biscuits and cakes for the interval refreshments, and whose friendly chats with the visitors added even more to the warmth of the occasion and ensured that everyone would return for the next talk. Our thoughts are with Jo and her family at this sad time. Donald knew his own mind and wasn’t afraid of speaking it, resulting in the occasional communal sharp intake of breath from the audience, but he spoke from the heart about his great passion. And he never accepted a fee, raising many, many thousands of pounds for the Birthplace over the years. Most of the talks included tales of his own experiences of performing and conducting and it became clear that this was an extremely popular feature. He reluctantly
12 Elgar Society News Tributes to Donald Hunt agreed to give a whole talk devoted to his own life in music, and the music lovers of Worcestershire (and beyond) demonstrated their love and affection for him by making this the best attended of all of the talks and presentations he gave. These were some enchanted mornings indeed. Chris Bennett and Cathy Sloan I only got to know Donald towards the end of his life although of course I knew of his music and his reputation as one of the great Elgarians. Latterly, I worked with him on one or two of his projects and was amazed at his ability to conjure up not only the arrangements for great musical events but also the funding for them. For example, when the Bishop of Birmingham dedicated the Elgar Society plaque for installation at St George’s Church in Worcester, Donald arranged a wonderful choral event to complement the occasion. The last time we saw him was at the dedication Mass for the refurbished organ at St Wulstan’s Church in Malvern, where Elgar is buried. He played the instrument with his usual flair, but we all thought that he was showing signs of the illness which eventually took him from us. Richard Smith
Donald with some of St Wulstan’s choir on 21 January 2018. [Photos: Joan Roche]
No. 66 – December 2018 13 Tributes to Donald Hunt
Evensong – In Memoriam Donald Hunt
The regular Evensong at Gloucester Cathedral on 16 September 2018 was in memoriam of Donald Hunt. As Simon Lindley writes above, Donald was a chorister at the Cathedral and served as Assistant Organist to Herbert Sumsion before becoming Organist and Choirmaster at Leeds Parish Church. In typical fashion, Donald had chosen the music to be played at the service which included works by Sumsion and Herbert Howells in addition to settings of his own.
This event will be followed, on 19 January 2019, by a major Thanksgiving Service for Donald at Worcester Cathedral. He was Organist, Choirmaster and Director of Music at Worcester between 1975 and 1996 and introduced several new pieces to the Three Choirs Festival. The Thanksgiving Service will include works by Elgar, and a number of distinguished speakers will pay tributes. Richard Smith
Donald Frederick Hunt OBE, 26 July 1930 – 4 August 2018
2019 AGM and Nominations for Council
Date of AGM 2019 The date agreed for the AGM next year is Sunday 2 June 2019 in Worcester Cathedral at 2pm. Evensong at 4pm will be followed by the laying of the chaplet at the Elgar Memorial. Further details will be given in the April News. Nominations for Council Officers and Members of Council Officers You will see from the Chairman’s Letter that Steven Halls has given notice that he will not be standing as Chairman at the AGM. Also, we are still seeking nominations for the post of Hon. Treasurer following Helen Whittaker’s indication that she wished to step down during this year. Both Stuart Freed and George Smart are willing to be nominated for the posts they currently hold.
14 Elgar Society News 2019 AGM and Nominations for Council
So, given that nominations are required annually for the Officers of the Council, we need nominations for the following Officer posts:
Chairman Vice Chairman Hon. Treasurer Hon. Secretary
Council Members
Since the 2018 AGM, one member, Elizabeth Luder, has come forward to fill the one vacancy on Council indicated at the 2018 AGM, and she was co–opted by Council on 29 September 2018. A formal nomination will be required for the 2019 AGM to confirm her membership.
Additionally, one vacancy will also arise at the 2019 AGM by virtue of Jon Goldswain’s decision not to seek a second term.
Nominations
Nominations from members of the Society for candidates for the Officer posts (annual appointments) or to be members of the Council (to serve until the AGM in 2023) should be made in writing. Nomination papers for both Officers and Council members can be obtained from the Honorary Secretary at [email protected]. The form should be signed by a proposer and seconder, who must be members of the Society, as well as by the candidate, signifying willingness to stand. Completed forms must be received by the Honorary Secretary by 20 February 2019. Should the number of valid nominations for Council exceed the number of vacancies, a postal ballot of the members of the Society would be held. Ballot papers would need to be distributed to members with the April Journal. George Smart
No. 66 – December 2018 15 Elgar Society Medal Presented to Alexander Walker
After its decision to award the Elgar Society medal to Alexander Walker, it proved quite difficult for the Society to find a suitable opportunity to present him with it: like many conductors, he spends a lot of time on the road. In Alexander’s case that is very often in places in eastern Europe, where he has been an enthusiastic promoter of Elgar’s music. However on 14 October 2018 he was in London, conducting an excellent concert at the Cadogan Hall with the Southbank Sinfonia. This was a very suitable opportunity. In the first half of the concert Alda Dizdari played the Violin Concerto. Alda is from Albania. She has been playing the concerto since 2015, premiering it in Albania and Romania. She has really ‘got under the skin’ of the music and played it with both passion and verve. She has written Kiss Me Again, a memoir of playing Elgar in unusual places, which was launched at the concert and which many members will want to read.1 The second half was Dvoák’s Eighth Symphony (Op.88). This attractive and folk–based music was beautifully played by the Sinfonia: starring parts for the woodwind and brass and a strong, clear sound from the strings. The work is quite a contrast to the Violin Concerto and for that reason made up a good programme; but as Andrew Neill pointed out at the beginning of the presentation, there was a clear link between Elgar and Dvoák. In 1884, at the Three Choirs Festival at Worcester, Dvoák conducted his Sixth Symphony and his Stabat Mater, with Elgar in the first violins. Perhaps among the talented performers making up the Sinfonia, there is an Elgar for the 21st century! The citation for the medal, which was read, was as follows: Alexander Walker has given numerous performances of Elgar’s music at home and abroad since 1998. His performances of a wide variety of Elgar’s works – often premières in the concert venues – in Poland, Belarus, Russia, Finland, Moldova and Romania have been exemplary. Furthermore, his extending of the Elgarian repertoire of choral societies in the UK is also notable. 1 Available from Amazon. 16 Elgar Society News Elgar Society Medal Presentation
The Elgar Society is delighted to award Alexander Walker the Elgar Society medal, its highest honour. It is awarded to mark at least a decade of significant achievement in supporting and promoting the music of Elgar. Originally given only to those from abroad, in 2010 the criteria were broadened, and the first British recipient was Michael Kennedy, the distinguished writer and champion of both Elgar and the Hallé. Alexander joins Sir Mark Elder, Sir Andrew Davis and Daniel Barenboim among conductors who have been previous recipients of the medal as well as composer Anthony Payne and, of course, Michael Kennedy. The Elgar Society salutes Alexander Walker and thanks him for his addition to the richness of the Elgar legacy. Alexander Walker’s interesting reflections were as follows: I am very grateful to the Elgar Society for awarding me the Elgar Society medal and it is a great honour to receive it. I feel I am being indulged by being given an award for pursuing an activity which is so rewarding in itself. One of the characteristics that Dvorák and Elgar share is that they were both composers with an extremely big heart. Whenever I have had the opportunity of introducing the music of Elgar to orchestras and audiences who are unfamiliar with it, I always feel that the warmth of the music of Elgar makes my job easy in finding a common language and communicating with both players and audiences. Elgar is of course one of the great orchestrators, but his orchestration always serves an expressive purpose and his string writing in particular (like Dvorák’s) always seems a gift to players and he uses string instruments just like the human voice, with an incredible understanding of the emotional quality of a line being played in a particular register on a particular string.2 Many of the orchestras I work with in Central and Eastern
2 In 1884 Elgar wrote to Charles Buck: I wish you could hear Dvorák’s music. It is simply ravishing, so tuneful & clever & the orchestration is wonderful; no matter how few instruments he uses, it never sounds thin. I cannot describe it; it must be heard. – Ed. No. 66 – December 2018 17 Elgar Society Medal Presentation
Europe focus on a narrower Romantic repertoire than orchestras in the UK, and have maintained what might sound to us a much more ‘old–fashioned’ sound very reminiscent of the orchestras of Elgar’s time. There is, therefore, often a sense of feeling that the music is ‘coming home’ with these performances. Elgar of course felt himself to be a composer with his roots in the European tradition of Schumann, Wagner and Brahms, so it is particularly gratifying for the music to be taken so much to the hearts of these musicians when they come into contact with it. Perhaps it echoes the way the First Symphony achieved so much popularity in the year following its first performance. And for me, there was a real sense of fulfilment being able to perform the Violin Concerto on this special occasion in London with an orchestra of young musicians who approach the music with a real sense of discovery. Thank you once again. Report by Philip Petchey
Andrew Neill (right) delivering the medal citation for Alexander Walker.
18 Elgar Society News Elgar Society Medal Presentation
Alexander Walker accepts the Elgar Society Medal |Photographs: Dylan Woolf]
No. 66 – December 2018 19 Elgar Day at the Three Choirs
It has been the pleasure of the Elgar Society for many years to organise a lecture and lunch at the Three Choirs Festival. The West Midlands Branch of the Society is responsible for the meetings in Worcester and Hereford which come within their bailiwick. This year the Festival was held at Hereford and our speaker at the lecture was the organist Roger Judd who spoke on ‘One man and his dog – Elgar and George Robertson Sinclair’. Roger studied the organ with Sir David Willcocks at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was Master of the Music at St Michael’s College, Tenbury, until 1985 when he took up the post of Assistant Organist at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. In this capacity he was the organist for several royal occasions. In his illustrated lecture Roger bemoaned the fact that there are no diaries and little correspondence available to chart the life of ‘G.R.S.’ who is perhaps best known as the eleventh ‘Enigma’ variation. Sinclair served as organist at Truro Cathedral and, from 1889, Hereford, where he remained for the rest of his life. Between 1891 and 1912 he conducted eight Hereford Three Choirs Festivals with conspicuous success. He also raised the money to rebuild the Cathedral organ. He was the only person to whom Elgar dedicated three works: Te Deum and Benedictus (1897), A Christmas Greeting and Pomp and Circumstance No.4 (1907).
