Journal December 2013 Vol.18, No. 3 The Elgar Society Journal The Society 18 Holtsmere Close, Watford, Herts., WD25 9NG Email: [email protected] December 2013 Vol. 18, No. 3 Editorial The Severn Suite: Manuscripts, Music and Myths 4 President Robert Kay Julian Lloyd Webber FRCM Imperial propaganda and Caractacus: The woodlands and Elgar’s love of country 30 Bryson Mortensen Vice-Presidents Elgar’s Religious Beliefs 42 Sir David Willcocks, CBE, MC Peter Sutton Diana McVeagh Michael Kennedy, CBE Elgar’s Music for Powick Asylum 53 Michael Pope Barry Collett Dame Janet Baker, CH, DBE Music reviews 55 Leonard Slatkin Julian Rushton Sir Andrew Davis, CBE Donald Hunt, OBE Book reviews 59 Christopher Robinson, CVO, CBE Martin Bird, David Bury, Diana McVeagh, Carl Newton, John Norris Andrew Neill Sir Mark Elder, CBE CD reviews 71 Martin Bird, Ruth Hellen, Richard Wiley DVD reviews 74 Chairman Martin Bird Steven Halls Letters 76 Tony Jones, Christopher Morley, Carl Newton, Robin Self, Alan Tongue Vice-Chairman Stuart Freed Recording notes 79 Michael Plant Treasurer Clive Weeks 100 Years Ago 80 Secretary The Editor does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by contributors, Helen Petchey nor does the Elgar Society accept responsibility for such views. Front Cover: First recording of The Severn Suite. A 78 of excerpts by the winning band, recorded the day after the Festival (Collection of Michael Plant). Notes for Contributors. Please adhere to these as far as possible if you deliver writing (as is much preferred) in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. A longer version is available in case you are prepared to do the formatting, but for the present the editor is content to do this. Copyright: it is the contributor’s responsibility to be reasonably sure that copyright permissions, if Editorial required, are obtained. Illustrations (pictures, short music examples) are welcome, but please ensure they are pertinent, cued into the text, and have captions. For the past half century I have bought a monthly record magazine and turned first of all to see what new recordings of Elgar had been issued. In the sixties the answer was ‘very few’, though we could Presentation of written text: rely on EMI, at least, to provide succour. Then with the rise of the Naxoses of this world and the plethora of smaller independent record companies came something of a golden age for Elgarians: Subheadings: longer articles benefit from judicious use of these. not only new recordings of familiar works but first recordings of just about everything the man ever Dates: use the form 2 June 1857. Decades: 1930s, no apostrophe. wrote. Has the pendulum now swung the other way? Were it not for the enterprise of ICA Classics in scouring the BBC archive (and, in reality, scouring the archives of members with tape recorders Plurals: no apostrophe (CDs not CD’s). to fill the BBC’s gaps), theDuett for Trombone and Double Bass would be the only Elgar recording Foreign words: if well established in English (sic, crescendo) in Roman, otherwise italics. to be reviewed in this particular issue. Thank goodness that the written word is alive and well! Six books are reviewed in this issue Numbers: spell out up to and including twenty, then 21 (etc.) in figures. that add immeasurably to our knowledge of Elgar and his surroundings: all but 3,000 pages of Quotations: in ‘single quotes’ as standard. Double quotes for quotes within quotes. fascinating information and not a Kindle in sight. Gracious ladies in Malvern and district, gracious gentlemen ‘oop North’, concert and tube line financiers – they’re all here with more to come. A first Longer quotations in a separate paragraph, not in italic, not in quotes; please leave a blank volume of Kevin Allen’s ‘A Norbury Saga’ leaves us eagerly awaiting its sequel, and first drafts line before and after. exist of a further nine volumes of Elgar diaries ... Emphasis: ensure emphasis is attributed as ‘[original emphasis]’ or ‘[my emphasis]’. The written word is alive and well, too, within the pages of the Journal. When I took on the Emphasized text italic. role of editor, I had a feeling that I might have to contribute more essays than was healthy. Not a bit of it! I have been delighted by the willingness of contributors new and old to submit their work, References: Please position footnote markers after punctuation – wherever possible at the end of and glad that it is of so varied a nature that there should be something to interest everyone in each a sentence. issue. And this is a bumper issue. Having donated some of my allocation of pages in August to In footnotes, please adhere as far as possible to these forms (more fully expounded in the longer ensuring that Dominic’s News had a fitting send-off (and having had to ‘pull’ one essay as a result), version of these notes): I reclaim them with interest in