News

In this issue ...

Page Page Address for Communications 2 Membership Matters 23 Keep in touch 2 Delius Society 24 Letter from the Chairman 2 A previously unknown From the Editor 5 photo of Elgar? 25 Excellent News! 6 Obituaries 26 Birthday Weekend: Elgar Works 33 Elgar Festival and AGM 7 Letters to the Editor 36 Minutes of the 2019 AGM 9 Branch Events 37 Elgar Medal Awards 17 Dates for your Diary 41 Elgar Day at the Three Choirs 21 Crossword 52 Trustees’ Annual Report T1

No. 70 – April 2020 Address for Communications

Contributions for the August 2020 edition of the News should be e–mailed to the Editor:

Peter James: [email protected]

Full contact details can be found on the back cover. The latest date for submissions for the August 2020 issue is 25 June 2020.

Keep in Touch

Remember: you can keep up to date with the latest Elgarian news online at

Facebook: www.facebook.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com

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

What a missed opportunity, Herr Borsdorf!

This was the train of thought: the Scottish Branch of our Society requested a horn and piano recital by Gill and me for one of their meetings, naturally hoping that we would include ‘something by Elgar’. A perfectly reasonable request, were it not for the lamentable fact that Sir Edward wrote no solo horn pieces!

Nothing daunted, and with Parsifal–like enthusiasm, I ‘deranged’ , reasoning that it would work well for horn and piano. And so it proved: Gill and I gave the first and probably last performance to a suitably discerning audience.

2 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman

The thought grew – why did Elgar, who wrote so beautifully and idiomatically for the instrument, leave absolutely nothing for us to play? all, Edwin James, principal bassoon of the Symphony Orchestra, asked him to write something for his instrument and was rewarded with the lovely and underrated Romance, Op.62.

Elgar, who was principal conductor of the LSO between 1911 and 1913, must have come into frequent contact with Emil Borsdorf, who was not only principal horn but also a director of the board. Why Herr Borsdorf failed to obtain a work from his principal conductor is, of course, lost in the mists of time, but it remains a frustration.

Incidentally, Elgar consulted Borsdorf over the practicality (and difficulty) of a splendid flourish given to all four horns in his oratorio (Ex.1). This occurs in Part IV at Fig.144. (Only those fortunate possessors of the full score may study this as – scandalously – a study score has never been produced.)

This reticence on Elgar’s part has always struck me as strange because there are passages in the Cockaigne Overture – Fig.28–29 (Ex.2) – and especially the Second Symphony – Fig.146–149 (Ex.3) – which are technically more demanding. I speak from experience! In fact, Constantin Silvestri – he of the celebrated recording of – used to say that the correct tempo for Cockaigne was the one at which the horns could negotiate said passage!

Norman Del Mar (another fine Elgarian) ticked off Alan Civil at a rehearsal for joining in with the in their beautiful melody in ‘B.G.N.’ in the ‘Enigma’ Variations. Civil responded by saying

No. 70 – April 2020 3 Letter from the Chairman

that his teacher, Frank Probyn, had received the composer’s own approval for this; Elgar telling him that he would have scored it thus but was fearful that it would lie too high for comfort.

You perhaps know the story told by Sir Adrian, that they were sitting in the Queen’s Hall prior to a rehearsal as the orchestra were warming up. Elgar suddenly grabbed Boult’s arm, saying, ‘Listen to what that trumpet player is doing – if I wrote that he’d say it was unplayable!’

So, the next time you are listening to one of Elgar’s orchestral works – spare a thought for the horns! Neil Mantle

4 Elgar Society News From the Editor

7 April 2020 will mark the centenary of the death of Alice, Lady Elgar. In : Memories of a Variation Dora Penny recalled how Alice ‘schemed and planned, suggested and persuaded, while aiding and abetting [Elgar] in all that he did. She contrived that he should meet the right people, saved him from troublesome interviews, and always did what she could to keep worries from him.’ In doing so did she sacrifice a promising career as a poet? Sadly, Peter Sutton, writing in August 2019’s Journal, thought not. Referring to her ‘stock epithets’ and ‘strict metre’, he thought that ‘despite her best efforts, she did not truly have [a career]’. History may conclude, then, that her accomplishment was, in Dora Penny’s not very politically correct words, to be ‘an ideal wife for a genius!’ For that she deserves our gratitude.

Readers will no doubt remember David Packman’s presentation to last year’s AGM on ‘A Way Ahead for the Elgar Society’ (reprinted in the August News). Now, West Midlands Branch Chairman John Harcup has reported that David ‘is continuing to lead an initiative to bring classical music, and Elgar’s in particular, back to our state schools. We are now receiving support from the Elgar Society Executive and the local Severn Arts Group. One of our initiatives is to hold a series of short concerts for young people which will be available to them at a nominal charge. It is still proving a battle to interest other authorities but David and our “Think Tank” are determined to win!’

You may also remember Derek Holland’s rather fulsome tribute to the conductor in the April 2019 News. Derek described him as ‘our greatest living Elgar conductor’ and suggested that our Society should ‘make a gesture of recognition to this great man and musician who has served our composer so tirelessly’. Well, that recognition materialised on 8 March, at a concert at St John’s Church, Waterloo, when Adrian Brown was presented with the Elgar Medal. Read the full report on page 19.

No. 70 – April 2020 5 From the Editor

Elgar found himself in unusual company in January when Sheku Kanneh–Mason’s recording of the Concerto made it into the Top Ten of the UK Album Charts. Here he is nestling between Junk Food and Hollywood’s Bleeding. Sheku is reported as saying, ‘Thank you, Edward Elgar, for writing such a fantastic piece of music!’ Indeed, and many congratulations to all involved. Peter James

Excellent News!

As this edition of the Elgar Society News was going to press, we heard that a man had been charged in connection with the theft of Elgar’s OM and GCVO medals from The Firs, and the medals recovered. The medals (described in the August 2019 edition of the News, pages 18 and 19) were stolen on 27 June 2019 after burglars had broken down the door at the Elgar Birthplace Cottage. Happily, the medals, valued at approximately £50,000, were apparently undamaged. Richard Smith

6 Elgar Society News Birthday Weekend : Elgar Festival and AGM Elgar Festival As you will have seen, this mailing contains details of the 2020 Elgar Festival which will take place in Worcester from Thursday 28 May through to Sunday 31 May and is supported by the Elgar Society. As before, the Festival is timed to coincide with the Society’s Birthday Weekend. This year the Festival has been extended to four days and includes additional events including late night concerts, an additional concert in the Cathedral and a number of other talks, exhibitions and musical performances. The Gala Concert to be held on the Saturday evening will feature Elgar’s Symphony No.1 performed by the English Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Woods. The concert will be preceded by the 2020 A.T. Shaw Lecture, to be given by Stephen Darlington and entitled ‘Elgar’s First Symphony in the English Canon’. Tickets for all of the Festival’s events can now be purchased from Worcester Live Box Office, Huntingdon Hall, Crowngate, Worcester, tel. 01905 61142, on line from Eventbrite at https:// www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the–elgar–festival–patron–membership– tickets–90796212917?aff=ebdssbeac or go to the Elgar Festival website and click ‘Book Now’. By quoting the promotion code ElgarSociety20, Society members can receive a 10% discount on all bookings. Stuart Freed Annual General Meeting 2020 Nominations for Council Officers and Members of Council The date agreed for the AGM is Sunday 31 May 2020. The arrangements have had to be adjusted because the Cathedral has a Confirmation Service at 4pm and Evensong is not until 6.30pm. The arrangements are: AGM at 1.30pm at The Firs, followed by the Birthday Toast and Tea. Evensong at the Cathedral at 6.30pm, followed by the laying of the chaplet at the Elgar window.

No. 70 – April 2020 7 Birthday Weekend and AGM

Officer Nominations

In line with the constitutional requirement I have received valid nominations for the following Officer posts:

Chairman Neil Mantle Vice–Chairman Stuart Freed Hon. Treasurer Peter Smith Hon. Secretary George Smart

Council Members

Two other Council members have completed one term – Peter Newble and Roy Whittaker. Valid nominations have also been received for both to seek a second term.

Two members of the existing Council will be stepping down at the AGM in 2020, having completed two terms of four years – Geoff Scargill and Ruth Hellen. This creates two Council member vacancies to fill at the AGM.

The closing date for nominations was set at 20 February 2020 to allow for the possibility of a ballot being required. Nominations for the two vacancies which will arise at the AGM can be made up until 4 April 2020, assuming there are no more than two nominations. Nomination forms can be supplied to members of the Society by the Honorary Secretary. George Smart, Hon. Secretary

To complement the events for the Elgar Birthday Weekend and Elgar Festival, there will be the usual Mass at St Wulstan’s Church at Little Malvern on Sunday 31 May 2020 at 10.30am. Following this, at approximately 11.45am, there will be the traditional ceremony of the laying of a wreath at the Elgar Grave. Everyone is invited to attend one or both events. Richard Smith

8 Elgar Society News Birthday Weekend and AGM

The crowd which gathered to witness Paul Grafton laying the wreath on the Elgar Grave last year

Minutes of the 2019 AGM

SIXTY–NINTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Sunday 2nd June 2019 at 2.00pm St Andrew’s Methodist Church Hall, Pump Street, Worcester, WR1 2QT

1. ’s welcome and opening remarks The President welcomed 47 members to the first and last time he would be chairing an AGM. He referred to Elgar’s skill as a composer when wholly self–taught. The is written with great mastery so that the cello speaks through the orchestra.

No. 70 – April 2020 9 Minutes of the 2019 AGM

2. Apologies for absence: Martin Passande, Andrew Neill, Steven Halls, Ruth & Bob Hellen, Tom & Maureen Kelly, Jean Newble, Andrew Keener, Hilary Elgar, Wendy & Bernard Hill, Gill Bradshaw, Kathleen Goodie, Joan Smith, Myra Smart, John Harcup, Neil Mantle and Brenda Watson 3. Confirmation of the Minutes of the Sixty–Eighth Annual General Meeting: The minutes were confirmed. Proposed: Ed Elsey Seconded: Paul Grafton 4. Society Chairman’s Report. Dr Steven Halls had submitted a written report [printed in the April 2019 News]. Julian Lloyd Webber referred to the significant achievements during Steven’s period as Chairman, a sentiment which was supported by those present. 5. Treasurer’s Report and presentation of the Annual Accounts for information. Peter Smith, who is proposed as Treasurer, introduced himself and indicated that the handover from Helen was progressing well. A copy of the accounts had been circulated which were slightly different from those published in the April News. The differences relate to information from Branch level. This is in the process of being resolved and cleared with the Independent Examiner. The final version will be published in the [December] News. The accounts show a deficit for the year of around £7,000 which compares favourably with previous years. This is mostly attributed to the costs of recording which are now largely complete. Subscriptions are down slightly although membership numbers are up. This reflects the Free Membership Scheme. The Society needs to find ways of converting free into paid memberships. There were no legacies during the year and members were urged to remember the Society when making their will. Michael Butterfield expressed concern on the deficit. Peter Smith indicated that a charity’s money should be spent on the charitable purposes, which was the case here, and not left in bank accounts, especially those with minimal return. He indicated that the Investec investment had provided a good return for the Society but this was not included in the 2019 period.

10 Elgar Society News Minutes of the 2019 AGM

Geoff Scargill congratulated Helen for her work and for her advice on this investment which had proved financially of greater benefit to the Society than the low bank interest.

Ed Elsey reminded members that in making their wills they should provide for the Society by a fraction of the estate since the value of an estate can change considerably over time.

The Chairman asked, if the requirement for funding for recordings was coming to an end, what future funding was to be allocated towards. Philip Petchey referred to the continuing work via Elgar in Performance supporting performances, and the consideration the Society was giving to educational matters and work with young people. Richard Smith gave as an example the work being undertaken on young people in the West Midlands Branch in conjunction with the English Symphony Orchestra.

Proposal: The accounts be adopted subject to the remaining matters being resolved to the satisfaction of the Treasurer and the Independent Examiner.

Proposed: Richard Smith Seconded: Ed Elsey

6. Adoption of the Trustees’ Annual Report The report had been included in the April News. The meeting agreed to adopt the report.

7. Appointment of the Independent Examiner Thanks were expressed to Adrian Benselin for acting in this capacity and it was agreed that he be appointed for the current year.

Proposed: Philip Petchey Seconded: Kevin Mitchell

8. Secretary’s Report The Secretary presented a report on the events of the year and paid tribute to members who had died during the year and more recently. A copy of the report is attached.

No. 70 – April 2020 11 Minutes of the 2019 AGM

9. Society Officers: Nomination of Officers: Chairman No nomination received Vice–Chairman Stuart Freed Hon. Secretary George Smart Hon. Treasurer Peter Smith Stuart Freed explained that a late nomination had been received for the post as Chairman from Neil Mantle MBE. He suggested that Neil would be co–opted by the Council and act as Chairman until the next AGM when he could be formally elected. This proposal was agreed by a show of hands. Neil Mantle was not able to be present due to leading a rehearsal in Edinburgh but Stuart read the […] statement from Neil [printed in the August 2019 News]. Membership Secretary: Chris Bennett has taken over from David Young. The above changes were agreed. 10. Council Members Changes: Existing Vacancy: Nomination Elizabeth Luder. Jon Goldswain is stepping down: Nomination Helen Whittaker. To note remaining members of Council: Paul Grafton, Ruth Hellen, Peter Newble, Philip Petchey, Geoff Scargill, Roy Whittaker. The above changes were agreed. 11. Date of the Next AGM – 31st May 2020 – Agreed 12. Report on Presidential Position (a) Resignation of Julian Lloyd Webber as President Julian was thanked for his service to the Society over his ten years as President. (b) Council–Proposed Nomination of Sir as President, for endorsement at the AGM: Agreed Unanimously. (c) Council–Proposed Nomination of Julian Lloyd Webber as Vice–President, for endorsement at the AGM: The proposal was endorsed by members present. Julian thanked the Society for the honour and indicated that he was committed to promoting Elgar and his music, especially abroad.

12 Elgar Society News Minutes of the 2019 AGM

Close of AGM

13. West Midlands Branch: ‘A Way Ahead for the Elgar Society’. David Packman addressed the AGM and his contribution [was printed in the August 2019 News].

14. Written questions submitted before the AGM a. West Midlands Branch: Asked if the Executive was prepared to support the initiatives outlined by David Packman. Stuart Freed said he would speak to David to organise bringing the proposals forward for consideration by Council.

15. Questions from the floor a. Michael Trott referred to the binders which are used to keep copies of the Journal. Stocks are low and he and others are using their last binder. Stuart Freed indicated that a re–ordering of binders would be looked into. b. Geoff Scargill indicated that the Hans Sachs Choir of Nuremberg were keen to link with choirs in the UK with a view to joint concerts, exchange visits or personal links. Members who are involved with choirs and are interested should contact him.

