ELGAR THE APOSTLES Alison Hargan soprano Alfreda Hodgson contralto David Rendall tenor London Symphony Chorus Bryn Terfel bass London Symphony Orchestra Stephen Roberts bass Robert Lloyd bass Richard Hickox Greg Barrett Richard Hickox (1948 – 2008) Sir Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) The Apostles, Op. 49 Oratorio in Two Parts The Blessed Virgin, The Angel Gabriel .................................... Alison Hargan soprano Mary Magdalene ......................................................................... Alfreda Hodgson contralto St John ............................................................................................................David Rendall tenor St Peter ..................................................................................................................Bryn Terfel bass Jesus .........................................................................................................Stephen Roberts bass Judas ...................................................................................................................Robert Lloyd bass London Symphony Chorus London Symphony Orchestra Roderick Elms organ Richard Hickox 3 COMPACT DISC ONE Prologue 1 Chorus: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me’ 7:33 Part I I The Calling of the Apostles 2 Recitative. Tenor: ‘And it came to pass in those days...’ – 2:46 In the Mountain. Night 3 The Angel Gabriel: ‘The voice of Thy watchman!’ – 5:38 The Dawn 4 Sound of the shofar – The Watchers: ‘It shines!’ – 1:34 Morning Psalm 5 The Singers: ‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord’ – 4:08 6 Recitative. Tenor: ‘And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples’ 9:23 II By the Wayside 7 Jesus: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ 7:56 4 III By the Sea of Galilee 8 Recitative. Tenor: ‘And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship’ – 1:50 In the Tower of Magdala 9 Mary Magdalene: ‘O Lord Almighty, God of Israel’ – 5:56 10 Mary Magdalene: ‘“This shall ye have of Mine hand”’ – 8:29 In Cæsarea Philippi 11 Recitative. Tenor: ‘When Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi’ – 5:20 In Capernaum 12 Mary Magdalene: ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek’ – 5:12 13 Chorus: ‘Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope’ 7:55 TT 73:49 COMPACT DISC TWO Part II 1 Orchestral Introduction 4:21 IV The Betrayal 2 Recitative. Tenor: ‘And it came to pass that He went throughout every city and village’ – 1:50 3 Recitative. Chorus: ‘Then gathered the chief Priests and Pharisees a council’ – 3:19 5 In Gethsemane 4 Judas: ‘Hail, Master!’ – 2:16 In the Palace of the High Priest 5 Servants: ‘Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth’ – 3:21 The Temple 6 Recitative. Contralto: ‘Then Judas, which had betrayed Him’ – 3:39 Without the Temple 7 Judas: ‘Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?’ 9:12 V Golgotha 8 Chorus: ‘Truly this was the Son of God’ – 4:36 VI At the Sepulchre 9 Recitative. Contralto: ‘And very early in the morning they came unto the sepulchre...’ – 4:32 VII The Ascension 10 The Apostles: ‘We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel’ – 4:21 11 Recitative. Contralto: ‘And when He had spoken these things’ 11:32 TT 53:04 6 Elgar: The Apostles I have been thinking it out since boyhood, friend Jaeger at Novello’s in November 1899 and have been selecting the words for he wrote: ‘Here’s Judas, and a scrap’, giving years, many years. a musical theme. He soon realised, however, Thus Elgar, after the first performance of that there was not time both to compile his The Apostles, in 1903. In fact, the boyhood libretto and to set it to music, so he turned to inspiration had come from a master at Elgar’s Newman’s The Dream of Gerontius, in which school, who said: his ‘Judas scrap’ became the music of the The Apostles were poor men, young men Angel of the Agony. at the time of their calling; perhaps... not A further commission from Birmingham, cleverer than some of you here. for the 1903 Festival, finally gave Elgar his Notes jotted in a New Testament dated opportunity. Perhaps as a result of a visit to 1882 testify to his continuing fascination; Bayreuth in the summer of 1902, where he but Elgar was more immediately concerned saw Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal, his with establishing himself as a composer conception was now of a trilogy, ending with (with such works as Scenes from the Saga of the Last Judgement, as the consummation of King Olaf, Caractacus, and The Black Knight, the Church’s work on earth, which had begun as well as a host of smaller pieces), and with the Apostles’ mission. with what was not at all the same thing, For the Birmingham commission Elgar set earning his living: helping in his father’s to work at the end of 1902 on the first part music shop, teaching the