G.R.S. and Dan
20 Elgar Society News Elgar Day at the Three Choirs
We learnt that Sinclair was a very private person who, like Elgar, had a great love of animals. His favourite was of course Dan, his Victorian bulldog, who was his constant companion, even sharing the rostrum when G.R.S. was conducting. It is Dan’s falling into the River Wye which is depicted in the variation. When Elgar visited Sinclair, he was careful to make an entry in the latter’s visitor’s book which he entitled ‘The moods of Dan Illustrated’. Elgar’s entries, which were always prefaced with such titles as ‘He sleeps, He capers and He muses (on the muzzling order)’, were accompanied by a few bars of music, including the beginning of In the South and the ‘prayer’ theme in The Dream of Gerontius. All present congratulated Roger on a most interesting lecture and our thanks should also go to WM Branch Committee member David Parkes for his inspired choice of speaker.
Society Chairman Steven Halls with Roger Judd prior to the lecture.
No. 66 – December 2018 21 Elgar Day at the Three Choirs
Apart from Roger Judd, we were privileged to welcome at the Elgar Society Lunch, which followed, the distinguished conductor Sir Andrew Davis CBE, Dr Timothy Brain OBE QPM, Chair of the Three Choirs Association, Alexis Patterson, Chief Executive of the Three Choirs, and our own Chairman, Dr Steven Halls.
Tim Brain and Sue Norrington with the Elgar in Hereford Senior Award.
Before the lunch began one of our Committee members, David Packman, presented Sue Norrington with the Elgar in Hereford Senior Award which has recently been reinstated following the dissolution of the Elgar in Hereford Group. The trophy, the maquette of the Elgar statue which now stands in Hereford Cathedral Close, was kindly donated by Jemma Pearson, the sculptor. Sue Norrington was unanimously chosen as the recipient of the award for her tireless work in promoting music in the county. She will hold the award for three years. After lunch Andrew Davis and Tim Brain gave short speeches to the capacity audience. In the evening many of us reassembled to hear Sir Andrew conduct a sadly rare performance of Elgar’s Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Festival Chorus. The soloists were Judith Howarth, Andrew Staples and David Shipley.
22 Elgar Society News Elgar Day at the Three Choirs
In this work it is plain to see how Elgar’s genius was developing, culminating in the lovely unaccompanied ‘As Torrents in Summer’ performed with affecting tenderness. To quote the Daily Telegraph: ‘The players of the Philharmonia Orchestra relished the extraordinary play of colours in Elgar’s score, with its constant to–and–fro between Nordic fogbound mystery, martial valour and mystical aspiration. They were the real stars of the performance, along with conductor Andrew Davis, who brought out all the romantic impetuousness of Elgar’s brilliant score.’
Tim Brain makes a point while Andrew Davis and the West Midlands Branch Chairman, John Harcup, look on.
Among our distinguished visitors was Stephanie Martin, one–time director of the Pax Christi Chorale of Toronto. Stephanie had her opera Llandovery Castle performed in Toronto in June. This records the 100th anniversary of the torpedoing of the hospital ship of that name in which fourteen nurses died. She is seen here with the Secretary of the West Midlands Branch, Richard Smith. Richard Smith Photos by Joan Roche
No. 66 – December 2018 23 Membership Matters
Time for a new Membership Secretary
It’s ten years since I took over as Hon. Membership Secretary. During that time the job has changed – it has involved taking over collecting and recording subscriptions, a major reconstruction of the ‘Master Database’ and the development of the Free Membership Scheme. There are ‘peaks and troughs’ across the year but overall it has been enjoyable and interesting. But now it’s time for someone of lesser years than me to step forward – my successor will need to be competent in using Microsoft Excel and understand how our data is distributed. Technical support is available if needed. You need to be able to spend a few hours (on average) each week, with a busy time in January receiving subscriptions, and again in July when the details of those who haven’t paid are removed from the membership list.
I shall be pleased to have an informal conversation – by word of mouth or by e–mail – with anyone who is interested. My details are on the back cover. Ideally, I would ‘phase out’ after the bulk of the subs have been received, probably March/April, and then be available to advise as needed. This should ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities. David R. Young
Your subscription is due!
Subscriptions become due on 1 January next. Many of you pay by Standing Order, but you might just like to check when your January statement arrives that you have in fact paid! In recent years there have been errors by banks when they failed to follow instructions.
Subs continue at £35 for a single member and £40 for joint membership in the UK and Europe. Overseas rates are £36 for single membership and £41 for joint.
A significant number of members pay by cheque. I would encourage them to consider using a Standing Order. I shall be pleased to send them a form. My contact details are on the outside back cover.
24 Elgar Society News Membership Matters
Please remember that subs should be paid in early January. A further reminder (Final Notice?) is included in the April mailing. In July, prior to the issue of the August mailing, I cull the membership list and remove the details of those who haven’t paid. I do not issue individual notices or reminding letters. A reminder too to those members who joined in 2018 under the Free Membership scheme: your subs are also now due, as explained in my welcome letter to you.
If, for whatever reason, you do not wish to continue your membership you need only send me an e–mail or a postcard (remember those?). Please also be aware that within this mailing is your membership card. Please read it and note that it is only valid if you have paid your subs! We trust you! You will read above that I want to retire gracefully during next year. So may I thank all of you for your support and encouragement over the last ten or so years. David R. Young Hon. Membership Secretary
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]. The London Branch meets six or seven times on weekday evenings between September and March, usually in central London. The Midlands Branch organises its own programme of meetings which are usually held in the Derby area at weekends. Details can be found on the Delius Society website: www.delius.org.uk. On Saturday 15th December at 1:30pm, in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Sir Mark Elder will conduct a concert performance of A Village Romeo and Juliet. Details at http://www.grootomroepkoor.nl
No. 66 – December 2018 25 Welcome to New Members
We warmly welcome the following new members of the Society:
Andrew Brownlie Huntington Jemma Charlton Hereford Judy Chisman & Keith Lane Bridgwater Andrew Constantine Maryland, USA Richard Dean Worcester Hannah L. Dunton Redditch Patrick Dyer Bolton Peter Francis Melbourne, Australia Judith Gore Southport Felicity Hope Croydon Gary Laird & Lynne Laird Huddersfield Patricia Leslie Churchdown David Miller Halifax Donald Neil Kidderminster Brian Parsons & David Pollard London NW6 John Pennell Bury St Edmunds Robert Pikes & Ann Pikes Lymington Elizabeth Pitcher King’s Lynn Christopher Polyblank Malvern Andrew Rix London NW11 Gillian Russell Colchester Anthony Savage & Marion Savage St Albans Alan Smith & Elaine H. Smith Warrington Louis Solomons Edgware John Varney Guildford Prof. Jonathan Wainwright Dunnington Barry Warwick & Alison Gray Chelmorton Stephen D. Wood Princes Risborough
26 Elgar Society News The Firs – One Year On
Eighteen months ago the first National Trust staff began work here at The Firs. It was fair to say we had a lot to learn. During my first talk I recall introducing a slide of Vera Hockman as Carice. I was always a little bemused to see a spread of apprehension cross the faces of seasoned Elgarians when I professed my love of the ‘Cello Sonata’. How polite you were to smile forgivingly. It has taken us time to come to know Elgar. There is so much to learn. I always say that if I were to die tomorrow, future historians would have a much harder time piecing my life together than they would his. Having spent a year and a half in the presence of his possessions, his words, doodles and music, I’m beginning to feel I know him a little better. In fact I think I speak for the team when I say that we all do. This is reflected in the increasing popularity of The Firs. The first year of being open (from September 2017) has seen us welcome over 28,000 visitors. 55 coach parties have visited from as far afield as China, Australia, Germany and Iceland. We’ve heard numerous performances from choral groups, string quartets and pianists. Our regular calendar of events now contains live music, specialist talks and engaging activities for families and children. All of this can now be delivered with the confidence of knowing that each smiling face has learnt something new and surprising about Elgar. Our plans for the future call for more of the same. 2019 looks set to be a very exciting year for The Firs. The relocation of the introductory film from the Carice Room to a more intimate space in the visitor centre will ensure we have a space dedicated to performance and a rolling sequence of exhibits. A full programme of live music is being produced and we continue to develop new audio guides. Working with the Family Trust and the Elgar Society, we are beginning to develop an education programme that will ensure that school groups don’t miss out on an important piece of our cultural history. The removal of part of the archive to the British Library has been distressing for many, but the reality is that we retain much of it here. The letters and manuscripts are now under the care of the British Library, but we still possess a range of insightful and inspiring archive material, from annotated proof scores to family photo albums and scrapbooks. Part of our programming for 2019
No. 66 – December 2018 27 The Firs – One Year On
will include regular opportunities for researchers and the general public to access the archive with guided assistance. Our outdoors team has worked incredibly hard to transform overgrown spaces into sanctuaries for wildlife where visitors of all ages can feel a little closer to nature. As well as offering on–site experiences we’ll be visiting external groups to offer talks and presentations on a range of Elgarian subjects. Organisations and groups who wish to book a speaker from the Firs can arrange this by contacting staff at the property. All in all, the general mood here is one of pride and excitement: excitement for the future and pride in helping to lead the celebrations of our national composer. Joe Tierney, NT house steward, The Firs & Croome
Plenty of opportunities to create young musicians at The Firs.
Gardener Dawne created a charming daisy walk where people could picnic over the summer.
[Photographs: National Trust]
28 Elgar Society News Elgar Works
Anyway . . .