16. AOB Editor of the Journal: Stuart Freed reported that Meinhard Saremba is standing down as editor at the end of the year and therefore the Society needs to find a new editor. If anyone has interest in this they should contact Stuart Freed.

REPORT OF HON. SECRETARY

Key events of 2019

Presentation of Elgar Medal to Alexander Walker A date was finally arrived at to present the medal to Alexander Walker, and the presentation was made by Andrew Neill at a concert in Cadogan Hall. This featured a performance of the by Alda Dizdari, an Albanian violinist who has expressed her love of the concerto, which she has premiered in Albania and , in her book Kiss Me Again.

No. 70 – April 2020 13 Minutes of the 2019 AGM

Presentation of Certificate of Merit to David Young David’s service over many years to the Society was recognised by presenting him with the Certificate of Merit at the Council meeting on 2 March 2019. Constitutional Change Update The amendment to the Constitution agreed at last year’s AGM has been registered with the Charity Commission. SW Branch At the South West Branch AGM on 26 January 2019, attended by three people, no nominations were made for Branch officers and no programme presented for the year. Therefore until members come forward who are prepared to be nominated as officers of the Branch it remains dormant. Obituaries Sadly, 2018 and the period since has seen the loss of a number of members who have made a major contribution to the Society and its work. Donald Hunt Donald could justifiably be titled the ‘Master of the Society’s Music’, so immense was his contribution through his performances of Elgar’s music and the many talks which he gave to Branches throughout the country. Having been born in Gloucester, he joined the cathedral choir and was mentored by Herbert Sumsion, a direct link to Elgar. I first heard Donald in performance in 1988 conducting a gala concert performance of Gerontius to mark the end of his 30 years with the Halifax Choral Society. His programmes there over that 30 years reflect his wide–ranging musical interests that were to become evident subsequently at Three Choirs Festivals. He was also organist and choirmaster at Leeds Parish Church, now Leeds Minster, from 1957 to 1975. One fruit of that period was his book, published in 1990, on Samuel Sebastian Wesley, who had held the same post some years earlier. On the move to Worcester Cathedral in 1975, alongside his cathedral responsibility for the sung services, he did his turn every third year in organising what eventually became eight Three Choirs Festivals. The programmes for those years demonstrated a

14 Elgar Society News Minutes of the 2019 AGM musician with a wide range of interests, and skill in performance and programme planning. At the Three Choirs he was noted for introducing continental composers to the Festival, particularly the French – Villette, Langlais and Messiaen. For many of us the twenty–year period of the Hunt, Massey and Sanders triumvirate was a memorable period for the Festival. As he related in his Festival Memories, one of his special memories was conducting Elgar’s music in the cathedral in which the composer had performed. One of his other highlights was realising a boyhood ambition to conduct the Elgar Cello Concerto, which he did for the first time with Julian as the soloist in the Hereford Festival of 1976. On leaving the cathedral he continued to make a unique contribution to Elgar’s music and the Society, directing his own Elgar Chorale and as principal of the Elgar School of Music. One of his most lasting achievements for the Society was editing the Complete Edition of the part–songs, and the twelve sacred choral pieces in the Cramer edition. He was a very active and willing Vice– President of the Society to whom we owe a great debt. We should also record that Jo, Donald’s wife of many years, also died earlier this year. Paul Bassett I first met Paul and Sharron Bassett at a performance of The Light of Life in Glasgow, which proved to be the founding of the Scottish Branch, which Paul led as Chairman until his health problems prevented him from continuing in 2018. His enthusiasm for Elgar was infectious and very few people could refuse one of Paul’s gentle requests or suggestions. He was also a member of a speaker’s club in Dunfermline and spoke to groups and societies on Elgar, a true apostle. He persuaded many notable Elgarians to speak at the Branch, accompanied by hospitality, when required, at , Paul and Sharron’s home. He was particularly keen to encourage live music at Branch meetings, which has become a feature of the Scottish Branch. It is to be hoped that his work researching a book on the violinist Billy Reed can be brought to fruition. He made many friends within the Society at the Birthday weekends, and enjoyed these events to the full. His other passions were football and horse racing, and for the Year of Elgar in 2007 he organised Society sponsorship of a steeplechase at the Worcester races.

No. 70 – April 2020 15 Minutes of the 2019 AGM

Kenneth Bowen Kenneth was a distinguished Welsh tenor and professor of singing at the , who claimed to have sung Gerontius in more than 200 performances, including under Sir . The Bowen dynasty continues to make a contribution to the through one of his sons, Geraint Bowen, the current organist of Hereford Cathedral. Ernie Kay Ernie was a stalwart of the West Midlands Branch and a friend to members there and elsewhere. I first met him when he was setting up for a Three Choirs concert in Hereford at St Francis Xavier’s Church. He was a willing doer and good organiser, reflecting the experience gained in his work in local government with the GLC. He had a wide range of interests and his organising abilities were not just evident in the Society. He organised and physically helped in the rebuilding of the Offa’s Dyke path, and then wrote the guidebook. He was extremely generous to the Society, establishing the Kay Trust in memory of his two wives. This has supported recent recordings, the restoration of the Elgar summerhouse as well as the Birthplace itself and the Malvern Theatres and Concert Club. He will be sadly missed. Gordon Richardson Gordon was another Branch founder, in his case the original East Midlands Branch in the 1970s. With his wife Lorna he attended the Birthday weekend each year until a few years ago. Ken Smith Ken Smith was one of the members responsible for re–establishing the East Midlands Branch, which he subsequently served as Branch Secretary, and was a leading influence on re–building the Branch to what it is . Every Branch needs a Ken Smith. Martin Bird As I was finalising this report, John Norris notified me that Martin had died, suddenly and unexpectedly. Although this happened since the year of this report, I am sure we would all like to pay tribute to Martin’s work for the Society. Members will mostly remember him as Editor of the Journal for more than eight years. He also edited the volumes of Elgar correspondence and the diaries, a

16 Elgar Society News Minutes of the 2019 AGM source of lasting value to researchers. Many members will have benefited from listening to his informative talks and consulting him on matters historical. Martin was so generous with his time and encyclopaedic knowledge. His funeral took place in Abbots Langley last Thursday. Thanks I would like to close by thanking the other Executive Officers, Council members, Branch Chairmen and Secretaries for their support and assistance during the year. I would particularly like to thank Richard Smith for helping as a local contact and organiser for today’s events.

Elgar Medal Awards

The Elgar Medal has been awarded twice in the past few months: firstly, in November 2019, to the young Russian violinist Anastasia Vedyakova; and in March 2020 to conductor Adrian Brown. Anastasia Vedyakova Anastasia started playing the violin at the age of four, and at six was awarded the diploma ‘The Youngest Participant’ at a Moscow competition for young musicians. In 2012 Anastasia was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Elgar Society for the promotion of the composer’s music across Russia. Whilst at the Moscow Conservatoire she developed a love for Elgar’s music, and has since given many concerts of his music across Russia, playing all the violin works, brilliantly and often from memory, as well as organizing concerts of Elgar’s chamber music and various orchestral works. Elgar in Performance helped Anastasia to search out some of the composer’s rarer works, and has received DVDs of her concerts, where she also talks about Elgar’s life and music to audiences who must be largely unfamiliar with him. Last November Anastasia was scheduled to attend an Anglo– Russian conference in Preston and offered to give a recital (without professional fees) in Manchester, accompanied by Barry Collett. The committee of the North West Branch were delighted to take up this offer, and after detailed discussion and planning we were able to

No. 70 – April 2020 17 Elgar Medal Awards

arrange for the recital to take place at the Royal Northern College of Music on the evening of 5 November. The free recital, which was open to the public, was attended by a large and appreciative audience. The programme comprised a series of early works and ended with the in E minor, Op.82. Some of these pieces were very familiar, some were very rarely heard. They were all played quite superbly by this highly talented duo of professional musicians, who received enthusiastic applause. Unbeknown to Anastasia and to the vast majority of those in the audience, the Council of the Elgar Society had decided to award the Elgar Medal to Anastasia in recognition of her work in promoting Elgar and his music in Russia. Stuart Freed, Vice–Chairman of the Society, was in the audience and after the concert made a very complimentary and appreciative speech before presenting the Elgar Medal to Anastasia, who was clearly both astonished and delighted. The audience then responded with renewed applause; it was a very fitting end to a hugely enjoyable evening of entertainment. David L. Jones

Anastasia Vedyakova receiving the award from Stuart Freed

18 Elgar Society News Elgar Medal Awards

Adrian Brown As the formal citation records, in the course of a career which now spans more than 50 years, Adrian has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and performed both the major and the lesser– known works of Elgar. He has passed on that enthusiasm through his work with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the National Wind Youth Orchestra. Nothing can show his commitment more than his founding of the Elgar Sinfonia of London; the recollection of Elgar at their concerts in the intimate surroundings of St John’s, Waterloo, is more vivid than some performances by professional orchestras in more august surroundings. As the latest recipient of the award, Adrian Brown joins a long line of distinguished conductors, including his old friend Sir . The award is particularly fitting as Adrian was a pupil of Sir , the first President of the Elgar Society. On Sunday 8 March 2020 the Sinfonia took on the challenge presented by ’s elaboration of Elgar’s sketches for a third symphony. Anthony Payne was present and was able to congratulate the orchestra and its leader, Ellen Gallagher, on an outstanding performance before presenting Adrian with the medal. He noted the particular qualities that made him such a worthy recipient: ‘his structural command, for example, of the complexities that characterise Elgar’s grandest works, his intense identification with the composer’s emotions, and his ability to navigate them’. As he pointed out, these were characteristics which were obvious in the performance that we had just heard. He also made some more general observations. He said: In the fifties and sixties when I was attempting to become a composer, it had become unfashionable to espouse the Elgarian cause, indeed the cause of most early twentieth century composers. I’m talking of Vaughan Williams, Bax, Moeran, Ireland1 and many others. The staunch support of a few, among whom, standing firm, was Adrian, did much to re–establish these unfairly neglected figures. As a consequence young composers today are able to take these masters as seriously as they do the modernists that were so

1 We had heard in the first half of the concert a marvellous performance of Ireland’s Piano Concerto played by Rustam Khanmurzin, a young Russian player of whom we will hear more in the future. No. 70 – April 2020 19 Elgar Medal Awards

much more acceptable when I was young. Adrian then strengthened this tidal wave in taste by teaching much of the music to young orchestras. Something for which we must be eternally grateful. Adrian, I thank you!

Thanking Anthony and the Society, Adrian emphasised that at the heart of good performance lay the relationship between orchestra and conductor, evolving over time, so that they were able to bring to their performance a common understanding and interpretation. He revealed that as a very young man it was Berlioz and not Elgar whom he most revered. Without giving up the former, he came to love the latter both through his studies at the Academy and also, by visiting Worcester and the Birthplace, through being able to earth the music in the surroundings of its composition. In the best tradition of award ceremonies, he paid tribute to those who had helped him: among many people, the orchestras, Maurice Miles (his teacher at the Academy), his daughters Juliet and Joanna, and above all Anthony Payne (right) his wife Margaret. making the presentation to Adrian Brown The concert on 8 March was supported by the Elgar Society and sponsored by Colin and Clare Croly: an investment well repaid. Philip Petchey

20 Elgar Society News Elgar Day at the Three Choirs Festival

This year both the Elgar Society Lecture and Lunch will be held at the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, Upper Tything, Worcester, WR1 1HP on Thursday 30 July 2020.

RGS Worcester is an independent school for girls and boys and is a combination of what was the Worcester Royal Grammar School for boys and the neighbouring Alice Ottley girls’ school. In former years this latter was known as Worcester Girls’ High School and it was here that Elgar began to give violin lessons in 1892, a fact recognised a few years ago by a plaque erected by the West Midlands Branch at the school’s entrance. From the combination of these two schools a splendid campus has been created, to which the most recent addition is the state–of–the–art Godfrey Brown Theatre, which commemorates A.G.K. Brown, a long–serving headmaster and Olympic gold medallist.

The headmaster and governors of RGS and members of the West Midlands Branch at the unveiling of the plaque on 17 September 2017 [Photo: Richard Smith]

No. 70 – April 2020 21 Elgar Day at the Three Choirs

The Elgar Lecture will take place in this new building, beginning at 11am, and the speaker will be Adrian Lucas on the subject ‘The Elgar–Atkins partnership in Worcester’. Adrian, of course, was formerly the Organist and Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral and Artistic Director of the Worcester Three Choirs Festivals. Currently he is conductor of the excellent City of Birmingham Choir and Head of Choral Studies of the RSCM.

The Lunch will follow the Lecture at 12.45pm in Perrins Hall. It was in Perrins Hall that the founding Chairman of the Elgar Society, A.T. Shaw, presided at the organ each morning for school assemblies for many years after the Second World War. The hall was a benefaction of Dyson Perrins of Lea and Perrins Sauce fame. Another well–known personality connected with RGS is Henry Sandon, who, prior to becoming a renowned contributor to the Antiques Roadshow, taught music at the school as well as performing as a lay clerk at the cathedral. Providing his health allows, we hope that Henry will be one of our guests at this year’s Lunch.

The school has car parking at front and rear and is roughly a ten– minute walk straight along High Street, and a few hundred yards on the right beyond Foregate Street station; for the not so active there will be transport from the cathedral. Tickets, at £15 for the Lunch and £12 for the Lecture, will become available on 22 April from the Three Choirs box office (01452 768928 or https://3choirs.org). David Parkes and Richard Smith

The evening concert in Worcester Cathedral on 30 July will comprise the Elgar/Payne Symphony No.3, the recently reconstructed Cello Concerto by (soloist Guy Johnston) and, to start, Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Anna–Maria Helsing will conduct the .

22 Elgar Society News Membership Matters

Membership subscriptions are due each year in the first week of January, and I’d like to thank all the members of the Elgar Society who have paid their subscriptions for 2020. However, there are still an awful lot of you who have yet to pay. The Society can’t operate without membership subscriptions, so I’d be grateful if those of you who have forgotten could settle up as soon as possible. There are a variety of ways to pay: • Annual Standing Order, or regular PayPal payment • Cheque payable to The Elgar Society • Bank transfer to The Elgar Society, Sort Code 30–99–90, A/c No. 00212038 • PayPal via the Membership section of the Society’s website • Credit/Debit card via the Membership section of the Society’s website • Or you can telephone me with your card details

To help us to identify subscribers who pay by Standing Order or bank transfer, please include as a reference your membership number, or some other unique identifier such as first line of address.

The Society can get Gift Aid benefit from all subscriptions paid by UK tax payers. In order to ensure that we are complying with the latest government guidelines we are asking all members to fill in a new Gift Aid form, whether or not they have completed one prior to 2019. Over 200 of you have completed a new form so far; thank you for that. If anybody else would like the Society to relieve HMRC of a few pounds to be used for the good of Elgar, they too can help. A Gift Aid form is included in the mailing with this edition of the Journal and News. When completed the form should be returned to me. Alternatively you can complete the form on–line via the membership section of www.elgarsociety.org. You will only have to complete the new form once, and it will be valid for all future subscriptions, or until you advise us that you would like the arrangement to cease.