violin, playing in of this trilogy, which was to finish with the local orchestras. His status as a composer conversion of the Gentiles at Antioch. By of national importance was established 28 June 1903, however, it had become clear by the success of the ‘Enigma’ Variations that the work as he conceived it would not be in 1899; and the commissioning of a work ready in time, and he wrote to Novello’s: for the 1900 Birmingham Musical Festival I have been seeing my London doctor seemed to give Elgar the opportunity to fulfil and my eyes are again in trouble – he his long-cherished project. In a letter to his forbids more work: now I propose to the 7 Birmingham people that they produce Parts At the conclusion... the audience remained I and II of the Apostles – this portion is for a few moments as if spell-bound, and complete in itself and may well stand alone... unwilling to mar the devotional effect of The concluding portion of the work – much such a masterpiece by applause... Then the of which was written first – you can have enthusiasm was not to be restrained. anytime later. And the Manchester Guardian wrote: The ‘concluding portion’ in fact became He is one of the great originals in the The Kingdom, produced in Birmingham in musical world of today. 1906. Elgar’s friend Jaeger had already written: Nothing concrete came of the rest of The Apostles is certainly your maturest and his grand scheme; Elgar toyed with ideas greatest work; the certainty of touch and and made sketches throughout the rest of style displayed throughout is wonderful. his life. But after The Kingdom he turned to It is difficult not to agree. symphonic composition, and the sketches Elgar compiled the libretto himself from for the rest of the trilogy found a place in the the New Testament and the Apocrypha, and Third Symphony, though that also was left it testifies to his deep concern for theological unfinished. truth, his considerable literary awareness, By 1903, every premiere of a work by Elgar and his keen sense of the dramatic. But it was an event of major importance: Cockaigne, was written, in detail at least, with rather than the first two Pomp and Circumstance before the music, and marches, the Introduction and Allegro, the the music by use of leitmotives makes Coronation Ode had all consolidated the much allusion etc. clear which must position won by the Variations. Performances escape when the words are read of The Dream of Gerontius in Düsseldorf only... The music explains much of the had established Elgar as a major European ‘interdependence’ of the words, composer. So The Apostles was eagerly as Elgar explained to Canon Gorton, whom awaited: analyses of the music (by Jaeger) he consulted on points of scriptural detail. and of the words (by Canon Gorton) had been And again: published by Novello’s. The whole musical I first of all read everything I can lay my world converged on Birmingham; it was not hands on which bears on the subject..., disappointed: meditating on all that I have sifted out as 8 likely to serve my purpose, and blending further his religious theme. His first and it with my musical conceptions. Every lasting interest was in the Apostles as personality appears to me in a musical people: dress. I suppose all who read novels form My wish was to look on things more from mental pictures of the characters. So with the poor man’s (fisherfolk etc.) point of me: ...I do not seek for character-motives: view. they come, in all places, in all seasons. So Jesus, though in one sense omnipresent, The music of The Apostles is a network of is not the most important character, and such leitmotives, which it would not be helpful the Crucifixion and Resurrection are not to label exhaustively (though I have pointed portrayed, as might have been expected. out a few below), since the attentive listener His conception of the work as drama will soon recognise them and find that they is shewn by the fact that Elgar was much acquire their own significance and resonances. exercised over the choice of singers for it. He Musical responses were provoked in had a low opinion of English singers (‘where Elgar not only by people, as is shewn most are their brains?’) and wanted the leading characteristically by the ‘Enigma’ Variations, Wagnerians Anton van Rooy, Ludwig Wüllner, but also by scenery and places. He usually and Johannes Messchaert, as being best able carried a notebook in his pocket on his to realise his dramatic ideas. In the event country walks and bicycle rides, in which none of them was available. he jotted down ideas as they came to him. The overriding impression conveyed by * * * * * The Apostles is that of place: each episode happens in a particular place with its own The Prologue introduces the principal vividly portrayed atmosphere. Even so motives of the work, beginning with the ‘Spirit apparently ‘neutral’ an event as the choosing of the Lord’ theme.