The bumping’s nearly over for Elgar Works, as they say. At the time of writing my previous column, the Birthplace archive had just moved to the British Library and we thought calmer waters lay ahead. The BBC’s screening of an Antiques Roadshow programme on 9 July featuring Jaeger’s personal copy of the ‘Enigma’ Variations took us by surprise. The episode had been filmed in September 2017 and we had been alerted to the reappearance of the score in November by Christie’s, who had been offered it for auction. The score had been held at the Birthplace from 1952 until 1994, when it had disappeared, not to be seen again until the day of filming. The BBC accepted that they could not screen the programme until questions of ownership had been resolved and negotiations to that end were proceeding slowly until the BBC’s change of heart brought matters to a speedy conclusion. The Jaeger score has now joined the remainder of the Birthplace archive at the British Library. But further surprises lay ahead when, following the screening of the programme, a number of Worcestershire residents, mostly previously unknown to us, got in touch to advise that there were other missing manuscripts we should be looking for. What caused us most concern here at Elgar Works was that all manuscripts specifically mentioned related to works which appear in the Complete Edition volume awaiting publication. Not for the first time, the volume was again put on hold to allow time for consideration of newly discovered manuscripts – except that on this occasion we were eventually able either to locate and/or discount all manuscripts except one over which the Birthplace could make no claim and for which the Complete Edition already held a copy of a more advanced score. We eventually felt able to draw a line under the events of the summer in late August after a three–month interregnum during which work on the next volumes in both series had to be put on one side. The next Collected Correspondence volume – The Wanderer, covering the family diaries for the years 1905–1907 – is now at the printers and should be available by the beginning of November, but there is more still to be done on the next Complete Edition volume, the complex volume of sacred works without an orchestral
No. 66 – December 2018 29 Elgar Works
accompaniment. We still hope to publish the volume by the end of the year but early January is now looking more likely. Fortunately, our determination to protect progress on future volumes is already bearing fruit, with copy–editing on the next Collected Correspondence volume already under way. Entitled Ridgehurst Friends, the volume has as its core the letters between the Edward Speyers and the Elgars, but also includes correspondence with the many people, not all musicians, whom the Elgars met on their visits to Ridgehurst: Frank Bridge, Henry Hadow, Hubert Kufferath, Henry Oppenheimer, William Shakespeare1, Donald Tovey and Emile Vandervelde among them. We hope to have the volume out by April. And we now expect to have a plethora of Complete Edition volumes ready for publication in the next two years, including (though not in publication order) the delayed volume of Elgar’s wartime recitations and Fringes of the Fleet; the marches; The Black Knight and Banner of St George; Severn Suite and Nursery Suite; and a long–awaited second edition of Gerontius. I hinted in my previous column that there were positives emerging from the disruption of the summer. The launch on 1 October of Oxford University’s on–line Delius catalogue (https://delius.music. ox.ac.uk) and the British Library’s Discovering Music series (https:// www.bl.uk/20th–century–music) allows me to say more. With the Delius catalogue now up and running, Oxford University will soon be embarking on an Elgar catalogue, while the BL’s Discovering Music series already contains a nucleus of pages devoted to Elgar. These are both projects to which Elgar Works has much to contribute, and with the prospect of much to gain. The Complete Edition already has source listings, Sibelius files and much else that will be useful to the Oxford University project, while discoveries made in the course of editing Complete Edition volumes (and often recorded in ‘Tales from the Complete Edition’ articles in the Journal) will be of obvious interest to visitors to the BL’s Discovering Music pages. In many respects Works’ participation in the two projects provides a much needed replacement for the shop front we lost when the Birthplace shop was taken over by the National Trust – much needed, but also with a much greater profile since the BL website alone receives in excess of 25 million visitors a year. There are benefits for us 1 John William Thomas Shakespeare (1849–1931), composer, singer and pianist. 30 Elgar Society News Elgar Works all here, but the person with most to benefit is Elgar himself as the new websites will give him a much enhanced presence on the international stage. John Norris PS: Most will be familiar with the name Iain Farrington, General Editor of the Complete Edition, and many members will have heard Iain talk to Branch meetings before performing one of his transcriptions for piano of an Elgar symphony or Falstaff. As a freelance composer, arranger and keyboard player, much of his career is based on commissions for reduced orchestrations of well–known works, particularly operas, and his reduced orchestra arrangement of the Brahms Requiem, recently recorded by the Yale Schola Cantorum for Hyperion, featured on Radio 3’s Saturday morning Record Review back in August. But his work is exceptionally varied and Iain is not one to boast of his achievements, so fewer members will be aware of the considerable run of notable achievements he is currently experiencing.
Iain Farrington On the back of the financial freedom he gained from his contribution to the soundtrack of the latest Star Wars film, Solo, Iain decided to devote this autumn to achieving a long–held personal ambition: a Mahler cycle of eleven weekly concerts – one for each symphony plus Das Lied von der Erde – with the first half
No. 66 – December 2018 31 Elgar Works
of each concert devoted to works on which Mahler drew for the symphony of the day, followed by Iain performing his own piano transcription of the symphony in the second half. The series has proved compelling and, having initially booked for four concerts, we have now signed up for others where conflicting commitments allow. Unfortunately for readers of the News, the series reaches its conclusion in November.
What Iain could not have foreseen when planning his Mahler series were the demands on his time about to arrive from the BBC Music Department, as a result of which Iain featured as either composer/ arranger or a performer in four of this year’s Proms concerts (effectively the same number as Elgar). His performance was the UK première of Bernstein’s early, unfinished ballet Conch Town which never progressed beyond a piano score, while prominent among Iain’s own five commissions was Gershwinicity, an arrangement of Gershwin songs designed to allow five winners of the BBC Young Musician competition to perform together. Iain tells interesting stories of the particular challenges in writing a work to be performed by both classically–trained musicians and improvisers; and, while one thinks of the Proms being planned well in advance, Iain received the brief for his final commission, the finale of the Tango Prom in early September, only two weeks before the première performance. We delayed the start of the Elgar Works AGM by 90 minutes to allow him time for the ink to dry on it. Iain has already completed his next BBC commission which the Concert Orchestra is about to take on tour to China, but readers should look out for his BBC Philharmonic commission for a third Scary Fairy score to accompany a poem to be written and recited by performance poet Craig Charles, and in the meantime may wish to listen on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=CtRdIlP2aQE) to Iain’s mesmeric classical arrangement of a well–known pop standard.
32 Elgar Society News 1,000 Miles up the Amazon
In the autumn of 1923 Elgar sailed up the Amazon on board the Booth Line’s cruise ship RMS Hildebrand. Very little is known about his journey, but in 1954 Charles Good, a director of the Booth Line and responsible for its Brazilian operations, wrote a few pages of unpublished reminiscence.
Early in 1922, the late W.S. Cann, the Manager of the Passenger Department of the Company, had the happy idea of taking tourists for the round voyage from Liverpool to Para and Manaos, and so the famous slogan [‘1,000 Miles up the Amazon’] was born. … The early success of the Amazon Cruise was really built up with the second Hildebrand (1911/1932) … with her ample promenade deck [she] was the most comfortable vessel that in my time has been on the run. …
For those for whom tropical heat has no terrors, the voyage is an attractive one. The passenger embarks at Liverpool, with the prospect that until returning to that port, everything will be done for him. … The most interesting stretch of the route is the Narrows, a series of channels connecting the Bay of Marajó with the main river, wherein the steamer is often practically brushing the foliage on one side or the other. In this region one makes close acquaintance with the huts of the caboclos, or native dwellers. They are usually built on piles above the limits of high tides, with sides and roofs of palm leaves. Children are numerous, and they, and often their elders, delight to put out from the shore in their montarias when an ocean–going steamer is passing, to enjoy the sensation of riding the waves caused by the swell from the vessel. A straight run through the Narrows takes about eight hours, and thenceforth the scenery becomes monotonous, the yellow of the waters and the unbroken green of the jungle foliage on either side exemplifying the Brazilian national colours. … Once out of the State of Para, and into Amazonas, there is a distinct change, the land, particularly on the left bank, being higher, with red cliffs reminiscent of Devon. The 1,000 miles of the Amazon which the tourist is invited to visit really consists of the region between Belem, capital of the State of Para, and Manaos, capital of Amazonas. …
No. 66 – December 2018 33 1,000 Miles up the Amazon
Some interesting personalities made the voyage. Among personal contacts I would put in the first place Sir Edward Elgar, with whom I was a fellow–passenger and neighbour at the Captain’s table outwards in November 1923. At that time the Hildebrand carried a small orchestra. One evening they were playing a selection which I remarked was from Gounod’s Faust. Sir Edward said it was from the same composer’s La Reine de Saba, and offered to bet me a 1/–, which I accepted. I won the shilling, which I still keep as a souvenir. On arrival at Para, Sir Edward was invited to stay at the Staff House in São Jeronymo while the ship was in port prior to going up river. On the Sunday morning, there being no–one else in the house except Elgar and myself, he turned over the leaves of an old song album, and asked me whether I sang. I replied that I did, whereupon he sat at the piano, and accompanied me through the album in all the songs I knew, ranging from ‘Nazareth’ to ‘Twickenham Ferry’. Charles Good, from a document kindly supplied by his grandson, Peter Harte
Hildebrand on the Amazon by D.W.E. Gutman, who was a Russian–born crew member [reproduced by courtesy of Peter Harte].
34 Elgar Society News 1,000 Miles up the Amazon
Elgar and fellow passengers on board the Hildebrand. Charles Good is on the left.
The Apostles in Zürich
23 September 2018, Pauluskirche, Zürich Nathalie de Montmollin, soprano Marlene Lichtenberg, contralto Tino Brütsch, tenor Lisandro Abadie, René Perler & Robert Koller, bass Paulus–Chor Zürich, Vokalensemble Ars Canora Orchester Camerata Cantabile Conductor, Stephan Fuchs
Performances in Switzerland of works by Elgar seem to be becoming more frequent, which is pleasing. The Apostles is a mighty work for any Swiss choir to attempt, and the amateur choirs acquitted themselves with bravura. Their performance was compelling from beginning to end – which is impressive in itself given the length of the work – and the pronunciation was excellent throughout. (The English text is also far from easy.) They must have worked on the piece for months, and their hard work paid off to the full. I was impressed.