Members in North America will be aware that our usual distributor of the Journal and News has been letting us down recently, with their stated delivery time of 10–12 days stretching to 10–12 weeks, or not arriving at all. I can only apologise for this. We are trying a new method of distribution this time, and hopefully you will receive this edition in good time.

No. 70 – April 2020 23 Membership Matters

Please do get in touch with any Membership matters – full contact details are on the back cover of the News. Chris Bennett Hon. Membership Secretary

We are delighted to welcome the following new members to the Society:

Jeremy O’Rourke Norwich Bob Spencer Stockport Karl Routledge–Wilson Nottingham Dorothy Gale Stroud Robert MacPhail Isleworth Donald Faulkner Lewes R.S. Surrey York Ken Thomas Southampton Nicholas Higgs Machynlleth Jeremy Neville Eastleigh John Cowell Malvern James Beyer Edinburgh Jeremy Nicholson Battersea Michael Brown Sawbridgeworth Bernard Neville Cardiff

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. To join the Delius Society please contact membership secretary Jim Beavis: [email protected].

The Delius Society meets five or six times a year and recent events have taken place in Birmingham and Cambridge, as well as in central London. Full details can be found on the Delius Society’s website: www.delius.org.uk.

24 Elgar Society News A previously unknown photograph of Elgar?

I recently came across a photograph of this gentleman. No, it’s not Elgar but the German aviation pioneer Professor Hugo Junkers (3 February 1859 to 3 February 1935). Junkers, a staunch anti–Nazi, began to manufacture boilers, radiators, and water heaters in 1895. In 1909 he founded an aircraft company and patented a flying–wing design during the following year. A proponent of all–metal construction, he produced one the world’s first modern airliners using this technique, the Junkers F 13, in 1919. This was eventually developed into the Ju 52/3m which saw wide–scale airline service.

Junkers was a pacifist and this made him unpopular with the Nazis who wanted his company to produce military designs. In 1933 he was placed under house arrest and died two years later. Apart from his pioneering work on civil aviation, he was also an advocate and patron of the Bauhaus, in particular in the field of tubular steel furniture. He worked closely with the artists and masters of that group and the first model designs of the famous tubular steel armchair by Marcel Breuer were created in the Junkers factory. Richard Smith

No. 70 – April 2020 25 A previously unknown photo of Elgar?

The Junkers F 13 airliner

Obituaries

Paul Adrian Rooke (1945–2019)

Members may have read in the last issue of the News of the accident to befall Paul Rooke, the Chief Originator and co–founder of Elgar Works. Having fractured his skull in a fall in July 2019, he spent five months in hospital and a nursing home where, despite showing early signs of a good recovery, he eventually died in mid–November. His very Elgarian funeral – Sospiri, the ‘Canto Popolare’ (Dutton Vol.23 recording) and ‘Softly and gently’ – took place on 12 December.

I first met Paul when we both attended our first Committee meeting of the London Branch of the Elgar Society back in 1993; in itself not a momentous occasion, but from little acorns. ... A liking for the music of Elgar wasn’t the only thing we had in common – I immediately recognised a kindred sense of humour – and while Elgar has been a constant thread, it has brought other insights as well, including his excellent culinary skills, even if used primarily to deliver three curries a day and, as a secondary school music master, his strong rapport with pupils of all ages.

26 Elgar Society News Obituaries

We first got to know Paul well in 1996, during which he conducted two–thirds of all UK performances of King Olaf in the work’s centenary year. The other performance that year was under the baton of Donald Hunt at Victoria Hall in Hanley, the venue of the work’s première, with professional forces, but Paul was courageous enough to stage his two performances with the combined choirs of Hitchin Girls and Boys Schools, backed by an amateur orchestra. Paul later told us that he realised his pupils were enjoying rehearsals when he heard groups of girls marching down the corridor during their break singing ‘I am the God Thor’. And another little acorn here: an earlier member of the boys’ choir, having been introduced to Elgar when Paul put on a school performance of The Light of Life, grew up to become the current General Editor of the Elgar Complete Edition. Paul was generous with his time and in 2007, the 150th anniversary of Elgar’s birth, he helped several fellow teachers in the Society to run day schools on Elgar. We have fond memories of a very artistic day Paul helped to put together at a school in Otford, Kent, and a different sort of celebratory event at a school in Aldershot. For the latter, to his compositional output of almost one hundred works which includes two symphonies, two concertos and an opera, he added a real earworm called ‘Mrs Figglebottom’, the chorus of which comprises one line sung repeatedly – ‘Mrs Figglebottom ooh la lah!’. It was an instant hit with kids at the school, indeed with kids of all ages including Paul himself. We last sang it in Brussels in early 2018 after Paul mounted the stage by invitation to lead a rather raucous rendition by a gaggle of ageing and rather intoxicated kids gathered to help the setter of the News celebrate his 60th birthday. This was on one of three visits to Brussels we made with Paul, and we spent a number of European holidays with him – one in Spain, several in France – but the most significant was a trip to Switzerland in 2003. By this time, Paul was the Society’s publicity secretary and was asked to take the Society’s publicity stands to the annual Gstaad Festival where Elgar’s Cello Concerto was to be performed by the European Youth Orchestra. The publicity stands were not easy to carry and Gstaad is not easy to get to, so the proof reader of the News and I suggested to Paul that he should allow us to act as his chauffeur.

No. 70 – April 2020 27 Obituaries

Paul Adrian Rooke

It proved to be a significant trip, from which two memories in particular stand out. Having set up the stands in the festival marquee during the afternoon rehearsal, a chap emerged at speed from the concert hall soon after the rehearsal had finished and, glancing at the display, turned to read it. The chap was the orchestra’s conductor, , who engaged us in an animated conversation about the Society and the Birthplace. Two years later, we were with Paul after a concert at the Festival Hall when he suggested we should go back stage to say hello to a former pupil playing in the orchestra. Who should we meet back stage but that evening’s conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy, who fondly recalled our encounter in Gstaad. But the more significant conversation had taken place the evening before the Gstaad concert. We had stopped for the night an hour or so short of Gstaad and, after a pleasant meal, the three of us went for a moonlit, almost romantic, stroll on the shore of Lake Geneva. Paul opened the batting by asking, ‘What is this thing called the Elgar Complete Edition?’ I hope he never regretted asking, as it grew to become a dominant, all–consuming force in our friendship, indeed our lives – though not immediately.

28 Elgar Society News Obituaries

Paul, who served as the conductor of the Hitchin Symphony Orchestra for some 35 years, had long bemoaned the poor quality of music scores supplied by commercial hire libraries at high fees for his orchestra to play from. Our response was to set up a charity, Elgar Works, for Paul to produce newly created, high quality parts for works by Elgar (and occasionally other composers) and make them available at low prices. We got the charity up and running in late 2006. At that time Novello were providing scores for Complete Edition volumes by amending the plates used for the original publication of the works a century earlier. Within weeks, we were asked by the trustees if we would take over responsibility for publishing the Elgar Complete Edition. Unsurprisingly, we said yes. It was an act of faith. We had no idea of what lay ahead. Complete Editions often progress slowly and the Elgar Complete Edition, launched in 1981, had published only sixteen volumes in its first 25 years. Thanks in large part to Paul’s dedication and hard work, in the twelve years since Elgar Works took over, we have published a further nineteen volumes and Paul has left us with newly created electronic scores ready for all but four of the eleven volumes we still have to publish – a huge achievement. The ultimate accolade came some years later from our contact at Novello who freely acknowledged the visual superiority of Paul’s scores to those used by Novello. Sadly it is the sort of achievement which goes all but unnoticed, but Paul had the satisfaction of knowing that scores he had created for the Complete Edition have been used by almost all major professional orchestras in the UK; in performances in such far flung places as the High Andes and Taiwan; and – a source of particular satisfaction to him – for a ballet still being performed by a ballet school in a remote part of the Czech Republic. He also supplied scores, unobtainable from elsewhere, for first recordings of works not only by Elgar but also by Rutland Boughton, having served for some years as musical advisor to the Boughton Trust. And, as noted above, his funeral service fittingly ended with a recording from the CD of short orchestral works from Volume 23 in the Complete Edition, using scores created and provided by Paul and conducted by David Lloyd–Jones, a great admirer of Paul’s handiwork and present among the mourners.

No. 70 – April 2020 29 Obituaries

And of course Paul’s name appears as Chief Originator in every Complete Edition volume we publish, with most of the volumes going to academic libraries around the world, so his name ‘will forever remain in the history of music’. These are not my words. To celebrate Elgar’s 150th anniversary in 2007, we put on an all–Elgar concert in Rickmansworth containing at least five world premières of works – three unconnected movements for Piano Trio; and two Polonaises – left unfinished by Elgar but obligingly completed by Paul so that they could be performed at the concert. A few days before Paul’s funeral, I received two e–mails, the first from Barry Collett, forwarding another he had just received from Anastasia Vedyakova, who was recently awarded the Elgar Medal (see report on page 17) :

Dear friends,

Let me express my deepest condolences from myself and my family regarding the passing of Sir Paul Adrian Rook [sic]. For me, it is invaluable what he did with the works of Elgar, I mean the Polonaises and Three Movements. This is an amazing, sincere work done by Sir Rook; it will forever remain in the history of music. We often perform these works in Russia ... The soul of Sir Rook is next to the soul of Sir Edward Elgar in the best of worlds.

Respectfully yours Anastasia Vedyakova Petrikirsche, St.Petersburg

The second, from Ashley Brown, cellist with the NZ Trio, arrived just over 24 hours later, advising me that the New Zealand première of the Elgar–Rooke Piano Trio movements would be given in Auckland on 11 December, the evening before the funeral, a fitting coda to a productive life. John Norris

I first met Paul in the late 1980s at a Council meeting of the Elgar Society. We immediately hit it off because of our love of Elgar’s music and the need to promote it to a wider audience, and we shared a passion for promoting forgotten and neglected British composers.

30 Elgar Society News Obituaries

We also enjoyed each other’s sense of humour. We were part of the organising committee for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Elgar Society held over two days in Malvern and Worcester.

As Chairman of the Elgar in Education programme, Paul collaborated with me on a number of musical projects. The first one was a celebration of St George’s Day at a local school that my children attended. Paul wrote a light–hearted work for the children called ‘Mrs Figglebottom’, which they performed with great enjoyment. The next time was in aid of my local church which was fundraising for repairs after an arson attack. Paul came down with members of the Boughton family who gave a performance of Boughton’s songs, and Paul gave a short organ recital. The final collaboration was when I was working at Broadmoor Hospital and running a series of music days. Paul talked about being a composer and conductor and the various styles of other composers, then gave an organ recital to a capacity audience of patients and staff in the hospital’s chapel. The magnificent Victorian organ had only just gone through a major refurbishment and Paul was the first person to play it. Martyn Marsh

Dr John Buttrey (1931–2019)

It was a real privilege on the last day of January to represent the Society at John’s funeral, for I well remember him as a significant part of the London Branch in its early years.

John came to from Sydney in his early twenties and became part of the choir at Winchester Cathedral before moving to Cambridge as a choral scholar at St John’s College, culminating in a PhD focusing on aspects of the music of Henry Purcell. By 1971 he was well established as a lay clerk at Westminster Abbey; following Evensong on Saturday 9 October, I’m sure he was one of a number of us who crossed the road to Westminster Central Hall for a meeting which essentially created the Society’s first Branch. I would think too he sang in the choir at the service in the Abbey the following June which included the unveiling of the Elgar memorial stone by Edward Heath. John later became a member of the Branch committee and spoke on In the South in April 1973 and

No. 70 – April 2020 31 Obituaries

Sea Pictures in June 1975. He was also, for a number of years, part of the committee that supported Ron Taylor during his time as Editor of the Newsletter. John was closely involved with the Herbert Howells Society and with the composer’s encouragement edited and arranged some of his music. Following a rather difficult time at the Abbey, John felt compelled to resign but was soon to be found in the choir stalls at St Paul’s. His firm and lifelong Christian faith – and especially his loyalty to the Book of Common Prayer – was highlighted at his funeral. He sang with the Deller Consort and on record can be heard in the Byrd masses and as a soloist in Handel’s Acis and Galatea – Stanley Sadie commented John Buttrey in his review for the Gramophone: ‘John Buttrey draws a narrow, clear, and often very elegant line in Acis’s music; a singer with a real feeling for the style and its conventions.’ An extract from his recording of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen formed part of the funeral service. I remember his warm–hearted joviality and courtesy coupled to a delightful, gentle speaking voice with a distinctive Australian burr. Previewing the 1974/5 season, Bill Jackson, the first London Branch Secretary wrote: ‘Professional singer, gentleman of Westminster Abbey choir, scholar, lecturer and contributor to various journals, Dr Buttrey is well known to us as a member of the London committee. A committed Elgarian, he continues to make a close study of his music and we may in the fullness of time see the fruits of his labour in book form. His talk will provide opportunity in the most acceptable way to add to our knowledge of the subject he has chosen, especially as he has the good fortune to possess a mellifluous voice which he uses skilfully.’ There is nothing really I can add to that tribute! John Knowles

32 Elgar Society News Elgar Works

Hard at Works Readers of this column in the December issue of the News will be aware of the accident Paul Rooke suffered last July which put him in hospital with a fractured skull. At the time of writing that column, we still hoped he would make a full if gradual recovery but it was not to be. In mid–November he suffered a further seizure and sadly died a week or so later. A full tribute to Paul appears elsewhere in this issue. Elgar Works has again been fortunate to the extent that, as with Martin Bird earlier in the summer, Paul left us well placed for the Complete Edition to continue with minimal interruption. As Chief Originator, Paul’s two main roles were to oversee the creation of newly originated scores to appear in forthcoming volumes and then, as a second, separate stage, to input those editorial changes judged to be necessary. Paul had taken the first of these tasks through to completion for all but the final three of the volumes still to be published. Our temporary loss of access to files stranded on Paul’s computer following his hospitalisation, and other unforeseen distractions including help to the family to sort his huge personal library of performing material, has inevitably introduced some delay into our publication schedule, but we met our revised target of delivering new volumes in both series to their respective printers by the end of 2019. We received bound copies of the new Collected Correspondence volume, covering the family diaries for the years 1908–1910, in the last week of January, followed eight days later by the new Complete Edition volume, containing and . The production of a Complete Edition volume is a complex process with several stages including origination and proof–reading of the scores to be completed before the editorial process can begin, and we had already completed these preliminary stages for our next three volumes – the Marches volume; a second edition of the out–of–print Dream of Gerontius volume; and the volume containing and Banner of St George – before Paul’s death. With the editorial process also completed for the first of these, we are confident of publishing two further volumes before the end of 2020 and possibly three further volumes in 2021. It will take a little