December. You will find a major essay by Robert Kay onThe Severn Suite and the first of a series of three articles by Bryson Mortensen onCaractacus , as well as essays Books: Author, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, year of publication), page[s]. Thus: Robert on Elgar’s religious beliefs and the background to a Barry Collett’s new recording of the Powick Anderson, Elgar (London: Dent, 1993), 199. music. Which brings us full circle: the recording, on the SOMM label, is scheduled for release in Periodicals: Author, ‘Title of article’, Title of periodical, issue number and date sufficient to identify, time to be reviewed in the next issue. page[s]. Thus: Michael Allis, ‘Elgar, Lytton, and the Piano Quintet, Op. 84’, Music & Letters, 85 (May 2004), 198. Martin Bird End a footnote with a full stop, please, and never put a comma before a parenthesis. Titles that are ‘generic’ in Roman: e.g. Violin Concerto. Others in italics (e.g. Sea Pictures; the Musical Times). Units within a longer work in single quotes, e.g. ‘Sanctus fortis’ from The Dream of Gerontius. 2 The Elgar Society Journal Vol.18 No.3 — December 2013 3 Your last letter was a keen disappointment to me, especially after your promise to send a short score. The next Festival is the twenty-fifth, and I declined other works on the strength of your promise. Name your terms. Please do not let me down. I appeal to you - for the sake of the brass band - to write The Severn Suite: Manuscripts, Music and Myths the next work. In spite of this entreaty, matters might not have progressed further had it not been for the death of one of Elgar’s staunchest supporters. Robert Kay In 1921 Henry Embleton, conductor of the Leeds Choral Union and an indefatigable Elgarian, had advanced Elgar the sum of £500 in the hope of inducing him to complete the Apostles trilogy. This hope came to nothing, and on 7th February Introduction 1930 Embleton died, his personal fortune depleted almost to zero by his enthusiasm for choral music in The Severn Suite Op.87 is Elgar’s most ambitious completed work from his final compositional general and Elgar’s choral music in particular. period. Best known as a brass-band classic, it also exists in official transcriptions for full orchestra, By coincidence, Whiteley had written to Elgar wind band and organ. on the same day, offering improved terms2 and Since its composition a number of incorrect assumptions about The Severn Suite have been telling Elgar that a pack of blank music manuscript made by critics and commentators. The reader consulting an Elgar reference book which mentions paper had been dispatched to him the previous the work is likely to encounter basic factual errors. These include received ideas which have acted day in the hope of persuading him to commence to the detriment of Elgar’s reputation as a musician. composition. The offer was timely, as on 14th This article surveys the source material for The Severn Suite, recounts in their entirety the February Embleton’s solicitors wrote to Elgar complicated chronology and iconography of the work, and highlights the misapprehensions that demanding the return of the £500 advance. Elgar have crept into the literature. tried to wriggle out of this obligation, first asserting Herbert Whiteley, who ‘called The Severn that the £500 had been a gift, and then taking legal Suite into being’ (British Bandsman). Reluctance advice. This advice was not encouraging. 3 Following the death of his wife in April 1920 Elgar effectively ground to a halt as a composer. The dispute with Embleton’s executors rumbled on during February and March, but had the Although Beau Brummel of 1928 was written at Elgar’s own suggestion, the few other original indirect effect that Elgar decided to accept Whiteley’s revised offer. Having written little in the 4 works that he completed in the 1920s were written mainly from commercial necessity or to oblige previous decade, he took on the task of writing a substantial work, for a prestigious event with no friends. possibility of the deadline being extended, in an unfamiliar medium – that of the brass band. One friend whose enthusiasm was not satisfied was the organist and brass band expert Herbert Whiteley.1 Elgar later credited him with ‘calling The Severn Suite into being’ and as Whiteley wrote to Elgar’s daughter Carice some years later, Elgar was the first composer to give me any encouragement in my plan of improving the outlook of 2 Initially £100 was offered, but in January 1930 Whiteley offered £150 ‘inclusive’. The 7th February letter brass bands and their music. That was in 1912! repeated this offer, but terms were eventually agreed at £150 for brass band rights only: this meant that Elgar was free to arrange The Severn Suite for other combinations and earn further fees from the relevant Whiteley had worked hard to nurture Elgar’s interest in brass band music.