No. 66 – December 2018 35 The Apostles in Zûrich
The (professional) orchestra – so rather different benchmarks are in play – took a while to warm up, but certainly did so. The difficult work in the Sea passage and the Betrayal was handled very well. The balance, both between the soloists and the orchestra and within the orchestra, was sometimes problematic – it’s hugely tempting to let rip in those gorgeous brass themes – and some nuances were missed (the harmonic shifts were a bit perfunctory at times); less the result of an ‘English’ interpretation than the magnitude of the undertaking, I think. What worked well was the architecture of the whole: we never lost track, we were always on a journey, and that journey was rich and profound. Credit for that also goes to the soloists – the individual performances were strong. The three Apostles sang extremely well together, and whilst Peter was a little melodramatic for my taste – I probably have a slightly ‘English’ idea of this actually very dramatic role – all three were convincing. Jesus (Lisandro Abadie) was well cast and gave a movingly introverted performance; and Nathalie de Montmollin (Mary and the Angel) was really in her element, with beautiful vocal colours, and gave a thoroughly convincing performance. Marlene Lichtenberg’s vocal colours were so beautiful that her very non–native English pronunciation as Mary Magdalene could be ignored – but her recitatives lost some power because of it. All–in–all it was a heart–warming performance to a large audience in the spacious Church of St Paul. With performances of this calibre by amateur choirs and an ad hoc orchestra, Elgar’s appeal in Switzerland must indeed be set to rise. Jessica Horsley
36 Elgar Society News Richard Lewis’s Gerontius
As remembered by his widow Gerontius has a special history. Ever since 1900, when it was heard at the Birmingham Festival with Gervase Elwys as Gerontius, it has held a special place in British musical life. Passing from tenor to tenor over the years, the mantle of Gerontius became a vocal prize to be won. It needed a special sort of voice, vocally and emotionally. Heddle Nash was a notable interpreter, taking over from Elwys. When Nash died, Sir Malcolm Sargent announced that the mantle would now pass to Richard Lewis. Many tenors have sung it of course. But Richard Lewis had a special quality that would mark him out as the finest of his generation. He had the power – a depth in the lower range as well as thrilling top notes. He could spin an exquisite line, making a pianissimo legato of magical beauty. His first performance was with Sir Malcolm Sargent in February 1949, for which he received £25! John Amis was in the audience that night. He would tell me: ‘All of us knew a new Gerontius had arisen’. Sir John Barbirolli engaged him to sing it as well. Sir John wrote to him: Ever since our Gerontius together in Leeds I have been wanting to send you a word. To tell you I was deeply touched by your singing in the part. It will mature in time. I feel you have it in you to become the finest Gerontius of your generation. It was deeply musical and sensitive and musicianly. I beg you therefore to look after yourself and travel the road of seriousness and devotion that I feel you have in you, and your reward will be great. That letter was written in 1950. In 1951 Barbirolli wrote another little note that shows how meticulous he was: May I make a little request to you before Saturday’s Dream. There is one place I am not happy with. It is the phrase in Part Two at number 20 beginning ‘I ever had believed’, which always seems to me to be too fast for the particular expression. If you try it with a metronome you can see that a crotchet equals 54. It seems a bit slow, but I think is an indication of what Elgar wanted. Also can you make ‘Under the awful Presence of its God’ a little darker in sound if possible. Many thanks, and so looking forward to your beautiful performance again.
No. 66 – December 2018 37 Richard Lewis’s Gerontius
Even when still in the army in World War II Richard longed to sing Gerontius. But could he have guessed then that two of our greatest conductors would give him that chance? So how did he approach his interpretation? This was a Catholic work and his background was strict Methodist. Yet he identified with the journey of the soul leaving the earth for heaven and meeting God. He was to record it twice, with Sargent and Barbirolli, with ten years between each recording. Gramophone wrote of the first: ‘There is no–one else in this class’. Ten years later Records and Recordings wrote: ‘It is fascinating to compare the two recordings to see how Lewis’s interpretation has matured. The earlier performance, though eloquent and superbly articulated, lacks the dynamic range of the new one.’ Mind you, I was there. It was recorded in Manchester on a dreadful thick foggy day in winter. Richard had a cold. Kim Borg was miserable. Only Janet Baker seemed happy! I remember Sir John conducted in his slippers. Such a wonderful man. Among the reviews at that time an interesting article by Geoffrey Thompson was printed. It was headed: ‘Is there a new golden age? For it is evident that we are producing crops of singers equal to any.’ Singers that he reckoned were a match for any European counterpart were David Ward, Josephine Veasey, Peter Pears, Alexander Young, Amy Shuard, Gwyneth Jones, Elsie Morrison, Heather Harper, Patricia Kern, Monica Sinclair, Geraint Evans, Peter Glossop, Michael Langdon – and Richard, about whom he added: The role of Gerontius has had several exponents. I missed the first one. But I have heard all the others from John Coates onwards, and the best of them is, in my opinion, Richard Lewis. In sheer quality of voice, vocal technique, musicianship, feeling and taste. Here moreover is a tenor equally capable of Mozart, Handel, Bach, Britten, Mahler, Sullivan and Schoenberg, bringing to all a mellifluous tone and immaculate style. With respect to Heddle Nash, we produced between the wars no tenor of this calibre and versatility. Elizabeth Muir–Lewis Following a childhood in Manchester and later London, Elizabeth Muir– Lewis studied in Vienna as well as at the Royal College of Music, before going on to sing as a mezzo–soprano in the UK, Europe and USA. She met Richard Lewis at Glyndebourne, and they married in 1963.
38 Elgar Society News Richard Lewis’s Gerontius
Richard Lewis
Obituaries: Paul Bassett
Paul Bassett died peacefully at home on 17 September after a protracted illness. His passing is a huge loss to his wife Sharron, son John, daughter Tamsin and five grandchildren, but also to his many friends in the Elgar Society and even more so to the Scottish Branch which he led for nearly twenty years.
Few Elgarians will have failed to notice his large presence and genial personality at Society AGMs, concerts, and the Three Choirs Festival, along with Sharron his unfailing support in so much of his Elgar activity. He was one of the longest serving members of the Society Council, first as a Branch Chairman and then as an elected member. Unfailingly polite and conciliatory, he always focused on what was best for promoting shared interest in Elgar’s music and in the activities of the Elgar Society.
No. 66 – December 2018 39 Obituaries : Paul Bassett
Paul joined the Society as an individual member in 1997 and, at the very first AGM he attended, enquired whether there was a Scottish Branch. The then Chairman, Andrew Neill, confirmed there was not but suggested that Paul might establish one. He contacted Society members living in Scotland and enlisted the support of attendees at a studio concert of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow. Within a year he had organised the inaugural meetings in Glasgow and in Edinburgh at which the formation of a Scottish Branch was agreed and supported. In the years that followed Paul organised no fewer than 125 Branch meetings. The original plan of alternating between Glasgow and Edinburgh had to be abandoned because of difficulties with the original venue in Glasgow. But meetings continued on a regular basis at Newbattle Abbey south of Edinburgh and more recently at St Mark’s Unitarian Church in central Edinburgh. The typical Bassett Scottish Branch meetings offered full–length speaker presentations, live music by local performers, tea intervals with home baking, raffles and, until recently, sales of Elgariana. By dint of friendly persistence, Paul recruited a long list of distinguished presenters to come to Scotland, including scholars such as Michael Kennedy and Ian Parrott, musicians such as Donald Hunt, Barry Collett, David Owen Norris and Iain Farrington, and many Elgar enthusiasts from far and wide in Britain as well as Arthur Reynolds from the USA. Paul was particularly proud of his coups in bringing Wulstan Atkins to a very early meeting, and in getting Catherine Wyn–Rogers not only to come for an extended interview but to perform some of Elgar’s songs. Many visitors had the opportunity to stay with the Bassetts at their splendidly named home Sospiri in Dunfermline. Paul had a great knack of finding an interest to share with all of his guests to the Branch – not least his Paddington Bear–like devotion to marmalade! A favourite gift for guest speakers was a framed photograph of the Forth Railway Bridge around the time Elgar visited it with his great friend Billy Reed – the original of which Sharron had discovered in the Carnegie library in Dunfermline. Paul devoted a lot of his time to research and gave several presentations on the life of Billy Reed and his relationship with Elgar. It was a considerable coup to bring to Scotland the violinist Robert
40 Elgar Society News Obituaries : Paul Bassett
Gibbs, who brought with him Billy Reed’s own 19th–century Italian instrument (which Robert had inherited from a pupil of Reed’s) and on which he played two pieces by Billy Reed himself to accompany Paul’s presentation in June 2002.
Paul Bassett with Billy Reed’s violin in June 2002.
A pharmacist by trade (as was evident from his miniscule handwriting), Paul was not a trained musician and taught himself music in order to follow Elgar’s music from the score. He was first entranced by the ‘Enigma’ Variations, going as a schoolboy to a ‘lollipops’ concert in Bournemouth conducted by the Scot James
No. 66 – December 2018 41 Obituaries
Loughran. He had a particular love for The Dream of Gerontius, attending no fewer than twelve performances in the year of its centenary.
The Bassetts went to numerous local and amateur performances of Elgar in Scotland. Unfailingly, Paul would circulate among the audience, gently recruiting for the Elgar Society. He gave many talks to local groups, particularly in Fife, introducing the life and music of Elgar and promoting membership of the Society. Many regulars contributed to the performances of small–scale live music at Branch meetings, including Olive and Ernest Laing, Leon and Heather Coates, and Alistair Savage and his friends from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. With the help of Neil and Gillian Mantle and Ian and Linny Lawson, young musicians got their first opportunity to perform for a live audience.
Paul had many endearing, sometimes eccentric enthusiasms. Not least of these was his love of horseracing – a passion in common with Elgar. For the year of Elgar, 2007, Paul succeeded in getting together Society sponsorship for a steeplechase at Worcester Races on 5 May, which, of course, he and Sharron attended.
Paul was buried still wearing his green Elgar tie and Society lapel badge. If ever there was a complete Elgar ‘avid’ (a favourite tag of his), it was Paul Bassett! Tom Kelly
Kenneth Bowen (1932–2018)
Kenneth Bowen, the distinguished Welsh tenor and Professor of Singing at the Royal Academy of Music, died in Cheltenham on 1 September 2018, aged 86. It was said that he relished singing The Dream of Gerontius and claimed to have sung in more than 200 performances, including at the BBC Proms with Malcolm Sargent in 1966. He lost count of the number of Messiahs he had sung. He fathered two musical sons, Geraint Bowen, Organist at Hereford Cathedral, and Meurig Bowen, former Director of the Cheltenham Music Festival and now Artistic Planning Manager at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Michael Trott
42 Elgar Society News Letters to the Editor
Noises off On the back of the Elgar Society Journal’s recent review I purchased Rachel Barton Pine’s recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto (to add to my existing eight at the last count …). I would agree it is a super reading of the piece and can hold its head up high with the best. However, I believe there is a brief mastering or pressing fault which has not currently been picked up online by any reviewer. I have also checked with Spotify and the same is apparent there, if less obviously than on a good hi–fi. Working on the likelihood of many Society members having invested in the disc, I wonder if any have spotted it? The issue occurs around 11:12 into the first movement where for about a second something like a smoke alarm going off sounds faintly in the background (my wife who would profess to be cloth– eared found herself reaching for her mobile phone which also has a high pitch). I am not a violinist so there may be a different explanation out there. However, I do for my sins seem to have a knack (many times I think it’s not a gift but a curse) for spotting ‘noises off’. I would be somewhat reassured if others can also spot the issue in the Elgar. Hopefully I won’t in the process affect anyone’s overall enjoyment of the excellent interpretation! Mark Siner [email protected] Giggleswick I thought you would enjoy this video, the first part of which is about Elgar and his friendship with Dr Buck: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=14spNDsWw9c Tom Cademartrie The Spanish Lady I’m delighted to report success in getting a hard–bound copy of ECE Volume 41 by advertising for it in the Elgar Society News. Many thanks to Richard Smith of the West Midlands Branch. Tom Kelly
No. 66 – December 2018 43 Letters to the Editor
Elgar on BBC Radio By chance, I came across the reference in the very first issue of the Elgar Society News (March 1997, No.1, p.3) to the listing by Robert Taylor of every broadcast performance of Elgar’s music on BBC Radio from 1922 to 1934. I would be very grateful to obtain a copy of this list as I was not a member of the Society at that time. Could anyone who could help please contact me either by e–mail to [email protected] or by text or phone message to my mobile 07971 538250? Tom Kelly
St Wulstan’s Christmas Cards
St Wulstan’s Church in Little Malvern (where Elgar is buried) is continuing its fundraising efforts for a second year by offering Christmas cards for sale which feature the beautiful stained glass window of the Nativity, designed by Birmingham–based Hardman Studios between 1882 and 1892. The Christmas cards last year raised almost £2,500 for the organ restoration project, but another £90,000 is still needed for necessary repairs to the fabric of the building.