No. 70 – April 2020 33 Elgar Works

longer to regain our momentum for the Collected Correspondence series. Although Paul Chennell, Martin’s successor, is already hard at work in gathering the material for a new volume containing Elgar’s correspondence with his sponsors, this will be the first volume not to be developed from a first draft assembled by Martin. Inevitably, it will take Paul time to familiarise himself with the structure of Martin’s database and find all he needs, and there are also strategic issues we have to address in parallel to ensure that all correspondence finds a home in one or other of the volumes we intend to publish, but Paul hopes to have his first volume ready for publication in the Autumn. In parallel with Paul’s work on the next volume, others in the Works team are working to improve ways of identifying and retrieving relevant material from Martin’s database, now that we no longer have his detailed knowledge and years of experience to draw upon. This has a dual purpose. Those who attended the British Library’s Elgar study day in late December will have heard of the various joint web–based initiatives in which Elgar Works is participating with the British Library and Oxford University to bring Elgar to a much wider international audience. The improvements intended to facilitate better access to Martin’s database for our own purposes will also establish interrelationships within the data that the British Library and Oxford University will find helpful in their own developments: chains of correspondence; links between facsimiles and Martin’s transcriptions of them; and on–line search facilities which students of the future will find useful when pursuing their own lines of research, and which we hope will draw even the most casual of surfers around the globe into the world of the man whose music and life we admire. What a give–away! For his editorial work on the Collected Correspondence, no doubt enhanced by his insatiable appetite for books, Martin Bird assembled a music–orientated library of around 750 volumes relating not specifically to Elgar but also to many of his friends, acquaintances, critics and other contemporary diarists who may have commented on their relationship with Elgar. Martin’s widow Jane (whom many Society members will have seen co–starring with Martin in their excellent dramatisations of periods of Elgar’s life taken from the

34 Elgar Society News Elgar Works correspondence and diaries) wishes as many as possible of these volumes to find good homes before offering the remainder to charity shops and has asked Elgar Works to help her achieve this. Paul Rooke, formerly a music teacher, pianist and organist who conducted various choirs and orchestras during his life, assembled a similarly large collection, though not as specifically focused on Elgar and comprising more scores than books. His family has expressed similar wishes to Jane’s for the future of his collection. We recognised the importance of giving Paul Chennell first choice of anything he felt might prove helpful in his editing of future Collected Correspondence volumes, and other friends ‘in the trade’, not least Lewis Foreman, have been given the opportunity to ransack the collections for obscure books and scores that fill gaps in their own extensive libraries. Around 1,000 volumes remain and, in agreement with both families, these are now being offered to Society members free of charge except for the cost of postage and, if needed, any additional insurance cover. (For parcels to addresses within the UK, postage currently stands at £2.90 for parcels up to 2kg, increasing in stages up to £11.70 for a parcel of 27kg.) If you are interested in perusing the collections, please visit the web page www.elgar.org/booksandscores.htm where you will find links to on–line listings of the available books and scores and instructions on what to do next. Our apologies to those without web access: unfortunately, under current pressures, we do not have the resources to provide printed copies of the listings. But if you can find a friend or colleague who can provide you with sight of the on–line listings and you write to us at: Elgar Works, 20 High Street, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 1ER to let us know which books you would like to acquire, we will respond to your request alongside those received by e–mail. Inevitably, some books may be of interest to more than one member, so we will try to meet all requests in the order we receive them. And as the boxes of books are currently occupying a significant amount of our living space, we intend to hold on to them only until the Birthday weekend, after which we shall look for other ways of disposing of them. John Norris

No. 70 – April 2020 35 Letters to the Editor

Jennifer Pike At a concert at Chetham’s Stoller Hall in Manchester on 3 December 2019 we were treated to a fabulous performance of Elgar’s Violin Sonata by Jennifer Pike and Martin Roscoe. I have heard the piece played many times, but I felt this was the most heartfelt and lyrical performance I can remember. Not for the first time, Jennifer’s encore was Salut d’Amour, played with equal love and tenderness. Ray Wood

An Elgar Companion After a recent Elgar Society talk I was asked if copies of my An Elgar Companion are still available. The answer is that it has long been out of print and there are no plans for a fresh edition, but I have a small number of second–hand copies in very good condition which I would be happy to pass on at the price of £7.95 inclusive of UK postage. I am also clearing the last copies of my biography and musical examination of William Hurlstone, whom Stanford considered his most talented pupil and whose music Elgar admired. (See review in the April 2017 ESJ.) Hardback copies are now available to members at £15, softback £12, each inclusive of postage. Cheques should be made payable to Sequoia Publishing and sent to Ranworth, off Station Walk, Highbridge, Somerset, TA9 3BT. Payment may also be made directly to NatWest 60–03–27 A/C 79153550. If you pay that way please contact me to say so, otherwise I cannot send you a copy! Christopher Redwood [email protected]

36 Elgar Society News Branch Reports

Branch reports for the year 2019 can be found in the Trustees’ Annual Report appended to this edition of the News.

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 25 April, 2.30pm Stephen Johnson ‘My ideal’: Elgar and Schumann

Sat 20 June, 2.30pm Paul Spicer Gerald Finzi

Sat 18 July, 2.30pm Philip Reed Elgar and

EAST MIDLANDS All meetings are held in The Garden Room, Unitarian Chapel, East Bond St, Leicester, LE1 4SX.

Sat 11 April, 2.00pm Alexander Walker Taking Elgar to Eastern Europe

Sat 2 May, 2.00pm Steven Halls Filling the gaps: a review of recent Elgar CDs

Sat 6 June, 2.00pm Christopher Wiltshire Elgar as we knew him: Part 2 of his extensive collection of interviews

LONDON Mon 1 April 2019, 7.30pm Stephen Harrow, Kevin Mitchell, Queen’s College, Lyn & Peter Nixon 43–49 Harley St, W1G 8BT When Alice met Edward

No. 70 – April 2020 37 Branch Events

Mon 11 May, 2.00 – 5.00pm Robert Cohen, Royal Academy of Music, with RAM colleagues & students Marylebone Road, NW1 5HT Celebrating Elgar’s Cello Concerto The 2020 Richards Memorial Event Free entry by ticket. For more details contact [email protected]

Mon 8 June, 7.30pm Branch AGM, followed by St George’s Church, Wind quintet music from the Hanover Square, W1S 1FX Beckenham Concert Band

NORTH AMERICA On behalf of North America Branch, I’m pleased to invite all members of the Society to join us for our 10th Annual Conference scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh on Thursday–Sunday, 14–17 May.

The conference venue is the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center hotel, where we begin with dinner on Thursday night at which Lee Kaufman will speak on , presenting the BBC’s 1981 production of the only known filmed performance of the ballet.

Friday will see us out and about at the Phipps Conservatory’s Spring Flower Show, followed by a tour of Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece located in nearby Bear Run. We have tickets for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s concert on Friday night. The program includes a performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with soloist Alisa Weilerstein.

Saturday’s daytime events include talks by Ryan Czekaj and Richard and Joan Smith as well as a Q&A lunch with local musicians, devoted to Elgar’s music. On Saturday night the Pittsburgh Symphony Youth Orchestra will provide musicians to give us a concert including works by Elgar. Our conference ends with a business meeting over breakfast on Sunday morning. You are all welcome to join us. Arthur Reynolds, Chairman [email protected] NORTH WEST Unless indicated otherwise, all meetings are held at RNCM, Manchester, M13 9RD.

Sat 4 April, 2.30pm Arthur Reynolds An Elgar collector’s odyssey

38 Elgar Society News Branch Events

Sat 16 May, 2.30pm Geoff Scargill Miracle in Manchester: Sir John Barbirolli

We hope to be able to arrange a special summer event in June or July – after the main season of programmes has ended. Details will be announced later.

SCOTTISH Sat 4 April, 2.00pm Martin Firth St Cuthbert’s Church, Lothian Rd, Elgar and the Organ Edinburgh, EH1 2EP Followed by a performance of the by John Kitchen

Sun 21 June, 2.00pm Open House Elgar St Mark’s Unitarian Church, Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2DP Students and amateurs playing and singing music by Elgar and his contemporaries. Please contact [email protected] if you have a pupil who would be interested in being involved.

SOUTHERN Sat 18 April, 2.00pm Adrian Brown The Spring, 56 East Street, Havant, PO9 1BS Adrian Boult

Sat 9 May, 2.00pm Daniel Grimley St Lawrence Parish Rooms, , Colebrook St, Winchester, SO23 9LH Elgar and Delius

WEST MIDLANDS All meetings are held in the Carice Elgar Room at The Firs, Elgar’s Birthplace, Lower Broadheath, Worcester, WR2 6RH.

Thu 7 May, 7.30pm Alexis Patterson ‘We are the dreamers of dreams’: Organising the Three Choirs Festival

Sat 20 June, 2.30pm John Knowles Elgar, Liverpool and Malcolm Sargent

Sun 5 July, 2.30pm John Williams Barenboim, Beethoven and Goethe, and what exactly is the West–Eastern Divan?

No. 70 – April 2020 39 Branch Events

The Branch is planning an all–Elgar recital to be given by the Russian violinist Anastasia Vedyakova and Barry Collett in October 2020. The event is very much in the planning stage, but we would be most pleased to hear from members who might wish to attend.

YORKSHIRE and NORTH EAST All meetings are held in The Bedingfield Room, The Bar Convent, 17–19 Blossom St, York, YO24 1AQ.

Sat 25 April 2.00pm The Fairfax Ensemble Elgar and his very independent legacy

Sat 23 May, 2.00pm Christopher Wiltshire Elgar as remembered in radio interviews by those who knew him

Sat 27 June, 2.00pm Stuart Freed The lighter side of Elgar

Photo, Left: Elgar and Muriel Foster’s son Ludo (born 1909) in the garden of Severn House, 1915

40 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary

This section is only as comprehensive as the data we are aware of. If you know of an event including a MAJOR Elgar work please send information to [email protected]. The period to be covered is from the 1st of the month of publication – August, December and April – to approximately 5 months ahead. We’d rather hear about an event twice than not at all! The Editor Wed 1 April 2020, 8.00pm Liederhalle,Stuttgart Thu 2 April 2020, 7.30pm Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg Fri 3 Apr 2020, 8.00pm Konzerthaus, Freiburg / Mozart / Weber Meyer / SWR Symphony Orchestra / Norrington Wed 1 April 2020, 7.00pm St Giles, Cripplegate Give unto the Lord / Vaughan Williams / Cohen Heydorn / Lloyd’s Choir / Finchley Children’s Music Group / Cohen Ensemble / Cohen

Thu 2 April 2020, 1.05pm St John’s Smith Square, London The Angel’s Farewell (arr. Brewer) / Matthews D / Scheidemann / Messiaen / Bingham / Charpentier Ennis, Organ

Sat 4 April 2020, 7.30pm St John’s, Waterloo, SE1 8TY Froissart / Ireland / Vaughan Williams / Arnold Khanmurzin / Southgate Symphony Orchestra / Brown Sat April 4 2020, 7.30pm Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square Coronation March / Handel / Blow / Purcell / Wesley / Parry / Rutter / Walton / Tavener / Stanford Thomas / Blackadder / Bond / Petros Singers / Bannan

Sat 4 April 2020, 2.30pm St Laurence’s Church, Ludlow / Purcell / Turnage Piatti Quartet

Sat 4 April 2020, 9.30am to 4.00pm Cathedral, Worcester (Registration from 9.30am, for a 10.15am start) ‘Come and Sing’ www.wfcs.online/come–and–sing–events : one–day Choral Workshop (includes loan of a vocal score for the day, free tea and coffee) Freestone / Hudson

No. 70 – April 2020 41 Dates for your Diary

Tue 7 April 2020, 7.30pm Theatre, Greifswald, Pomerania Wed 8 April 2020, 7.30pm Theatre, Stralsund, Pomerania Thu 9 April 2020, 7.30pm Cockaigne / Coleridge–Taylor / Beethoven Philharmonisches Orchester Vorpommern / Csizmadia

Thu 9 April 2020, 7.30pm Meyerson Symphony Center, Fri 10 April 2020, 7.30pm Dallas, TX, USA Sat 11 April 2020, 7.30pm Violin Concerto / Brahms Ehnes / Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Luisi

Thu 16 April 2020, 1.10pm CBSO Centre, Birmingham Martindale / Skinner / Yates / Setterfield / Markham

Thu 16 April 2020, 7.30pm Symphony Hall, Birmingham Sat 18 April 2020, 7.00pm Stéphany / Murray / Platt / City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Gardner

Thu 16 April 2020, 7.30pm Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas Fri 17 April 2020, 7.30pm Sat 18 April 2020, 7.30pm Introduction and Allegro / Tippett / Purcell / Britten / Holst / Vaughan Williams Kerr / Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Ehnes

Fri 17 Apr 2020, 7.30pm Musikverein: Sat 18, Sun 19 April 2020 Großer Saal, Vienna Wed 22 April 2020, 8.00pm Philharmonie, Cologne Thu 23 Apr 2020, 8.00pm Philharmonie, Luxembourg Violin Concerto / Dvoák Zukerman / Orchestra / Mehta

Fri 17 April 2020, 8.00pm Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, From the Bavarian Highlands / Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Ruiz / Shostakovich Coro y Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria / Araña

42 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary

Sat 18 April 2020, 7.30pm Civic Center, Sun 19 April 2020, 2.30pm Walnut Street, Des Moines IA (USA) / Cello Concerto / Offenbach / Debussy Thomas / Des Moines Symphony Orchestra / Giunta

Thu 23, Fri 24, Sat 25 April 2020 Davies Symphony Hall, Enigma Variations / Mozart / Strauss R San Francisco San Francisco Symphony Orchestra / Szeps–Znaider

Fri 24 April 2020, 8.00pm Konzerthaus: Großer Saal, Berlin Music inspired by Shakespeare / Tchaikovsky / Britten / Verdi Bostridge / Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Jurowski

Sat 25 April 2020, 7.30pm High School Performing Arts Center, Introduction and Allegro / Littleton MA (USA) Rouse / Berners / Strauss / Rimsky–Korsakov Orchestra of Indian Hill / Hangen

Sat 25 April 2020, 7.00pm St Peter’s Parish Church, Sheringham Te Deum / Kodaly / Parry Sheringham and Cromer Choral Society / Adams / Ballard

Sat 25 April 2020, 7.30pm Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Cockaigne / Cello Concerto / Pomp and Circumstance March No 4 / The Black Knight Gustafsson / Nottingham Trent University Choir / Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

Sat 25 April 2020, 6.30pm St Saviour’s Church, Pimlico SW1V Great is the Lord / Bach / Monteverdi / Howells Colla Voce Singers / Figo Ensemble / Webber / Coburn

Sat 25 April 2020, 7.30pm Parish Church, Pinner HA5 3AA Piano Quintet / Sibelius / Dvoák / Debussy Jackson / Trickey / Bradley / Lowe / Lenehan