Work has begun on the west front, which is visibly cleaner already. Some glass lights in the beautiful rose window have been replaced and the cleaning work has commenced. Damaged stonework needs to be made good, including the red pillars which form the decoration by the entrance. Finally, the whole front will be repointed with the approved lime–mix mortar.
This year the Christmas cards are available in five colourways (white is a new addition to the range for 2018). The price is £4 for a pack of ten, and they can be purchased via the website: www.christmascardsinaidofstwulstanschurch.com Charlotte Carver
44 Elgar Society News St. Wulstan’s Christmas Cards
St Wulstan’s Christmas Cards
No. 66 – December 2018 45 Branch Reports
EAST ANGLIAN: On a very hot afternoon in early July, when the World Cup was still being played in Russia, the Branch welcomed Society Chairman Steven Halls to give his talk ‘Elgar’s Orchestral Miniatures’. As Steven warned us at the beginning, this would have to be a whistle–stop gallop through all the short works that Elgar had written throughout his life and, encouraged by the popularity of the gramophone, was still producing near to his death. Illustrating his talk throughout and playing tantalisingly short recordings (we would have liked longer ones), Steven managed to fit this vast topic into the allotted time – a remarkable achievement, especially in the heat.
Our next meeting was in September when our speaker was Branch Chairman Peter Newble, who shared his knowledge and researches into how Judas Iscariot has been portrayed in music throughout the ages. Well known to us as a master illustrator, Peter had managed to find portraits of long–dead composers, and scores and recordings of many of the important works relating to Judas from the sixteenth century up to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jesus Christ Superstar. The second half of his talk focused on The Apostles, discussing what might have influenced Elgar’s depiction of this complex character both musically and theologically. The Apostles is seldom performed, but Peter’s inspiring talk whetted the appetite to go and find a good recording and revisit this masterpiece.
Musical interpretation was one of the themes of conductor Adrian Brown’s talk in October entitled ‘Sir Adrian Boult – the ideal Elgar conductor?’. Adrian had had the good fortune to meet and study under Sir Adrian, which made for good listening as the talk was liberally dusted with personal anecdotes. Sir Edward’s admiration of Sir Adrian’s conducting of a 1920 performance of the Second Symphony does perhaps answer the question. We wish him well in the inaugural concert of the Elgar Sinfonia of London. Bev Simpson
EAST MIDLANDS: Fate seemed against us at the Branch’s October meeting. A fatality on the M1 combined with an hour–long queue on a trunk road into Leicester delayed Chairman and Secretary. Following Howard Newton’s resignation as Chairman due to family
46 Elgar Society News Branch Reports problems, his successor Dr Michael Toseland requested a few moments’ silence to remember Paul Bassett, Donald Hunt and our own founder Secretary Ken Smith. He then made a plea for adding new blood to a depleted committee. This was followed by Secretary Sam Dobson exhorting our audience to spread the Branch’s programme by word of mouth and excellent flyers.
Fortunately our guest speaker Peter Avis arrived safely to talk on ‘My Summertime on Bredon’. Peter has climbed this hill 160 times and explained his love for the place by illustrated references to writers, composers and poets. In the course of his presentation Peter introduced several pieces unknown to many of us as well as alternative settings of A.E. Housman’s ‘In summertime on Bredon’. No Elgar music but our composer did ascend the hill, as was seen in a rare picture of Sir Edward and Carice seated at the base of Parsons’ Folly in 1927. Peter invited his audience to join him on the 161st journey. There were no immediate takers. Michael Toseland
LONDON: ‘Wood Magic at Brinkwells: Elgar’s chamber music’ The first meeting of the new London Branch season, on Sunday 7 October, was a very special occasion. Our biennial Richards memorial meeting took the form of a day of exploration at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, focusing on the Brinkwells chamber music.
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Andrew Neill began by looking at Elgar’s contribution to music during World War I, alongside that of some of his contemporaries, including Bliss, Reger and Alfred Hill. Andrew Dalton presented an illustrated talk on the life and work of Rex Vicat Cole, who sub– leased Brinkwells to the Elgars. It was interesting to see some of the work of this little–known artist, who surely deserves greater recognition for his landscapes and botanical illustrations. Diana McVeagh then introduced the music of the String Quartet and Violin Sonata, reminding us that the music from an earlier string quartet found its way into the First Symphony, and placing the works beside those of other composers. The morning ended with an excellent performance of the Violin Sonata played by Fanny Fheodoroff and Camille Lemonnier. The afternoon session began with a talk by Marisa Gupta, who has been researching early recordings of music to inform her performances as a pianist. She compared three recordings of the Piano Quintet, the first of which was the 1926 NGS recording by Ethel Hobday and the Spencer Dyke Quartet. She concluded that earlier performances showed a greater rhythmic freedom, along with lesser adherence to the score markings, than later ones. Philip Lancaster, as well as being a composer and singer, is a scholar specialising in British music and poetry of the early twentieth century. He spoke about World War I bringing about many changes, socially, culturally, politically and technologically. He looked at the cultural context of Elgar’s chamber works within the changes in the arts, and considered some of the work being produced by others. He said that we hear a great deal about the number of poets killed during the war, but it is not so well known that 42 composers, from all nations, lost their lives. It is always fascinating to learn how musicians approach their performances, and this was demonstrated by a String Quartet master–class, featuring the Guildhall’s Celia Quartet (Johanna Rode, Andrea Timpanaro, James Cullen and Joshua Lynch). Senior Tutor Matthew Jones spoke of his own love for the music and introduced complete performances of each movement alongside detailed work on specific passages. The students commented on particular challenges within the work, not least Elgar’s perceived requirement to sound like an orchestra. It is all too easy for us to listen to the
48 Elgar Society News Branch Reports music without realising the work which goes into its preparation, and this session helped us to understand the complexity of the music and Elgar’s instructions. The day’s finale was introduced by Diana McVeagh, who spoke about the Piano Quintet, highlighting some of the ideas within it. She now wonders whether one of the main themes was based on the Salve Regina plainchant. The performance of the quintet was, quite simply, stunning. The performers, Serene Koh, Amarins Wierdsma, Ruth Heney, Abigale Bowen and Zachary Owen, were all post–graduate students. They sounded as if they had played the work together for some time, but it emerged that they had only seen the music for the first time during the preceding week. This was a really successful day, attended by members of the public as well as about 50 Society members. Our thanks go to our friends at the Guildhall for their help and co–operation – it is a pleasure to work with them. Finally, maybe the best outcome was that ten of the eleven young performers had been introduced to these pieces for the first time, and their repertoires now include this music which means so much to us. Ruth Hellen
Diana McVeagh
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Preparing to play the Piano Quintet [Photos: Andrew Neill]
NORTH AMERICAN: Save the date – North American Branch is planning its 2019 Annual Conference to take place in San Francisco in May. We begin with dinner on Friday night, May 24th, and end on Sunday morning the 26th. A highlight will be a concert in Davies Symphony Hall, where Krzysztof Urbanski will conduct the San Francisco Symphony in a program that will include Elgar’s Violin Concerto. Soloist: Vilde Frang. Details will be given in the next issue. Arthur Reynolds NORTH WEST: Our final meeting of our main 2017–2018 season was held in May (and reported in the August issue). However, we had arranged a special summer meeting which was held on Saturday 7 July, at the historically important Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in Plymouth Grove, Manchester. Elizabeth lived at 84 Plymouth Grove with her husband William and their daughters from 1850 until her unexpected death in 1865 at the age of 55. Her family continued to live there until 1913. They had a wide circle of friends and associates amongst whom were many musicians. Sir Charles Hallé gave piano lessons there to one of their daughters, and Edward and Alice Elgar visited them at 84 Plymouth Grove in 1903 when Elgar was rehearsing
50 Elgar Society News Branch Reports the orchestral musicians, in Manchester, for the premiere of The Apostles, in Birmingham, in October. The Gaskells’ elegant Drawing Room housed a grand piano, and musical events were frequently held there. It now houses a fine replacement boudoir grand piano. Beautifully and lovingly restored in recent years, the house is open to the public on several days a week and is available for private hire at other times. We decided that this would be an ideal location for a performance of Elgar’s Piano Quintet. At a NW Branch meeting, in January 2017, we had heard a splendid live performance of Elgar’s Violin Sonata, and the String Quartet had also been performed by the Victorian String Quartet, in Manchester, in autumn 2017.
Benedict Holland (violin), Sarah Ewins (violin), Susie Mészáros (viola), Heather Bills (cello) and Harvey Davies (piano) at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House.
Here was an opportunity to experience a performance of the Piano Quintet in elegant surroundings. It was given by members of the Pleyel Ensemble, a highly professional and skilled group of musicians based in Manchester – and some of them have connections with the RNCM and the Hallé Orchestra. As the final audience numbers exceeded the capacity of the Drawing Room, they agreed
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to give two performances of the Piano Quintet during the afternoon – which were magnificent and memorable. This arrangement also gave the audience an opportunity for a guided tour of the rest of the house. The occasion made a very fitting and quite memorable end to our 2017–2018 season.
These two performances of Elgar’s Piano Quintet were dedicated to the memory of our much–loved ex–Branch patron Michael Kennedy, by kind permission of Dr Joyce Kennedy. It seemed particularly apt as Michael wrote Wood Magic – a play with music about Brinkwells and the chamber music which Elgar composed there, and music from the Piano Quintet featured prominently in Wood Magic. David L. Jones
SCOTTISH: There was a longer than usual hiatus in Branch meetings this summer. Our first autumn meeting on Sunday 14 October was to have been a celebration of ‘Elgar and the violin’ to mark the centenary of the very first private performance of the Violin Sonata. Our meeting, however, was given over in large part to the commemoration of our late Chairman, Paul Bassett, who had died in September (see Obituary).
The recital of Elgar’s music for violin and piano was given by local musicians Sheena Jardine (violin) and Steven Doughty (piano). Their performance of the Violin Sonata coincided almost to the hour with the first private performance 100 years previously. The coincidence extended to our break for tea and home baking, but, unlike the performance by Elgar and Billy Reed, there was no repeat of the Sonata. This was a pity because our duo gave an intense and subtly nuanced reading – eloquent as well as full of wispy ‘wood magic’ – which everyone present would have wished to hear again. The shorter pieces included Sospiri as a special tribute to Paul Bassett and his enduring enthusiasm for the dedicatee of Elgar’s piece – Billy Reed.
This year there were several highlights of music by Elgar at the Edinburgh Festivals. Pride of place in the International Festival went to a critically and popularly acclaimed performance of the Cello Concerto by the already renowned young cellist Sheku Kanneh– Mason with the CBSO conducted by Ludovic Morlot.
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In the Fringe, the Branch sponsored a delightful recital of songs focused on Elgar and Maude Valérie White given by Judith Gardner Jones (soprano) and Richard J. Lewis (piano) at the more central venue of St Andrews Church in George Street. Their enthusiasm and musicianship in this fascinating repertoire of late romantic art songs was a real joy and warmly appreciated by a regrettably small audience.
An unexpected gem in this year’s Fringe was the stylish Fyrish String Quartet, who gave performances of the Elgar String Quartet at two venues. These young musicians have only just formed as a quartet, having played together in other ensembles. But you would not have guessed this from their command and feeling for Elgar’s elusive music in their inaugural Edinburgh concerts. They captured the inwardness and interplay of parts, and rapt mood of the Romance, just as they ought to be. We hope to hear a lot more from them in the coming years. Tom Kelly
The Fyrish String Quartet, who performed Elgar’s String Quartet at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe.
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SOUTHERN: The first meeting in the Southern Branch autumn programme was held in September at our Winchester venue. Michael Trott gave us a fascinating talk about the family background and early life of Hubert Parry, much of which took place in the Southern Branch area. We also learnt that he was a very keen yachtsman and owned his own boat, The Wanderer. He enjoyed rough weather sailing, and although he employed a professional skipper was sometimes known to decline his advice.
Parry at the tiller of The Wanderer
We returned to our Havant venue for the October meeting when we were pleased to welcome back Peter Worrell. This afforded the opportunity to those members in the Havant region who were unable to travel to Winchester in 2015, when Peter initially entertained us with his talk, to hear about his 43–year career with the Hallé Orchestra, particularly under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli. Peter’s impersonations of JB were hilarious and his talk was again well received.
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We look forward to the visit of Adrian Brown, who, in November, when the end of the First World War will be celebrated, will be exploring Elgar’s mindset on the War and his composition of The Spirit of England, considered by Adrian to be an underrated masterpiece. A new venture for the Southern Branch, a recital entitled ‘Elgar and beyond’, will take place at our January meeting at The Spring, Havant. Given by Alex Poulton (baritone) and Peter Rhodes (piano), it will include songs by Elgar, Finzi and others. Tickets are available from The Spring (www.thespring.co.uk or phone 023 9247 2700), price £12, with concessions at £10. We are in Winchester in February when Michael Jameson will discuss the career and enduring influence of the violinist Albert Sammons. Our March meeting will be held in Havant, when Southern Branch committee member David Pearce will talk about ‘Elgar and the Bach revival’, exploring how the St Matthew Passion and B minor Mass became driving forces for the Bach revivalists throughout the nineteenth century. Christopher Wiltshire, Secretary of the East Anglian Branch, will visit our Winchester venue in April to talk on ‘Elgar by those who knew him’. We look forward to his audio–visual presentation, illustrated with musical examples, featuring people who knew Elgar personally. Wendy Wiseman
SOUTH WESTERN: On 30 June Michael Butterfield gave us another of his analytical presentations, complete with sections of the score projected onto the screen and interesting features picked out in colour. This time he chose Elgar’s first and last symphonic poems, written at an interval of about 25 years: Froissart and Polonia. The general feeling afterwards was that the former was the more enjoyable of the two but that both were interesting works. The talk attracted the year’s largest audience, others having been rather disappointing. On 28 July Richard Westwood–Brookes paid us his annual visit, this time to talk about Nicholas Kilburn, an industrialist involved in the manufacture of engineering products at Bishop Auckland,
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County Durham. Kilburn was also a good amateur musician who conducted one of the early performances of King Olaf in 1897. He and Elgar became good friends and the composer was particularly indebted to Kilburn for his encouragement when he felt that everything was against him.
On 29 September we welcomed the return visit of Duncan Eves, this time to talk about The Music Makers. Graphically illustrated with excerpts, not only from the published score but also from some of Elgar’s sketches, this was felt by some to be the best meeting of the year so far. Christopher Redwood
WEST MIDLANDS: Our summer season began on 14 July with the Chairman of the Elgar Society, Steven Halls, giving an illustrated talk on Elgar’s orchestral miniatures. The first half of his talk broadly fitted the themes of childhood, friendship, loss, and success. Illustrations included two sections from the 1907 Wand of Youth Suite, whose ‘Fairies and Giants’ movement reworks the Humoreske of 1867, to which Jerrold Northrop Moore and others have attached particular significance in Elgar’s creative life. The second half of Steven’s talk dealt with pieces connected to W.H. Reed, the Royal Family, dogs, and Fred Gaisberg. We are grateful to Steven for his polished and amusing talk which gave us an insight into the briefer compositions of our favourite composer.
As usual, the Branch organised the Society’s talk and lunch at the Three Choirs Festival later in July. These are described elsewhere in this issue. Following this, on 15 September, we met at All Saints Church in Malvern, to hear Dr Jim Berrow talk about Troyte Griffith, perhaps best known as the seventh ‘Enigma’ Variation. We learnt that Troyte was a distinguished architect and artist who designed the church in which we sat. We were doubly fortunate in that, interspersed with Jim Berrow’s meticulously researched talk, Roy Massey – who should need no introduction to Elgarians – expertly played a number of relevant pieces on the church organ.
On 20 October we held our annual joint event with the ‘Autumn in Malvern Festival’: a talk by Adrian Lucas on Ivor Atkins, one of his predecessors as organist at Worcester Cathedral. A capacity
56 Elgar Society News Branch Reports audience was enthralled by his talk on the relationship between Elgar and Atkins. A large number of musical examples were played, often accompanied by extracts from correspondence between the two. There is little doubt that they co–operated extensively for many years, and Adrian spoke tenderly of Elgar’s psychological frailty, lack of self–belief, and how Atkins provided considerable moral support. The audience was left in no doubt that the two men held each other in awe. This was a presentation which can be thoroughly recommended to other Branches.
The Branch continues to investigate raising the profile of classical music to young people, and in this we have just received some backing, at least in principle, from the Elgar Society executive. At first our venture will concentrate on the counties of Worcester and Hereford and, if it proves successful, it will be expanded and information passed to other Branches. Richard Smith
YORKSHIRE and NORTH EAST: We meet from 2 to 4pm on selected Saturdays in the Bar Convent, Blossom Street, York, about four minutes walk from the railway station. Dates and details of programmes are available on the national website. If you are able to visit us for any of our meetings you will not only be welcome but will find that the Bar Convent has an excellent café.
Our good friend and mentor, Geoff Scargill from the North West Branch, came in June to talk about the fluctuations of Elgar’s popularity in Germany, currently on the increase, and his involvement with the formation of a German Branch of the Society.
Because of changes in personal commitments, we had to re– arrange the last three of our programmes for 2018: thus Professor Julian Rushton’s talk, a very detailed examination of The Black Knight (was this Elgar’s first symphony?), was brought forward to September and our October talk, ‘Never Smile at the Brass’, is now to be given by John Humphries who will look at orchestral standards in Elgar’s day.
That left the November meeting, which was to be a presentation about Elgar’s church music given by Dr Donald Hunt, in his third
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visit to the Branch. Unfortunately we then heard of the death of Dr Hunt; but he, with anticipatory foresight, had given a copy of his presentation to Caroline Gilderdale, a friend of the Hunt family and a Y & NE committee member, so she could present it in the event of his incapacity. Caroline has organised a choir to accompany this talk, and Dr Hunt’s original script will now be presented as a tribute to him by Dr Simon Lindley, another friend of the Hunt family. So that concludes another eventful year and we look forward to further examination of Elgar, his music and his contemporaries in 2019. Tony Pook Branch Events
For further information please contact the relevant Secretary (see back cover). EAST ANGLIAN All meetings are held in the Edmund Room, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1LS. Sat 9 Feb 2019, 2.30pm Andrew Neill My friend Michael Kennedy: in his words Sat 16 Mar 2019, 2.30pm Harvey Davies & Sarah Ewins Violin and piano sonatas in Elgar’s day Sat 27 Apr 2019, 2.30pm Relf Clark Elgar and Walton Sat 18 May 2019, 2.30pm Arthur Reynolds Elgar and Longfellow Sat 15 June 2019, 2.30pm Andrew Keener Defusing the red light EAST MIDLANDS All meetings are held in The Garden Room, Unitarian Chapel, East Bond St, Leicester, LE1 4SX.