Sun 26 April 2020, 7.30pm The Hawth, Crawley, West Sussex / Wagner / Bizet / Rossini / Smetana / Tchaikovsky Fontanals–Simmons / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Wetton

No. 70 – April 2020 43 Dates for your Diary

Sun 26 April 2020, 2.00pm Symphony Hall, Kawasaki Enigma Variations / Fujikura / Walton Davies / Tokyo Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Nott

Mon 27 April 2020, 8.00pm National Concert Hall, The Dream of Gerontius Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin Holt / Power / Kosavic / Guinness Choir and Orchestra / Milne

Thu 30 April 2020, 8.00pm Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Cello Concerto / Schoenberg Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Isserlis / Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria / Pons

Thu 30 April 2020, 8.00pm Rudolf–Oetker–Halle, Bielefeld Cello Concerto / Tchaikovsky Thomas / WDR Symphony Orchestra / Shokhakimov

Fri 1 May 2020, 7;30pm Auditorio Adán Martín, Cello Concerto / Vaage / Dvoák Santa Cruz de Tenerife Gerhardt / Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife / Jensen

Fri 1 May 2020, 8.00pm Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Sat 2 May 2020, 8.00pm Nashville TN (USA) Symphony No. 1 / Read / Mozart Kim / Nashville Symphony / Guerrero

Sat 2 May 2020, 7.30pm Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences, Charleston WV (USA) Sat 30 May 2020, 3.00pm Blennerhassett Middle School, Parkersburg WV (USA) Enigma Variations / Dvoák / Tchaikovsky / Part Chooi / West Virginia Symphony Orchestra / Loh

Sat 2 May 2020, 7.30pm Capitol Theatre, Windsor In the South (Alassio) / Strauss R / Liszt / Schumann Namoradze / Windsor Symphony Orchestra / Franz

Wed 6 May 2020, 7.30pm Fairfield Halls, Croydon Enigma Variations / Vaughan Williams / Rachmaninov / Butterworth Hammond / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Altstaedt

44 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary

Thu 7 May 2020, 7.30pm Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace Enigma Variations / Delius / Butterworth Bebbington / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Altstaedt

Thu 7 May 2020, 11.00 am Hilbert Circle Theatre, Fri 8 May 2020, 8.00pm Indianapolis IN (USA) Sat 9 May 2020, 5.30pm Enigma Variations / Adams / Strauss Christen / Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra / de Waart

Thu 7, Sat 9 May 2020 Symphony Hall, Atlanta Enigma Variations / Vaughan Williams / Talbot Karadaglic / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra / Wigglesworth

Thu 7 May 2020, 7.30pm Tonhalle Maag, Zürich Fri 8 May 2020, 7.30pm The Dream of Gerontius Fulgoni / Welch / Platt / Zürcher Sing–Akademie / Tonhalle Orchester Zürich / Trevino

Thu 7 May 2020, 8.00pm Auditorium, Dijon Enigma Variations / Bray / Britten Koncz / Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne / Diakun

Fri 8 May 2020, 8.00pm The Bushnell, Hartford CT (USA) Sun 10 May 2020, 3.00pm Cello Concerto / Enigma Variations / Clyne Roman / Hartford Symphony Orchestra / Kuan

Sat 9 May 2020, 7.30pm Trinity Church, Harrow, NA1 1RX Cello Concerto / Sterndale Bennett / Sullivan Tarlton / Trinity Orchestra / Andrews

Wed 13 May 2020, 7.30pm Lighthouse, Poole Sat 16 May 2020, 8.00pm Auditorium, Dijon Cello Concerto / Holst Isserlis / Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Karabits

Thu 14 May 2020, 7.00pm Bulgaria Hall, Sofia Cello Concerto / Kapustin / Schoenberg Eschkenazy / Angelov / Thomas / Sofia Philharmonic / Todorov

No. 70 – April 2020 45 Dates for your Diary

Fri 15 May 2020, 8.00pm Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh PA (USA) Sun 17 May 2020, 2.30pm Cello Concerto / Britten / Mendelssohn Weilerstein / Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra / Heras–Casado

Sat 16 May 2020, 7.30pm Ss Peter & Paul Church, Spirit of England / Deddington OX15 0SA Pomp & Circumstance March No. 4 / Walton / Parry Cherwell Choral Society / Oxford Sinfonia

Sat 16 May 2020, 7.30pm Kulturpalast, Enigma Variations / Britten / Barber Shaham / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Oramo

Sun 17 May 2020, 6.30pm Kings Place: Hall One, London Piano Quintet / Schumann / Clarke / Dvoák / Lange Liebeck and friends

Fri 22 May 2020, 7.30pm Barbican Hall, London Symphony No. 2 / Sibelius / Stravinsky Rusanen / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Oramo

Tue 26, Wed 27 May 2020 Konzerthaus, Dortmund Symphony No. 2 / Walton / Britten Roth / Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra / Domenech

Wed 27 May 2020, 8.00pm Philharmonie: Großer Saal, Berlin Violin Concerto / Norman / Dvoák Frang / Deutsches Symphonie–Orchester Berlin / Ticciati

Fri 29 May 2020, 8.00pm Arts Center, Seoul Enigma Variations / Stravinsky / Hindemith / Vaughan Williams Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra / Vänskä

Fri 29 May 2020, 8.00 Frauenkirche, Dresden Introduction and Allegro / / Chanson de Nuit / Sinding / Massenet / Strauss R / Chausson Crawford–Phillips / Zürich Chamber Orchestra / Hope

Fri 29 May 2020, 8.30pm Palacio de la Ópera, La Coruña Polonia / Chopin, Shostakovich Blechacz / Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia / Pérez

46 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary

Sat 30 May 2020, 7.00pm St Thomas’ Church, From the Bavarian highlands / Lymington SO41 9ND Fly, singing bird / Lully / Mondonville / Purcell / Handel / Rameau / Boughton / Beethoven / Fauré Bell / Rice / Lymington Choral Society and Classical Players / Goldthorpe

Sun 31 May 2020, 7.30pm , South Bank In the South (Alassio) / Strauss / Berlioz Stagg / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Davis Fri 5 June 2020, 7.30pm Cathedral, Coventry Serenade for Strings / Mendelssohn / Arensky / Vivaldi London Concertante Fri 5, Sat 6, Sun 7 June 2020 Auditorio Nacional, Madrid In the South (Alassio) / Sibelius / / Britten Fischer / Orquesta Nacional de España / Mena Sat 6 June 2020, 7.30pm St Stephen’s Church, Guernsey The Dream of Gerontius Kanter / Morris / Wildman / Guernsey Grammar School Choir / Johnny’s Angels / Guernsey Choral and Orchestral Society / Madden Sat 6 June 2020, 7.30pm Stoller Hall, Manchester Cello Concerto / Beethoven / Tchaikovsky Manchester Beethoven Orchestra Sat 6 June 2020, 7.30pm Kulturpalast, Dresden Violin Concerto / Sibelius Frang / Dresden Philharmonic / Zinman

Sat 6 June 2020, 8.00pm Auditorium, Musée d’Orsay, Paris Sea Pictures / Ravel / Debussy / Wolf / Zemlinsky / Stanford Connolly / Martineau

Sat 6 June 2020, 7.00pm Victoria Hall Methodist Church, Chanson de Nuit / Symphony No. 1 / Britten / Sheffield S1 2JB Boulanger Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra / Morton

Sun 7 Jun 2020, 7.30pm Liszt Academy: Grand Hall, Budapest Enigma Variations / Vaughan Williams / Britten Porat / Concerto Budapest / Héja

No. 70 – April 2020 47 Dates for your Diary

Sun 7 June 2020, 8.00pm St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Serenade for Strings / Handel / Bach / Vivaldi London Concertante Mon 8 June 2020, 7.30pm Musikverein: Großer Saal, Vienna Serenade for Strings / Mozart / Schubert Buchbinder / Wiener Virtuosen Mon 8 June 2020, 8.00pm St George’s, Hanover Square, London Elgar: Music for wind quintet Beckenham Concert Band

Tue 9 June 2020. 7.30pm Theatre, Greifswald, Pomerania Wed 10 June 2020, 7.30pm Theatre, Stralsund, Pomerania Thu 11 June 2020, 7.30pm Fantasia and Fugue in C minor arr. Elgar / Rachmaninov / Liszt arr. Csizmadia Philharmonisches Orchester Vorpommern / Csizmadia

Wed 10, Thu 11 June 2020 Tonhalle Maag, Zürich Cello Concerto / Honegger / Shostakovich Isserlis / Tonhalle Orchester Zürich / Järvi Fri 12 June 2020, 7.30pm Palau de la Musica Iturbi, Valencia Enigma Variations / Cruixent / Ravel Li / Orquesta de Valencia / Slatkin Sat 13 June 2020, 7.30pm Cathedral, Southwark Introduction and Allegro / Vivaldi / Bach / Ireland London Concertante Sun 14 June 2020, 5.00pm Methodist Church, Gillingham The Dream of Gerontius Graham–Hall / Spicer / Dickinson / Briggs (organ) / Farrant Singers / Mackay

Mon 15, Tuesday 16 June 2020 Stefaniensaal, Graz Cello Concerto / Alfven / Sibelius Krijgh / Grazer Philharmoniker / Davies

Fri 19 June 2020, 7.30pm Parish Church, Thaxted Cello Concerto / Holst / Turnage / Delius / Brahms Johnston / Brandenburg Sinfonia / Porter Pre–concert talk at 6.00pm by Stephen Dickinson : ‘Late Elgar – the Cello Concerto’ (Free to concert goers)

48 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary

Sat 20 June 2020, 8.00pm St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast Serenade for Strings / Handel / Bach / Vivaldi London Concertante

Thu 25 June 2020, 1.05pm St John’s Smith Square, London Salut d’Amour / Bates / Bernstein / Tovey / Bartók / Bruckner A4 Brass Quartet

Sat 27 June 2020, 7.30pm Albert Hall, Nottingham Violin Concerto / Walton Smart / Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra / Heron

Sat 27 June 2020, 7.30pm St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol Enigma Variations / Berlioz / Mendelssohn Bristol Concert Orchestra / Hofkes

Sat 27 June 2020, 7.30pm Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden CB11 The Dream of Gerontius Shaw / Norman / Grint / Barnet Choral Society / Bishop Stortford Choral Society / Forest Philharmonic Orchestra / Brain

Sun 28 June 2020, 7.30pm Theatre, Milton Keynes The Dream of Gerontius McLorinan / Davoren / Balfour / Milton Keynes Chorale / Danesborough Chorus / Polymnia / Milton Keynes Philharmonia / Jordan

Fri 10 July 2020, 9.30pm Chapel, Cheltenham College GL53 Prelude and Angel’s Farewell (arr. Brewer) / Matthews D / Britten / Waley–Cohen / Bingham / Messiaen / Fardon / Gowers Lapwood, organ

Sun 12 July 2020, 7.30pm Bridgewater Hall, Manchester The Dream of Gerontius Murray / Turner / Greenan / Chesterfield Philharmonic Choir / Congleton Choral Society / Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir / Sandbach Choral Society / Manchester Philharmonia / Roberts

Fri 17 July 2020, 8.00pm Ravinia Festival, IL (USA) Enigma Variations / Rachmaninoff / Brahms Osorio / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Alsop

No. 70 – April 2020 49 Dates for your Diary

Sat 18 July 2020, 7.00pm Cathedral, Coventry CV1 5AB The Dream of Gerontius Gillingwater / Bowen / Hall / Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir / Congleton Choral Society / Coventry Cathedral Singers / English Symphony Orchestra / Cromar

Thu 23 July 2020, 11.00am Hamer Hall, Sat 25 July 2020, 7.30pm Arts Centre, Melbourne Violin Concerto / Cheetham / Mussorgsky Benedetti / Melbourne Symphony Orchestra / Davis

Fri 7 August 2020, 6.30pm Jay Pritzker Pavilion, E Randolph St, Sat 8 August 2020, 7.30pm Chicago IL (USA) Violin Concerto / Mozart Tetzlaff / Grant Park Orchestra / Kalmar Free admission

Wed 19 August 2020, 8.00pm Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Cello Concerto / Widmann / Brahms Isserlis / Concertgebouworkest Young / Harding

Thu 27 August 2020, 7.45pm Corsini Palace Gardens, Enigma Variations / Sibelius Florence Zhou / Orchestra Senzaspine / Fane

Sat 29 August 2020, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Tue 1 September 2020, 7.30pm Town Hall, Dunedin Wed 2 September 2020, 7.30pm Town Hall, Christchurch Sat 5 September 2020, 7.30pm Town Hall, Auckland Cello Concerto / Toan / Tchaikovsky Moser / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra / New

Thu 10, Fri 11 September 2020 Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul In the South (Alassio) / Schubert / Jarrell / Strauss R Zimmermann / Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra / Fischer

Sat 12 September 2020, 7.30pm Town Hall, Leeds Leeds Conductors Competition Gala Final Enigma Variations / Beethoven / Sibelius Orchestra of Opera North / The Winner

50 Elgar Society News Dates for your Diary

If you have details of a concert containing a work by Elgar, please notify us by e–mail at: [email protected] As we are less constrained by space on the Elgar website, wherever possible please remember to include : – The starting time, full address of the venue and an enquiry telephone number; – Composers of other works in the concert; and – The full names of all performers

Solution to the December 2019 crossword (No. 32)

J A C Q U E L I N E D U P R E A H L E O I A X E L E K T R A R E V E R I E G M M R R V T A T R E L I Z A B E T H D I S C R S S S P T I O T T O M U T E S W A N S O N E A Y E W U R L I T Z E R C L E F N A C Z H L U L E N T A S H M O L E A N A S P V O P G I B R A V A D O V I O L I S T E C R C E M S E L I K E T H E C L A P P E R S

No. 70 – April 2020 51 Crossword

An Elgarian Crossword, No. 33 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

Across 1/9 Barman rewarded girls with a cocktail (3,6,5) 6 Type of song included in church anthems (5) 9 See 1 10 Italian flower firm amalgamates with a second one gradually (4,1,4) 11 Sold: Old letters recovered after fire! (9) 12 Prelude had discordant notes (5) 13 Amazing women in casualty – several of them (7) 15 See 24 17 They don’t believe he’s left the capital (6) 20 Cause rolling pins to be used in anger (7)

52 Elgar Society News Crossword

23 Violin beginner joins two playing on bed (5) 24/15 26’s dream ends with Tom getting on with landlady and drunken old man leaving gents with fly undone (6,3,6) 26 He dreamt of sin with Gertrude while Fred was out dancing (9) 27 Rule over Niger (5) 29 Place for the thirsty band (5) 30 At Christmas nurse’s music therapy ends with ribaldry (9)

Down 1 Short fat girl (3) 2 Like Alexander’s band with Maigret playing (7) 3 Day return for knight after party (5) 4 Penny’s quiet dog runs away after a second (7) 5 Duke’s got caught on horse – that’s nothing (4 3) 6 Scottish actor’s lines get forgotten after tea dances (9) 7 Topless drink party causes excitement (7) 8 Gutted turbots cooked with other fish (6) 11 Pulse – one mainly on time (4) 14 Make public Prince Charles’s hidden meanings (9) 16 Batten down hatches – see to it (4) 18 Pubs where servant gets drunk (7) 19 Iris returns cuddling a sailor and softly sighs (7) 20 Charged for sex with undies off (7) 21 Maybe Silvio Burlesconi’s ultimate charm doesn’t involve kinky sex (7) 22 American soldier falls in love with girl – head–over–heels – very slowly (6) 25 Billy Rich’s theatre (5) 28 Sounds like a horse’s refusal (3)

No. 70 – April 2020 53 The Trustees’ Annual Report

1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019

Published in the Elgar Society News in April 2020 and presented to the Annual General Meeting on 31 May 2020

T1 THE ELGAR SOCIETY

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period 1 January 2018 – 31 December 2018

A THE SOCIETY

Charitable Status Founded in 1951, the Society registered as charity no. 298062 on 22 January 1988.

Office The Society has no registered office. Correspondence should be addressed to the Society’s Secretary at 10 Cullin Park Grove, Strathaven, Lanarkshire, ML10 6EN.

Trustees

The following acted as Trustees during the period under review:

Stuart Freed Philip Petchey Jon Goldswain (to 2.6.2019) Geoff Scargill Paul Grafton George Smart Steven Halls (to 2.6.2019) Peter Smith (from 2.6.2019) Ruth Hellen Helen Whittaker Neil Mantle (from 5.10.2019) Roy Whittaker Peter Newbie

Elected Officers

Steven Halls (to 2.6.2019) Chairman: Neil Mantle (from 5.10.2019) Vice–Chairman: Stuart Freed Secretary: George Smart Helen Whittaker (to 2.6.2019) Treasurer: Peter Smith (from 2.6.2019)

T2 Other National Post–holders Archivist: Richard Hall Data Protection Officer: Richard Hall Journal Editor: Meinhard Saremba Membership Secretary: Chris Bennett News Editors: Peter James Web Officers: Stuart Freed / Robert Gilbert

Branch Officers Branch Chair Secretary East Anglia Peter Newble Chris Wiltshire East Midlands Michael Toseland Sam Dobson London Philip Petchey Ruth Hellen North American Arthur Reynolds Lee Kaufman North–West Rev. John Knowles David L. Jones Scotland Tom Kelly Maureen Kelly Southern David Pearce Wendy Wiseman West Midlands John Harcup Richard Smith Yorkshire David Young Paul Grafton & North East

Advisers Bankers: Lloyds TSB Independent Examiner: Adrian Benselin, Chartered Accountant

Honorary Posts and Awards

President Julian Lloyd Webber FRCM to 2.6.2019 Sir Mark Elder CH CBE from 2.6.2019

Vice–Presidents Diana McVeagh Dame Janet Baker CH DBE Sir CBE Dr Christopher Robinson CVO CBE Andrew Neill Sir Mark Elder CH CBE Martyn Brabbins (to 2.6.2019) Julian Lloyd Webber FRCM Tasmin Little OBE (from 2.6.2019)

T3 Recipients of the Elgar Society’s Silver Medal

Year Recipient 1992 Dr Jerrold Northrop Moore 1992 Leonard Slatkin 1999 Jerzy Maksymiuk 2000 Tadaaki Otaka 2007 Andrew Litton 2008 2009 Danube Symphony Orchestra 2009 Vladimir Ashkenazy 2011 Michael Kennedy 2011 Anthony Payne 2012 Barry Collett 2012 Jacek Kaspszyk 2012 Sir Colin Davis 2013 Sir Andrew Davis 2013 Sir Mark Elder 2015 2015 Diana McVeagh 2016 Martin Bird 2016 Teresa Cahill 2016 Alexander Walker 2019 Anastasia Vedyakova Adrian Brown 2019 (Presentation to be made 8.3.2020) Dame Janet Baker 2019 (Presentation to be arranged)

Structure, Governance and Management

The Society was governed under a constitution adopted with effect from 1 January 2008 and subsequently amended in June 2010 and June 2011 and June 2018. Its Council consisted of the elected officers, and seven other members of the Society.

T4 The Executive Committee consisted of the elected officers. A representative of the Branch Chairmen’s Committee is a non–voting member. The task of the Executive Committee is to carry out the policy decisions of the Council and to deal with any matters which lie in its terms of reference.

Also in operation were Elgar in Performance, which included Elgar in Education and special projects, and the Branch Chairmen’s Committee.

Working Parties active during 2018

Chairman / Name Members Convenor Barry Collett, Martyn Marsh, Elgar in Performance Steven Halls Peter Newbie, the Executive (including Education) Committee Branch Chairmen’s Philip Petchey All other Branch Chairmen Committee

Council and Executive

The Council met twice and the Executive Committee once during 2019, with much of the business being conducted by e–mail. Since the 2019 AGM, the main topics of discussion continued to be:

• progress on the remaining components of the Society’s adopted strategy; • dealing with all the applications to Elgar in Performance and the education and special projects funds; • monitoring the membership numbers in the light of developing collaboration with the National Trust at The Firs; • continuing links with Elgar Freundeskreis Deutschland in Germany; • changeover of President, Chairman, Treasurer and Membership Secretary, EiP Co–ordinator, arrangements for Journal editorship and awards of the ES Medal; • the continuation of the free membership scheme and keeping under review the Society’s financial position; • the development of initiatives to increase membership of the Society and revised arrangements for subscriptions; • the development of Elgar in relation to music education and young people; • the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

T5 As Chairman of the Society I would like to pay tribute to my colleagues on Council, my colleagues on Executive and each and every postholder in the Society and its Branches, for all their hard work, enthusiasm, support and help since I assumed the Chairman’s role during the year. Finally on behalf of the Society I would like to pay tribute to the work of Steven Halls over his ten years as Chairman. I look forward to building on that work in the coming year. Neil Mantle MBE Branches

There are eight UK Branches organised geographically, and a further Branch covering America and Canada. The creation of a Branch is at the discretion of the Society’s Council and requires substantive evidence from a sufficiently large group of members that there is a reasonable assurance of viability. Branches report on their activities via the Elgar Society News and are required to submit their annual accounts to the Treasurer for consolidation with the accounts of the national Society. At their AGM in January 2019 the South Western Branch was unable to appoint any officers and is therefore no longer functioning.

Risks

No major risks have been identified by the Trustees. The Society is substantially dependent on subscriptions and Gift Aid for its income and it is thus vital to retain and increase membership while ensuring that subscription rates are realistic in the light of the charity’s activities and costs. The Trustees consider that if this is done there are no serious risks to future viability. This Annual Report states the position as at 31 December 2019 and the Trustees are not aware of any material change in risk which needs to be reported.

Objectives and Activities

Under its Constitution, the Society’s objective is the education in, and promotion of, the appreciation of the public in the music of Edward Elgar and the education of the public in the life of Edward Elgar through: a) the provision of educational programmes and activities to widen knowledge of Elgar’s music for all; b) support for the and educational establishments that attract the general public to Elgar’s music and life; c) the funding and encouragement of performances and recordings of his works;

T6 d) the encouragement of research into Elgar’s music, and the publication of a scholarly journal containing the results of such research; e) the publication or support for a scholarly edition of Elgar’s music. The Society seeks to promote performance of Elgar’s music, especially the more rarely performed items. While its focus has heretofore been on performances in Britain, it has emphasised encouraging performances of Elgar’s music abroad as far as its resources permit, concentrating particularly on Germany. It is concerned to introduce the composer and his music to younger audiences and, by making grants for appropriate educational activities, to enhance the quality of life of members of the public. The Society publishes its Journal three times a year, which contains the results of Elgar research and is sold to educational institutions and the general public as well as being sent to members as part of their subscription benefit. There is also a thrice–yearly News publication sent to members only. The Society maintains a website which is proving increasingly valuable for members and non–members alike. Funds are centrally administered, the Council approving the annual budget and budget heads. Branches submit bids for support of their activities based on their administrative costs plus an element in support of their local meetings. Grants are made both to Branches and outside bodies in respect of specific charitable activities and are awarded only when a proposed project is shown to have satisfied strict conditions relating to the stated aims and objectives of the Society. The Society’s grant–making policy is conditioned by its objectives and its relatively constrained financial resources. In general, grants are made for the major purposes listed below. • Assisting sole or group performers, especially in non–commercial situations, who are prepared to play rarer Elgar works or to perform in locations in which the composer’s music is unlikely otherwise to be heard and at which the public constitute the majority of attenders. • Supporting educational activities at all levels from primary to higher and continuous learning that inculcate in the participants special and intellectual skills by using Elgar, his life and/or music as a test bed for such activities or which enhance knowledge of English culture and history. • Aiding institutions which have a role in the musical and historical aspects of Elgar to widen the accessibility of their services to socially diverse audiences and/or to provide specific Elgar–related public benefits. T7 B ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (1 Jan. 2019 – 31 Dec. 2019)

General Overview Under Initial Achievements & Plans, the last Trustees’ Annual Report stated that, in 2019, the Society in partnership with other organisations would undertake the tasks listed below. Progress is described on each one in italics below.

In considering undertaking any activities, the four objectives below are the criteria against which we judge any proposals so that we might: 1. increase our membership; 2. raise money in support of our activities; 3. add demonstrably to the funding and encouragement of performances and recordings of Elgar’s works; 4. increase access to the Elgar œuvre.

At national level, and with all due acknowledgement of Branch activities, our efforts will focus on the following areas. • Elgar in Performance and the Other Projects Fund – The fund was maintained at £18,000 and continues to support a range of performances as set out below. • We shall continue to support Meinhard Saremba to settle in his role as the Editor of the Journal following his auspicious start. Sadly Meinhard has decided to step down as Editor and arrangements were put in place for an editorial board to continue the production of an informative and interesting Journal. • We shall continue to seek to raise sponsorship and legacies to enable us to expand our work and ensure it extends into the future. We shall encourage donations and legacies for specific projects. • Council have made restricted progress on how we can meaningfully support educational work associated with Elgar but we shall observe the efforts of West Midlands Branch during 2018. With the support of Council, the West Midlands Branch has continued to develop initiatives – see their report below. The Council and Chairmen have discussed wider initiatives. A project has been agreed with the National Trust to support financially school visits to The Firs, and further developments in this pilot are anticipated. Another proposal in relation to Young Performers is being planned. • Council will consider nominations for the Elgar Society Medal and Certificate of Merit. An award of the medal was made, at a concert in November, to Anastasia Vedyakova, a young Russian violinist, in recognition of her efforts in performing and promoting Elgar in

T8 Russia. Medal awards were also agreed for Adrian Brown and Dame Janet Baker. • We look forward to collaborating with the National Trust on local and national initiatives. The West Midlands Branch in particular has fostered warm links with the management of The Firs, and regular discussions take place on ways of supporting wider initiatives. • The AGM and Birthday Weekend will be reviewed to consider whether a new format and location might stimulate support in another part of the country. The Elgar Festival in Worcester, supported by the Society, expanded its offering in 2019 and was very well supported. Stimulating support in other parts of the country remains under review. • We shall continue to work more closely with Elgar Works and the Elgar Complete Edition to make more of Elgar’s music available in a timely fashion at a reasonable cost to performers and conductors all over the world. We shall continue to promote Elgar Works and the Elgar Complete Edition.

Recordings Whilst there have been discussions on particular projects, there have not been any recordings supported financially during the year.

Elgar in Performance / Education/ Other Projects The grants listed below were awarded out of a total of 35 applications, using the Council–mandated grants budget of £18,000. During the year, Barry Collett resigned from co–ordinating the EiP applications and his place was taken by Steven Halls. Both remain on the Elgar in Performance Group, which comprises the Executive Committee, Barry, Steven and Martyn Marsh. Steven Halls, Co–ordinator

Recipient Activity Venue Aid £

Cobbe Piano Collection Care of Elgar’s Piano Guildford 400

Pro Musica Vocale The Music Makers Lucerne 621 Lucerne Give unto the Lord, Abbey, Wymondham SO 200 Enigma Variations Wymondham London, Marisa Gupta Violin Sonata 500 France, USA Ely Choral Society The Music Makers Cathedral, Ely 500 Shrewsbury Choral Abbey, The Kingdom 1000 Society Shrewsbury

T9 Recipient Activity Venue Aid £

Friedrich–Spee–Chor, St Maximin, Dream of Gerontius 1000 Trier Trier Ev. Kirchengemeinde Odenthal, 1000 Düsseldorf Düsseldorf High Wycombe Black Knight, Sea All Saints, 1000 Choral Society Pictures, Cockaigne High Wycombe

Edinburgh Festival The Kingdom Usher Hall 1000

Elgar Festival Sea Pictures, Worcester 700 Birthday Weekend Cello Concerto Sonata, Quartet, Radley, English Music Festival 350 Songs, Serenade Dorchester Woodstock Music The Light of Life, Woodstock, 750 Society The Snow Oxon Monterverdichor The Light of Life Würzburg 1000 Würzburg

St Andrews Choir The Kingdom St. Andrews 1000

Bach Cantata Group The Kingdom Bath 1000

Southwell Choral The Music Makers Southwell 500 Society

The Waynflete Singers The Kingdom Winchester 600

Horsforth Choral Bavarian Highlands Horsforth 90 Society Maidstone Choral Bavarian Highlands Maidstone 100 Society Finchley Symphony Enigma Variations, Finchley 500 Orchestra The Music Makers Newcastle on Tyne The Kingdom Newcastle 350 Bach Choir 10 pieces for Anastasia Vedyakova Violin & Piano, St Petersburg 518 Organ Sonata

Alexander Walker Dream of Gerontius 1000

Yorkshire Music Violin Sonata Aysgarth 50 Festival American Symphony The Kingdom New York 500 Orchestra Cambridge University The Kingdom Ely Cathedral 500 Symphony Chorus

TOTAL 16729

T10 The Journal During 2019 issues of the Elgar Society Journal were published in April, August, and December, of 72, 84 and 88 pages respectively. Particular highlights were contributions by Julian Lloyd Webber, Julian Rushton, Peter Sutton’s essay ‘Alice Elgar, Poet of her Time’, Kevin Allen’s research on Hugh Blair, and Burkhard Sauerwald’s analysis of Elgar, Schumann, Uhland and Longfellow, as well as yet unpublished historic interviews with and Adrian Boult. The December issue included the last contributions by the former editor and Elgar scholar Martin Bird who had passed away but finished several essays before his death. The new column ‘Elgar viewed from afar’, to illustrate how Elgar was seen in non–British countries during his lifetime, included contributions from Austria, Germany and Catalonia. From 2020 onwards there will be a new team of British editors with Kevin Mitchell, Andrew Neill, David Morris, Stuart Freed and Andrew Dalton. Meinhard Saremba, Editor of the Journal.