Sat 8 Dec 2018, 2pm Peter Sutton Alice Elgar: poet of her time
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Sat 9 Feb 2019, 2pm John Drysdale Elgar’s earnings Sat 9 Mar 2019, 2pm Tom Kelly Enigmatic variations Sat 13 Apr 2019, 2pm Stephen Johnson ‘My ideal’: Elgar and Schumann Sat 11 May 2019, 2pm Barry Collett Exploring the lesser–known Elgar LONDON Unless indicated otherwise, all meetings are held at Queen’s College, 43–49 Harley St, W1G 8BT Mon 3 Dec 2018, 7.30pm Christopher Wiltshire Elgar as we knew him Mon 4 Feb 2019, 7.30pm Malcolm Walker Elgar and brass bands Mon 4 Mar 2019, 7.30pm Robert Saxton Perspectives on Elgar from an early 21st–century composer’s viewpoint Mon 1 Apr 2019, 7.30pm Members of the LPO The Dream of Gerontius in Canterbury Cathedral Sat 11 May 2019, 3pm Relf Clark Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ Admission fee of £7.50 Elgar and Handel Katharine Hogg The Gerald Coke Collection Mon 10 June 2019, 7.30pm Branch AGM St George’s Church, Hanover Square, W1S 1FX Organ recital by Nicholas Morris
NORTH AMERICAN 24–26 May 2019, San Francisco Annual conference – see the North American Branch Report (p.50)
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SCOTTISH All meetings are held at St Mark’s Unitarian Church, Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2DP. Sun 9 Dec 2018, 2pm Barry Collett Elgar before the ‘Enigma’ Variations – the forging of a style Heather Coates (cello) & Leon Coates (piano) Cello and piano recital Sun 3 Feb 2019, 2pm Branch AGM & Tom Kelly Elgar’s Enigmatic Variations Sun 23 June 2019, 2pm Peter Newble Judas Iscariot in music: Elgar’s Apostles and beyond With bass/baritone live music Further meetings will be announced in due course. SOUTHERN Sat 26 Jan 2019, 2pm Alex Poulton (baritone) & Peter Rhodes (piano) The Spring, 56 East Street, Havant, PO9 1BS Elgar and beyond A programme of music by Elgar, Somervell, Butterworth, Finzi, Britten, Novello and Coward Tickets £12, concessions £10, from www.thespring.co.uk or phone 023 9247 2700. Sat 16 Feb 2019, 2pm Michael Jameson St Lawrence Parish Rooms, Colebrook St, Albert Sammons Winchester, SO23 9LH Sat 23 Mar 2019, 2pm David Pearce The Spring, 56 East Street, Elgar and the Bach revival Havant, PO9 1BS Sat 6 Apr 2019, 2pm Christopher Wiltshire St Lawrence Parish Rooms, Elgar by those who knew him Colebrook St, Winchester, SO23 9LH Sat 4 May 2019, 2pm Rupert Marshall–Luck The Spring, 56 East Street, Havant, PO9 1BS Elgar and Parry – writing for the violin
60 Elgar Society News Branch Events
SOUTH WESTERN All meetings are held in the Bristol Music Club, 76 St Paul’s Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1LP. Sat 15 Dec 2018, 12.30pm Christmas Lunch and Quiz Sat 26 Jan 2019, 2.15pm Branch AGM and Party WEST MIDLANDS Unless indicated otherwise, all meetings are held in the Carice Elgar Room at The Firs, Elgar’s Birthplace, Lower Broadheath, Worcester, WR2 6RH. Sat 1 Dec 2018, 2.30pm Sue Gee, with Timothy Day (piano) Elgar and the novelist Sat 26 Jan 2019, 2.30pm David Parkes Squeezing the juice from the orange: Brahms and Elgar
Sat 16 Feb 2019, 12.30 for 1pm Annual Branch Lunch Christ Church Hall, Avenue Road, Malvern, WR14 3AY Sat 9 Mar 2019, 2.30pm Branch AGM & Jon Goldswain Leonard Bernstein ... a genius Sat 6 Apr 2019, 2.30pm Rupert Marshall–Luck The violin writing of Elgar and Parry Sat 18 May 2019, 2.30pm Richard Westwood–Brookes Elgar and the press YORKSHIRE and NORTH EAST All meetings are held in The Bedingfield Room, The Bar Convent, 17–19 Blossom St, York, YO24 1AQ. Sat 26 Jan 2019, 2pm Branch AGM & Tony Pook Elgar: the concert overtures Sat 23 Mar 2019, 2pm Rupert Marshall–Luck Elgar and Parry: writing for the violin Sat 4 May 2019, 2pm Fairfax Ensemble Sat 25 May 2019, 2pm Jonathan Clinch Elgar and Herbert Howells
No. 66 – December 2018 61 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 five months ahead. We’d rather hear about an event twice than not at all! Sat, Sun 1, 2 December 2018 Jones Hall, Houston Symphony No. 1 / Beethoven Ohlsson / Houston Symphony Orchestra / de Waart Sat 1 December 2018, 3.00pm Acros Fukuoka Symphony No. 1 / Wagner / Mozart Symphony Hall, Fukuoka Herrmann / Kyushu Symphony Orchestra / Wolfe Sat 1 December 2018, 6.30pm Royal College of Music Symphony No. 1 / Tchaikovsky RCM Junior Department, Chamber and Symphony Orchestras Sat 1 December 2018, 7.30pm Heritage Centre, Macclesfield Serenade for strings / Vivaldi / Finzi / Grainger / Bach Mulroy / Northern Chamber Orchestra Sun 2 December 2018, 6.30pm Kings Place: Piano Quintet / Haydn / Mendelssohn Hall One, London Jackson / Todes / Vogel / Lucas–Smith / Roscoe Mon 3 December 2018, 8.00pm Stadthalle, Gütersloh Tue 4 December 2018, 7.30pm Musikhochschule, Detmold Weds 5 December 2018, 7.30pm Paderhalle, Paderborn Fri 7 December 2018, 8.00pm Stadtpark Schützenhof, Herford Sat 8 December 2018, 7.30pm Konzerthalle, Bad Salzuflen Sun 9 December 2018, 5.00pm Theater im Park, Symphony No. 2 / Schumann Bad Oeynhausen Hornung / North West German Philharmonic / Francis Tue 4 December 2018, 7.30pm Tonhalle Maag, Zürich Introduction and Allegro / Grieg / Ravel / Chausson de la Salle / Zimmermann / Zürich Chamber Orchestra / Hope Weds 5 December 2018, 7.30pm The Salon, Melbourne Serenade for Strings / Sculthorpe / Debussy / Ravel Australian Chamber Orchestra / Tognetti
62 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
Sun 9 December 2018, 3.00pm Royal Festival Hall, London Enigma Variations / Mendelssohn / Mozart Anderszewski / Philharmonia Orchestra / Ashkenazy Sun 9 December 2018, 3.00pm Auditorium Du Pharo, Cello Concerto / Bach / Schubert Marseille Várdai / Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra / Auguin Sun 9 December 2018, 8.00pm Elbphilharmonie: Organ Sonata / Dupré / Bach / Escaich / Großer Saal, Hamburg de Grigny / Brahms Escaich, Organ Sun 16 December 2018, 6.30 pm Conway Hall, Red Lion Square Serenade for Strings / Handel / Schubert / Britten / Vivaldi / Bach / Kreisler / Ireland / Jenkins / Mozart / Copland Chamber Ensemble of London Tue 18 December 2018, 8.00 pm Philharmonie: Cello Concerto / Dukas / Strauss R Großer Saal, Berlin Gabetta / Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Franck Thu, Fri December 20, 21 2018, 8.00pm Palacio de Congresos y Auditorio de Navarra, Pamplona Cello Concerto / Wagner / Smetana Polo / Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra / König Fri 14 December 2018, 7.30 pm Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Carlisle Boulevard Southeast, Albuquerque NM (USA) Sunday 16 December 2018, 3.00 pm Volcano Vista High School, 8100 Rainbow Road, Albuquerque NM (USA) Cockaigne Overture / Silvestri / Williams / Prokofiev / Schubert Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra / Herrington Sat 15 December 2018, 7.30 pm St Mary’s Church, The Music Makers / Horse Fair, Banbury, Oxfordshire Vaughan Williams Chipping Norton Choral Society / Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra / Hunt Fri and Sat 4 and 5 January 2019 Music Hall, Cincinnati In the South / Rachmaninov / Britten Gerstein / Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra / Canellakis Mon 7 and Tue 8 January 2019 Nationaltheater, Munich Symphony No. 2 / Wagner Kulman / Bayerisches Staatsorchester / Petrenko
No. 66 – December 2018 63 Dates for your Diary
Wed, Fri January 9, 11 2019 Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich Thu 10 January 2019, 6.30pm Philharmonie im Gasteig, Cello Concerto / Sibelius / Prokofiev Munich Krijgh / Munich Philharmonic Orchestra / Rouvali Thu 10 January 2019, 8.00 pm Symphony Center, Fri 11 January 2019, 1.30 pm South Michigan Avenue, Sat 12 January 2019, 8.00 pm Chicago IL (USA) Enigma Variations / Ives / Copland / Corigilano / Daugherty / Damrosch / Still Hampson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Tovey Thu 10 January 2019, 8.00pm Maison de la radio, Paris Cockaigne Overture / Lalo / Sibelius Perraud / Orchestre National de France / Søndergård
Fri 11 January 2019, 7.30 pm Outwood Academy Foxhills, Romance for Bassoon and Piano / Scunthorpe, Lincs Hope / Britten / Poulenc / Dodgson / Rota / Grandval Magnard Ensemble Sun 13 January 2019, 6.30pm Kings Place: Violin Sonata / Beethoven / Fauré Hall One, London Graffin / Norrington / Gupta Tue 15 January 2019, 7:30 pm Greifswald, Theatre Wed 16 and Thu 17 January 2019, 7:30 pm Stralsund, Theatre Froissart / Cello Concerto / Ravel / Bartók Klinger / Philharmonic Orchestra of Western Pomerania / Csizmadia Thu 17 January 2019, 7.30 pm St James’s Church, Like to the damask rose / 197 Piccadilly, London O’er–arched by leaves (Caractacus) / Coleridge–Taylor / Vaughan Williams / Stanford / Mahler Llewellyn / Lepper
Thu 17 and Fri 18 January 2019 Festival Hall, Osaka Symphony No. 1 / Takemitsu / Bruch Kamio / Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra / Otaka Thu 17 and Sat 19 January 2019 L’Auditorium de Lyon Symphony No. 1 / Milhaud / Saint–Saëns Grosvenor / Orchestre National de Lyon / Slatkin
64 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
Fri 18 January 2019, 8.00pm Auditorio Príncipe Felipe, Enigma Variations / Ravel / López Estelche Oviedo Gutiérrez–Arenas / Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias / Milanov
Sat 19 January 2019, 7.30 pm De Montfort Hall, Leicester Sun 20 January 2019, 3.00 pm Royal Festival Hall, Introduction and Allegro / Southbank Centre Gordon / Vaughan Williams / Britten Slimane / Philharmonia Orchestra / Brabbins