The News As usual, three editions of the News were published in 2019, in April, August and December. I attempt to cover all news with an Elgarian content, together with the latest information from the Society’s officers and Branches, including as many colour photos as possible. The News relies on largely unsolicited items of interest from occasional or one–off contributors so Society members should please continue to send their articles. Special thanks are due to Robert Gilbert, typesetter and compiler of the concert diary, and regular contributors including Richard Smith, John Norris, Andrew Neill and Tom Kelly. Peter James, Editor of the News

Membership report As at 31 December 2019 there were 1026 members. This shows a small increase on the previous year’s total of 1015. However it should be remembered that because the accuracy of the subscriptions record couldn’t be guaranteed until fairly late in the year, we did not execute the usual ‘cull’ of non–paying members in 2019. The actual total might be 50 lower than the figure stated.

In 2019 there were 52 new members, of whom 21 were free. It should be noted that since the entirely sensible decision to request standing order details from all new FREE members was taken, very few have actually completed their registration.

T11 Branch membership

Branch 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 East Anglia 56 57 50 65 56 East Midlands 37 31 24 33 26 London 320 321 307 338 349 North America/Canada 49 42 45 45 36 North–West 120 117 113 127 125 Scottish 50 47 59 59 61 Southern 89 97 90 102 86 South–West (*) 54 58 58 64 67 West Midlands 229 216 187 210 210 Yorkshire/North–East 55 53 45 50 46 UK Unaffiliated 161 127 143 160 180

(*) Although the South West Branch is no longer functioning, members who are recorded against that Branch are included here to indicate the geographical spread of membership. Chris Bennett, Honorary Membership Secretary The Archives There have been no additions to the Society’s Archive deposited at the Hive in Worcester during the past year (partly due to the Archivist’s illness), but the following material has been received: • Programme for A Choral Festival to raise funds for the Birthplace of Sir Edward Elgar presented by the Elgar Foundation, , 15 July 1980. Deposited by Martin Passande (London Branch). • Videos of London Branch outing to Settle for unveiling of Elgar–Buck plaque in May 1989 and of BBC Prom including performance of Elgar/ Payne Symphony No 3, 13 August 1998. • CDs (6) of conference sessions and dinner celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the Elgar Society, Worcester, 2001. Deposited by Andrew Dalton (London Branch). Richard Hall, Honorary Archivist Branch Activities The Society recognises that Branches contribute to the Society’s health as they promote membership and local activity throughout the country. They are particularly important for members who enjoy meeting fellow Elgarians and listening to talks and performances of Elgar’s music in their home area.

T12 East Anglian Branch The East Anglian Branch met eight times in 2019 at our usual venue, the Discovery Centre at the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Overall there has been a significant drop in attendance throughout the season, numbers varying between 16 and 30. The Branch welcomed Andrew Neill, musicians Harvey Davies and Sarah Ewins, Relf Clarke, Arthur Reynolds, Andrew Keener, Kevin Mitchell and friends, Julian Rushton and Christopher Wiltshire. The topics were varied and interesting: a thorough investigation of The Black Knight, Elgar’s Violin Sonata, The Sanguine Fan and The Fringes of the Fleet. We also heard an appreciation of the life of Michael Kennedy, a career in recording music, a comparison of the lives of Elgar and and a collection of recordings of radio interviews describing Elgar in his lifetime. Bev Simpson, East Anglian Branch East Midlands Branch 2019 has been a successful year with a varied programme of talks covering all things relating to Sir Edward and the age in which he lived. John Drysdale got 2019 off to a flying start in February (our first meeting of the year) with an excellent talk, Elgar’s Earnings, on Elgar’s finances – based on his own original research. Tom Kelly travelled from Scotland to entertain us in March with a behind–the–scenes view in Enigmatic Variations. A fascinating afternoon! In April broadcaster Stephen Johnson, in My Ideal, gave interesting thoughts on the influence Robert Schumann had on Edward Elgar. In May Wendy Hill talked about The Early Years of Edward Elgar, a period often ignored or at least glossed over, its later legacy unrecognised. On cue, Barry Collett gave Lesser–known Elgar an airing in June. Those who know Barry from his recordings were well prepared for an in–depth trawl through early and late works. After a summer break Geoff Scargill told us in October about a Miracle in Manchester. He expanded on the life of John Barbirolli, whose time with the Hallé included many Elgar performances. Elgar as we knew him was a fitting title for Christopher Wiltshire’s archival lecture in November. He drew from contemporary writings and reminiscences; there is a Part 2 promised! The year ended with December’s Edward Elgar and by Michael Butterfield. Wagner’s influence on Elgar cannot be underestimated and Michael emphasised his points with expertly delivered piano illustrations. The Branch is very aware of probable funding issues in years to come. We have budgeted carefully within the amount allotted and found there is no need to cut down on quality, at least in the foreseeable future. T13 To streamline production of an annual financial report it has been decided to change our year in line with the calendar. This means the next AGM is in February 2020. There have been four members’ meetings since the AGM in May. The average attendance was: members 13, friends 3 = 16. So, we have to combat falling attendance, but the main problem in the Branch is getting people to volunteer for committee posts. With much regret I am resigning as Chairman and committee member from 1 January. This is due to progressive ill health. I have greatly enjoyed being able to help in this Branch’s organisation. In particular my thanks to Sam Dobson, presently Secretary and Treasurer. His efficiency and everyday running of the Branch cannot be faulted. I am sure he will rise to the occasion. I wish all members well and hope there will be some Society members who will come forward to serve and keep the Branch running. Michael Toseland, Branch Chairman, East Midlands

London Branch London Branch held a number of events in 2019, as follows:

February 4 Collecting Elgariana: the unruly passion (Arthur Reynolds) March 4 Perspectives on Elgar from an early 21st century composer’s viewpoint (Robert Saxton) April 1 The Dream of Gerontius in Canterbury Cathedral (joint meeting with Friends of the LPO) May 11 Elgar and Handel Relf Clark; The Gerald Coke Collection: Katharine Hogg (Foundling Museum) June 10 Branch AGM, followed by an organ recital by Nicholas Morris (at St George’s Hanover Square) October 7 Elgar’s Brinkwells works: A for the War? (Adrian Brown)

Reports of the above meetings appear in the relevant issues of Elgar Society News.

At the meeting on 4 November, David Bell spoke about his career as an organist. He played the organ for performances and recordings conducted by Barbirolli, Boult, Handley and many others including, for fifteen years, . He played in several works by Elgar, and re–introduced the organ part in the Second Symphony. It was interesting to realise how many orchestral works include an organ part. In his introduction to the evening, Malcolm Walker paid tribute to David’s skill as an organist, but also as a tape editor for EMI at the Abbey Road Studios.

T14 The 2 December meeting was a very special occasion. Roderick Williams gave a most entertaining and informative talk about his career, which took off once he made the move from teaching to almost accidentally becoming a specialist in British music. He spoke of his approach to performing Elgar’s music and it was fascinating to hear how his interpretations have developed over the years. He also spoke briefly about his work as a composer.

An event also attended by several Society members from other Branches was the British Library’s day of talks entitled Celebrating Elgar. This was arranged to mark the Elgar Foundation’s generous donation to the Library of much of the archive material formerly housed at the Elgar Birthplace (The Firs). From speakers including Julian Rushton, Daniel Grimley and John Norris we heard how access to a range of autograph sources helps with research, performance and publication. We also heard several recordings from the Sound Archive which were new to most of those present. A panel discussion focused on sources of biographical information, asking whether there was a need for additional biographies of Elgar and whether new themes should be investigated. This was an extremely rewarding and enjoyable day, and it was good to hear from BL staff about plans for making these sources more widely available in the future.

Our thanks go to all who contributed to the year’s events. Ruth Hellen, London Branch Secretary

North America Branch The North American Branch is self–funding. We serve two objectives: (1) to hold a three–day conference once a year in a place where our members can hear a performance of an important Elgar work, and (2) to encourage our members to contribute to the Elgar Society’s central objective of furthering our appreciation of the man and his music.

Our 9th annual conference, held in San Francisco this year, has been fully described in the News. In addition, during 2019, members of our Branch made two significant contributions to the furtherance of our awareness of Edward Elgar’s music. Diane Nolan Cooke edited Volume 12 of the Complete Edition, and Lani Spahr produced the Somm CD, Elgar in America. Arthur Reynolds, North American Branch North West Branch During 2019, The North West Branch held eight meetings, the reports on most of which have been given in the relevant issues of the News. In summary, these were:

T15 19 January Filling the Gaps (an audio–visual presentation) – Steven Halls, followed by the Annual General Meeting. 17 February The North West Branch Annual Luncheon held at The Alma Lodge Hotel, Stockport. Guest speakers: Fae Jones and Ken Swallow – both of whom talked about and played a recording of a piece of music which had a special significance for them. 09 March Judas Iscariot in Music – Peter Newble (an audio–visual presentation) 06 April Barbirolli and Elgar (an audio–visual presentation) – David Jones (Secretary of the North West Branch) 18 May Elgar, Blackwood and The (an audio–visual presentation) – Kevin Mitchell, Stephen Harrow, Peter Nixon, Lynn Nixon 12 October Elgar before the Enigma Variations – The Forging of a Style (a talk illustrated by recorded music) – Barry Collett 09 November A Desert Island Discs–style of interview with recorded music – Darren Niman was interviewed by Geoff Scargill (both are NW Branch members) (this meeting was held at the Quaker Meeting House in Liverpool) 07 December Elgar as I knew him – Part Two (an audio–visual presentation – with the recorded voices of those who knew Elgar) – Chris Wiltshire In addition to our regular Branch meetings, the North West Branch arranged and sponsored a recital at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on 5 November 2019 in which the talented professional Russian violinist Anastasia Vedyakova, accompanied on the piano by Barry Collett, gave a recital entitled Elgar and the Violin. Some of the pieces we heard were very familiar, others were very rarely heard. It was a fascinating recital, given by two distinguished musicians with playing of the highest standard. The recital was open to members of the public as well as members and friends of the North West Branch and the large audience showed their appreciation with rapturous applause. The Council of the Elgar Society had decided to award Anastasia the Elgar Medal for her considerable efforts in promoting Elgar and his music throughout Russia, and Elgar Society Vice–Chairman Stuart Freed, who attended the recital, gave a speech and made the presentation at the end of the recital. Each of our Branch meetings is reported in full in our annual newsletter (issued in August) and a link to a pdf file of the full colour newsletter and programme is available on our NW Branch website page. T16 Our Branch membership is stable at 120 members in December 2019. Despite the inevitable loss of some members, we are balancing this with new memberships. We are maintaining our active publicity drive to recruit new members by various forms of local advertising. We are also attracting visitors to each of our Branch meetings and some of these have now become Society members as a result. Our home base for our meetings is at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, but during 2019 we held one meeting at the Quaker Meeting House in Liverpool – now part of our schedule. Please note: NW Branch Chairman, John Knowles; Hon. Secretary, David L. Jones; Programme Secretary, Geoff Scargill; Treasurer, Geoff Hill. John Knowles, David Jones and Geoff Scargill will put themselves forward for re–nomination at the AGM on 18 January 2020. Geoff Hill has decided to stand down as Treasurer and Brian Walker has agreed to allow his name to be put forward at the AGM for nomination as the new NW Branch Treasurer. There are currently no other nominations. David L. Jones, Branch Secretary, North West Branch Scottish Branch The Scottish Branch held five Branch meetings in 2019, all in Edinburgh at our regular venue of St Mark’s Unitarian Church. At the end of the year the Branch had 50 members. In February our Chairman presented Enigmatic Variations with excerpts from Elgar’s own piano version played by Branch member Leon Coates. Popular as ever, the ‘Enigma’ Variations are consistently rewarding to revisit and rehear and Edinburgh was blessed with three performances of the work during the year – by the Edinburgh University Music Society Sinfonia on 23 March (for which we provided a programme note), the visiting Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 7 April, and the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra on 9 August. John Howden, also of our Branch, gave a fascinating talk and analysis of Elgar’s own recordings in April. John illustrated the contrast, and progress, in the recordings from the early acoustic to the later electrical recordings. This was followed by the Branch AGM. In June Peter Newble of East Anglia Branch gave Judas Iscariot up to and beyond The Apostles, his thought–provoking, revisionist view of Elgar’s representation of the character in The Apostles against more traditional musical representations of the character. Bass–baritone Zorbey Turkalp added a recital including music from Elgar’s Caractacus and Fringes of the Fleet.

T17 The September meeting focused on one work – the Piano Quintet – with an introduction to the music and then a splendid performance by members of the Bach Ensemble of Edinburgh.

On 2 November Neil Mantle (new Chairman of the Elgar Society) discussed and illustrated in conversation the Elgar/Payne 3rd Symphony, prior to a fine performance he conducted with his Scottish Sinfonia later in the month. The commitment and warmth of the performance confirmed Neil’s conclusion that, any reservations notwithstanding about some of Payne’s input, Elgar’s music was too valuable and moving not to be heard in full concert performance. The Branch meeting concluded with a lively and well–prepared piano recital by student Mark Rogers, whose programme included Elgar’s Five Piano Improvisations.

Live music is now an established feature of the Branch meetings and thanks and appreciation are due to Linny Lawson for arranging performances. The Branch is fortunate in having so many members who are performers themselves or teachers of students willing to give performances. Special mention this year is also due to our Treasurer, Ian Lawson, who not only accompanied the piano recital at our June meeting but gave the organ version of Imperial March on the organ of his own church to celebrate a ‘personal anniversary’.

Tea refreshments are another well–established feature of Branch meetings with home baking provided by Maureen Kelly and the loyal team of helpers. Notoriously, Elgarians have larger appetites than their counterparts in the Jane Austen Society Scottish Branch!

2019 also saw a wider range of activity in support of Elgar’s music beyond Branch meetings. Our Chairman gave well–attended pre–concert talks for performances of The Kingdom – by local forces in St Andrews, conducted by Michael Downes, on 29 April – and of the three Brinkwells chamber music works – by the Brodsky Quartet (with its new leader) on 11 November.

Joint activity included a meeting on 14 April hosted by the Wagner Society of Scotland at which Michael Downes gave a talk on Elgar’s Oratorios as Music Drama. Elgar in Performance gave much appreciated support to Michael Downes’s performance of The Kingdom, and also to the performance of the same work conducted by Martyn Brabbins in the Edinburgh Festival. Branch members were invited to a full forces rehearsal and to meet Martyn Brabbins the day before. The Kingdom had finally come to Edinburgh!