Sun 20 January 2019, 6.30pm KKL Lucerne, Switzerland The Music Makers / Vaughan Williams Rice / Pro Musica Vocale / University Choir and Händel Choir / Orchestra Camerata Musica / Dunscombe Sun 20 January 2019, 3.00pm Concert Hall, Piano Quintet / University of Utah, Salt Lake City Beethoven / Tower / Razaz Carrick / Davidson / Fry Street Quartet / Weinstock Sun 20 January 2019, 3.00pm Courtenay Centre, Piano Quintet / Glazunov / Suk / Mozart Newton Abbot Fitzwilliam String Quartet / Tilbrook Tue 22 January 2019, 8.00pm Concert Hall, Piano Quintet / Vivaldi / Dvoák / Spohr City Hall, Hong Kong Huang / Yang / Ling / Lin / Lee / Berthaud / Avital / Qin / Steckel / Lomdaridze / Haefliger / Dover String Quartet Sat 26 January 2019, 7.30pm G Live, Guildford Serenade for Strings / Mozart / Chopin / Tchaikovsky Ogawa / European Union Chamber Orchestra / Hofmann Mon 28 January 2019, 8.00pm Großer Saal, Hamburg Cello Concerto / Nicolai / Rachmaninov Gabetta / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Bringuier Tue 29 January 2019, 7.30 pm Concert Hall, Blagrave Street, Serenade for Strings / Reading, Berkshire Purcell / Haydn / Tchaikovsky Steele–Perkins / European Union Chamber Orchestra / Hofmann
No. 66 – December 2018 65 Dates for your Diary
Fri 1 February 2019, 1.05pm Concert Hall, ‘Musical Tales of Travel’ Cardiff University CF10 3EB Works by Elgar / Grainger / Stevenson / Liszt Hamilton, Piano Sun 3 February 2019, 8.00pm Großer Saal, Cello Concerto / Nicolai / Rachmaninov Frankfurt am Main Gabetta / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Bringuier Mon 4 February 2019, 1.00 pm Town Hall, Huddersfield Organ Sonata No. 2 / Beethoven / Mendelssohn / Whitlock / Franck Dewar, organ Fri 8 February 2019, 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall, Symphony No. 2 / Mendelssohn / Chopin Southbank Centre Mosell / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Parry Fri 8 February 2019, 8.00pm Grande salle Pierre Boulez, Cello Concerto / Debussy / Stravinsky Paris Kanneh–Mason / Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Rouvali Sat 9 February 2019, 8.00 pm Conexus Arts Centre, Cello Concerto / Britten / Vaughan Williams Regina SK, Canada Djokic / Regina Symphony Orchestra / Gerrard Sun 10 February 2019, 7.00pm Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Dream of Gerontius Southbank Centre Whately / Murray / Riches / Crouch End Festival Chorus / London Mozart Players / Temple Thu 14 February 2019, 7.30pm Stoller Hall, Manchester Enigma Variations / Britten / Sibelius Han / Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra / Threlfall Thu 14, Fri 15, Sun 17 February 2019 Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo, Milan Cello Concerto / Prokofiev Viersen / Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi / Flor Fri 15 February 2019, 7.30 pm Krannert Center Cello Concerto / Mendelssohn / for the Performing Arts, Vaughan Williams / Wooldridge Urbana IL (USA) Dee / Harrell / Sinfonia da Camera / Hobson
66 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
Fri 15 February 2019, 8.00pm Meistersingerhalle, Cello Concerto / Enigma Variations / Britten Nuremberg Bohórquez / Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg / Soddy
Thu 21 February 2019, 8.00 pm Symphony Hall, Baltimore MD (USA) Sun 24 February 2019, 3.00 pm Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda MD (USA) Cello Concerto / Debussy / Prokofiev Hakhnazaryan / Baltimore Symphony Orchestra / Hersh
Thu 28 February 2019, 7.30pm Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik Cello Concerto / Vidar / Lutoslawski Brantelid / Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Ollikainen
Thu 28 February 2019 Die Residenz: Fri 1 March 2019 Herkulessaal, Munich Cello Concerto / Britten / Vaughan Williams Gerhardt / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Macelaru
Fri 1 March 2019, 6.00pm Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik Cello Concerto / Tower Brantelid / Siggi String Quartet / Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Ollikainen
Fri 1 March 2019, 10.30pm Auditorio Nacional de Música, The Music Makers / Rachmaninov Madrid Kolosova / Fernández / Coro de RTVE / Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE / Pérez–Sierra
Sun 3 March 2019, 11.00am Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Chanson de Matin / Chanson de Nuit / Walton Radio Filharmonisch Orkest / Stenz
Thu 7 March 2019, 7.30 pm The Hawth, Crawley Fri 8 March 2019, 7.00pm City Hall, Sheffield Sun 10 March 2019, 3.00pm Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury Enigma Variations / Sibelius / Mozart / Vaughan Williams Pike / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Tali
Fri 8, Sun 10 March 2019 Konzerthaus, Vienna Cello Concerto / Beethoven / Shostakovich Hakhnazaryan / Vienna Symphony Orchestra / Hrusa
No. 66 – December 2018 67 Dates for your Diary
Thu 14 March 2019, 7.30pm City Hall, Hull Symphony No. 1 / Dvoák Elschenbroich / BBC Philharmonic / Sinaisky Sat 16 March 2019, 5.30pm King’s College Chapel, Enigma Variations / Bruckner Cambridge Choir of King’s College Cambridge / Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra / Cleobury Wed 20, Thu 21 March 2019 Grande salle Pierre Boulez, Cello Concerto / Ravel / Strauss R Paris Mørk / Orchestre de Paris / Zinman Thu 21 March 2019, 7.30pm Guildhall, Portsmouth Enigma Variations / Cello Concerto / Vaughan Williams Hugh / Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra / Hill Thu 21 March 2019, 8.00pm Palau de la Música, Barcelona Serenade for Strings / Webern / Shostakovich Orquestra Nacional Clàssica d Andorra / Martinez Fri 22 March 2019, 8.00pm Shostakovich Philharmonic Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 / Hall, St Petersburg Pomp and Circumstance March No. 2 / Pomp and Circumstance March No. 3 / Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 / Pomp and Circumstance March No. 5 / Sursum corda / Tchaikovsky Korobeinikov / St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra / Vedernikov Sat 23 March 2019, 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall, Cello Concerto / Beethoven / Mahler Southbank Centre Soltani / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Gardner Sat 23 March 2019, 7.30pm St John’s Smith Square, Symphony No. 1 / Walton / Rand / London SW1P Vaughan Williams Brown / Guildford Symphony Orchestra / Davison Wednesday 27 March 2019, 2.00pm Grieghallen, Bergen Cello Concerto / Grieg Stalheim / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Gardner
68 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary
Sat 30 March 2019, 7.30pm Royal Northern The Music Makers / Muldowney College of Music Abbott / Cobley / Buckmaster / Hopkinson / Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra / Newall
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 the performers.
Solution to Crossword No. 28
A M C E T S P T R O O T H A M U N E A R T H E T A B N X I E R E T I R E E E A T I N T O A L R S E C R T H E B E N D S S T R I N G H C S A W S P A E R I E C Y R I L F L A N R G I S L C E G B R A H M S I D O L I S E R R R P M B O I O V E R L A Y E I S W E I N K T O O A E T D E N T H R A L R E S C O R E N E E D S T N R
No. 66 – December 2018 69 An Elgarian Crossword
No 29, Set by Jolly Swagman
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 30 31
32 33
Across 8/10 He composed airs, and rode occasionally. We’re glad (3,6,5) 11 Rising to a small church bell’s sound around noon – or maybe with the lark (9) 12/33 10’s picture of racehorse is detailed and well constructed (5,6,3) 13 Liberated adults in France love 10’s work (5,6) 16 Vladimir’s somewhat quieter than before (3) 18 Mother can get the subject of 10’s French song (5) 19 Corbyn’s got an eye for poetry (3) 21 Maybe Tom’s sweetheart’s beginning to notice French art (5) 23 10’s mum has a new name (3) 25 Berg sues Liszt – mostly about 13a (11) 27 Mr Pan becomes a spin doctor (2,3) 29 Immediately? Yes Mr Carreras – in your dreams (2,3,4) 32 10 scholar’s low note (5) 33 See 12
70 Elgar Society News An Elgarian Crossword
Down 1 Anglo–Saxon image angers leaders on the continent (4) 2 Band needs support to select composition shunned by society (8) 3 Garden where in “mountain grots” they are at rest (4) 4 Moving slowly through bars East Ender tried to get one in (6) 5 Homeowner’s catty remark (4) 6 Balls can go on after about 10 – but not long – OK? (6) 7 Cups awarded to English bank (4) 9 A wild goat eats it restlessly (7) 13 Dance – primarily South American – many bars added (5) 14 The type of pieces I’m going to nail. There must be a key (5) 15 Change dance again (5) 17 Ponders about Euterpe and Clio? (5) 20 Model wore bra for fighting (4,3) 22 Berlin suburb where you can get drunk occasionally (Skol!) on Blue Nun. No? (8) 24 10’s variation of love embraced by Ulsterman’s daughter (6) 26 Greek character in Brussels church sings falsetto (6) 27 Type of music that entertains millions. Great show! (4) 28 No trains in Chicago on Christmas day ... (4) 30 ... – by the sound of it you’ll like that (4) 31 You need energy to go on – that’s the point (4)
No. 66 – December 2018 71 FOUNDED 1951 Registered as a Charity No 298062
President : Julian Lloyd Webber F.R.C.M. Chairman : Steven Halls
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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 : George Smart, 10 Cullin Park Grove, Strathaven, South Lanarkshire ML10 6EN Tel: 01357 520314; 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]
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EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL : Meinhard Saremba, Uhlandstrasse 31, Mannheim, Baden–Württemberg D–68167, Germany e–mail: [email protected] EDITOR OF THE NEWS : Peter James, Orchard Cottage, The Street, Walberton, W. Sussex, BN18 0PQ Tel: 07817 654807; e–mail: [email protected]
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