T18 All in all, 2019 demonstrated that there are many ways in which Scottish Branch can extend its reach to the wider music scene. So far this has been concentrated on the east coast – in Edinburgh and St Andrews. But we hope to take outreach further as opportunities arise elsewhere in Scotland. Tom Kelly, Branch Chairman, Scottish Branch Southern Branch I took over the role of Chairman of the Southern Branch of the Society from William Cole at the Branch AGM in February 2019, having previously served as Vice–Chairman. I would wish to express my thanks to William, who has moved to Staffordshire, for his careful and enthusiastic management of the Branch. I have subsequently attended two meetings of Branch Chairmen in London.

2019 was a year marked by eight varied and generally well–attended meetings (only 28 in May!), which are freely open to all. The only exception was a departure from our normal format, when we held a live recital of English song, entitled Elgar and Beyond, as our January meeting. It was given by Alex Poulton (baritone – who also acts as voice coach at Southampton Choral Society) and Peter Rhodes (piano); it took place in the small theatre at The Spring Arts Centre in Havant and was sold out (~100 people)! It was necessary to charge a small fee for members and non–members alike to cover the cost of the performers’ fees and the theatre hire. There was a small surplus that contributed to Branch funds. We are in the process of organising something similar for the 2021 season. We have previously maintained a steady membership of about 98, but this was reduced at the end of last year to 89 owing to deaths and resignations. Our meetings continue to alternate between Winchester and Havant. The rest of the season covered subjects ranging from Albert Sammons (Michael Jameson), Elgar and Parry – writing for the violin (with a practical demonstration of the differences from the violinist Rupert Marshall–Luck) to Kathleen Ferrier (Christopher Fifield) and Malcolm Sargent (Andrew Keener). I gave an illustrated talk on Elgar and the Bach Revival and the season concluded with British Men–of–War from local choral conductor Derek Beck. Our speakers are usually a combination of local musicians, national musical personalities and our own Elgar Society SB members. I am grateful to our Vice–Chair, Duncan Eves, for replacing a sick Chris Wiltshire (EA Branch) at short notice, with Elgar, Genius of the Orchestra.

T19 Our committee continues to work hard with much enthusiasm. Duncan Eves (Vice–Chair) did much of the work to arrange the current 2020 programme. Ed and Wendy Wiseman (Secretary) have been stalwarts of the committee for many years and Margaret Morphew continues to seek opportunities to engage younger people, plus other organisational tasks. Peter Willey has also been organising our publicity for a long time and is much appreciated. The Rev. Stephen Wilkins is a relative newcomer to the committee, but he has made great strides to bring us into the modern era with communications on Facebook and Twitter (Twitter seems to be the more effective). Stephen also has charge of the Southern Branch website, which he maintains at his own expense. The website was established by former committee member Dave May (long before my time) and is regarded as essential to conveying our Branch message. Our Treasurer, Jean Jones, has given devoted service for very many years and now wishes to retire. It is of some concern that no one appears to be coming forward to take this vital role. Several of our members are also choral singers and regularly take part in local performances. We attempt to attend and display Elgar Society publicity at all local events performing works by Elgar. A peak of performance occurred at Winchester Cathedral at the end of 2019, when the Waynflete Singers gave a performance of The Kingdom to a packed house on a day with so many other local concerts. Our Duncan was in the choral line–up! However, even with a full house and support from Elgar in Performance, the costs of performing in somewhere like Winchester Cathedral are enormous and rarely can even a modest surplus be made. My overall concern is that future funding of the Elgar Society, as a whole, will diminish to a point where we can no long support all the activities we would like. The Trustees may wish to ponder the point. David Pearce, Chairman, Elgar Society Southern Branch West Midlands Branch Our Branch continues to hold the majority of its meetings at The Firs, Elgar’s Birthplace, although we occasionally return to St Leonard’s Church of the Beauchamp Community in Malvern. We continue to publish our yearly events leaflet and this is distributed by mail to our members and, electronically, to the Secretaries and Chairmen of other Branches. Our Branch Newsletter is also included in January and July mailings and proves an excellent way of keeping members apprised of all we are doing. We are delighted to report that our ongoing commitment of attempting to bring classical music in general, and Elgar in particular, to our young people is now being well supported by the Executive. We feel that this is vital if we, as a Society, are to survive.

T20 Our programme for 2019 was as follows: 16 January A Jaundiced View? David Parkes examined the musical world of Elgar’s time as reflected in the writings of George Bernard Shaw. Extracts from Shaw’s criticisms were read by Peter Sutton. 16 February Annual Branch Lunch at Christ Church Hall, Malvern, including a short quiz. 9 March AGM and Leonard Bernstein, a talk by Jon Goldswain, Vice–Chairman of the WM Branch, on the career of the famous American composer and conductor. 6 April His name will always be spoken… an illustrated presentation by Rupert Marshall–Luck on Elgar and Parry’s writing for the violin. 18 May Elgar and the hacks of Fleet Street, a talk by Richard Westwood–Brookes who examined aspects of Elgar’s life as reported by the Press. 22 June Journeying with my cello, a talk by the cellist Rachael Howgego who worked with many illustrious musicians. She owns Beatrice Harrison’s cello which she played. Meeting at St. Leonard’s Church of the Beauchamp Community. 13 July A form of genius, a presentation by Stuart Freed on the long and varied career of Gordon Jacob, one of Britain’s most respected teachers and composers. 30 July Elgar and English Cathedral Music by Timothy Day, to complement his recent book I Saw Eternity the Other Night, at the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, followed by the Elgar Society lunch. This event was organised at short notice by the WM Branch owing to the suspension of the South–West Branch. 14 September A Cathedral musician’s reflections, a most amusing talk by Robert Green who worked as assistant organist at both Lichfield and Hereford Cathedrals. 15 September The Secret Source of Elgar – the orchestral music of by Dr Jerrold Northrop Moore. This was a joint meeting with the Autumn in Malvern Festival. 12 October A concert by the Elgar Chorale, which was founded in 1980 and is one of the leading chamber choirs in the West Midlands. Their programme of all Elgar was conducted by Piers Maxim. 16 November Grania and Diarmid by Andrew Neill, formerly Chairman of the national Elgar Society, explaining the origins of Elgar’s incidental music to the play. T21 7 December One of the old school, solid, and good, and a gentleman. Dr Jim Berrow described the career of William Done, organist and Choirmaster at Worcester Cathedral during Elgar’s early years. Richard Smith, Branch Secretary, West Midlands Branch

Yorkshire and North East Branch The 2019 season began with the AGM on 26 January, and the election of the Committee, which remained unchanged from the previous year except for the new Chairman, Dr David Young, and the appointment of Paul Kampen as Deputy Treasurer, with Caroline Gilderdale (Speaker Secretary), Paul Grafton (Branch Secretary), Howard Gregg, Tony Pook, Prof. Bernard Porter, Prof. Julian Rushton, Pamela Scowcroft, Philip Scowcroft and Richard Surrey completing the team. The Committee have worked very well together. Communication is by e–mail, informal impromptu meetings before the talks, and an annual committee meeting in February where strategic matters are considered. A small working group (Chairman, Branch Secretary, Treasurer, and Speaker Secretary) work on specific issues and report back to the full Committee.

Following the 2019 AGM the outgoing Chairman, Tony Pook, gave a presentation on Elgar’s concert overtures, which brought Tony’s distinguished stewardship to a fitting close after seven years at the helm. The other talks and presentations have also been of a high standard: Rupert Marshall–Luck on Elgar and Parry – writing for the violin, a talk illustrated at the violin; Jonathan Clinch on Elgar and Herbert Howells; Daniel Grimley on Elgar’s Sanguine Fan, complete with useful analytical handout; Jonathan Wainwright on Gerontius with MS notes by Elgar (during which some of our members demonstrated their skill at deciphering Elgar’s not always easy handwriting); and Andrew Neill on Diarmuid and Gráinne – of which talk a full version appears in the December 2019 Elgar Society Journal. For family reasons, Stuart Freed had to postpone his talk on The Lighter Side of Elgar until this year but we were fortunate to have as replacement the Chairman of the North– West Branch, John Knowles, whose talk was on Edward Elgar, Liverpool and Malcolm Sargent. A different kind of presentation was given by the Fairfax Ensemble, who gave a lecture–recital on the music of Elgar and his contemporaries to the dawn of the First World War and during the 20s and early 30s. We believe that the presentations have struck the right balance between musicological rigour and accessibility. All have been well received.

T22 The Committee have given much thought to our venue and, having looked at alternatives, have decided to stay at the Bar Convent in York at least for this year and next. The main disadvantages are the high rental costs – the Bar Convent now insists on charging by the half–day rather than by the hour – and the lack of a piano for lecture–demonstrations and recitals. We would very much like to increase membership of our Branch. To this end we have distributed Branch leaflets, and had major publicity pushes at concerts in Leeds Town Hall and, with our new pull–up banner, at the Harrogate Royal Hall. This is a gradual process, helped by our growing reputation as a welcoming, warm and friendly community. I would like to end this annual report by thanking our committee – especially our Branch Secretary, Paul Grafton, Speaker Secretary, Caroline Gilderdale, and Treasurer, Paul Kampen – for their outstanding work. David Young, Chairman Yorkshire and NE Branch

C 2019 INITIAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLANS

Given the purpose of the Society is the education in and promotion of the appreciation of the public in the music of Edward Elgar and the education of the public in his life, Council have agreed a strategy that enabled our activities to be grouped under the aims mentioned under it, viz: a. the provision of educational programmes and activities to widen knowledge of Elgar’s music for all and to develop the public benefit achieved by the Society; b. support for the Elgar Birthplace, museums and educational establishments that attract the general public to Elgar’s music and life; c. the funding and encouragement of performances and recordings of his works; d. the encouragement of research into Elgar’s music, and the publication of a scholarly journal containing the results of such research; e. the publication of or support for a scholarly edition of Elgar’s music.

During the year there was a significant amount of change in the Officers of the Society with a new Treasurer and a new Membership Secretary getting into their roles. The Vice–Chairman ably steered the ship during the interregnum until I assumed the Chairmanship. All the Officers have worked well together to handle the changes smoothly. The Council will now need to develop its strategy for the future. Neil Mantle, Elgar Society Chairman

T23 THE ELGAR SOCIETY

Statement of Financial Activities for the period ended 31 December 2019

2019 2018 £ £ Income

Subscriptions 24,179 26,555 Gift Aid 3,700 3,841 Royalties 168 188 Investment Income 5,144 1 Branch Receipts 10,623 16,713 Other 470 649 Donations 70 505

Total income 44,354 48,452

Expenditure Society Objectives Journals and Newsletters 10,428 10,394 Branch Activities 18,386 26,652 AGM 364 1,285 PR and Advertising 505 36 Web Site 690 – Sundry 1,367 2,291 Elgar in Performance 16,329 12,838 Elgar Medals – – Administration Authorised expenses for Council and Executive 2,369 2,317 Membership administration 114 –

Total Expenditure 50,552 55,813

Surplus / (Deficit) for the period (6,198) (7,361)

Balances brought forward 104,606 111,967

Balances carried forward 98,408 104,606

T24 Balance Sheet 2019 2018 £ £

Current accounts 19,334 1,769 Investec investment 54,125 84,125 Branches’ bank balances 26,843 22,975 Debtors and Accrued Income 3,775 – Less owed by Society (5,669) (4,263) Net Assets 98,408 104,606

Restricted Funds

Kay 3,960 3,960 Branches: London and West Midlands 17,680 17,680 Total Restricted 21,640 21,640

General Fund 76,768 82,966

Total Funds 98,408 104,606

T25 Basil George Nevinson (1853–1908, B.G.N. of the ‘Enigma’ Variations) T26

FOUNDED 1951 Registered as a Charity No 298062

President : Sir Mark Elder CH CBE Chairman : Neil Mantle MBE

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION : Single membership: UK: £35.00; Overseas: £36.00; Joint membership: UK: £40.00; Overseas: £41.00; Single Student membership: UK: £16.00; Overseas: £17.00; Joint Student membership: UK: £21.00; Overseas: £22.00. Renewable on 1 January each year.

Joint membership is available for two persons residing at the same address and sharing a single copy of the Journal and News. Renewals, and applications for membership should be sent to the Hon.Membership Secretary at the address below. A surcharge of £4.00 is applied to payments not remitted in sterling, to cover exchange commission and conversion loss. Payments may be made by Visa, Maestro or Mastercard, quoting the type of card, its number, three–digit card security number and expiry date, the amount to be paid and the name on the card if different from the member’s name. Those paying by credit card may do so by telephone, or by e–mail using the on–line membership application, renewal, Gift Aid and Standing Order forms which can be found on the Society website at http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/membership. They are also available from the Hon. Membership Secretary.

CHAIRMAN : Neil Mantle MBE, 10 Findhorn Place, Edinburgh EH9 2JP Tel: 0131 667 2170; 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: Peter Smith, 134 Oglander Road, London SE15 4DB Tel: 07816 221316; e–mail: [email protected] HON. MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY : Chris Bennett, 11 Aston Court, Basin Road, Worcester WR5 3FR Tel: 01905 356950; e–mail: [email protected]

BRANCHES AND BRANCH SECRETARIES

EAST ANGLIAN (Bury St Edmunds) Christopher Wiltshire, 11 Burlington Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 2HS Tel: 01473 254 940; e–mail: [email protected] EAST MIDLANDS (Leicester) Sam Dobson, 69 Greengate Lane, Birstall, Leicester, LE4 3JG Tel: 0116 267 7372; e–mail: [email protected] LONDON (Marylebone) Ruth Hellen, 30 King James Avenue, Cuffley, Herts EN6 4LR Tel: 01707 876079; e–mail: [email protected] NORTH AMERICAN Lee Kaufman, 8921 Moydalgan Rd., St. Louis, MO 63124 Tel: 314–991–4816; e–mail: [email protected] NORTH–WEST (Manchester) David L Jones, Willowbrook House, Spath Lane East, Cheadle Hume, Cheshire SK8 7NL Tel: 0161 439 7176; e–mail: [email protected] SCOTTISH (Edinburgh) Kitty Parker, 1 Belmont View, Edinburgh EH12 6JJ Tel: 07980 270242; e–mail: [email protected] SOUTHERN (Winchester / Havant) Wendy Wiseman, 3, Broomhill Cottages, East End, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 5SX Tel: 01590 626516; Website: www.elgarsouth.org.uk; e–mail: [email protected] WEST MIDLANDS (Worcester) Richard Smith, 24 Crown Lea Avenue, Malvern, Worcs, WR14 2DP Tel: 01684 438358; e–mail: [email protected] YORKSHIRE & NORTH EAST (York) Paul Grafton, Fair Winds, Parsons Green, Wetherby, Yorkshire, LS22 2RQ Tel: 01937 583723; e–mail: yorkshire–[email protected]

EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL : Kevin Mitchell, 37 Mapledene, Kemnal Road, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 6LX Tel: 07756 120124; 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]

SOCIETY WEBSITE : http://www.elgar.org SOCIETY E–MAIL ADDRESS : [email protected]