How did Edward Elgar, a provincial violin teacher without any formal training in composition, write a choral masterwork--The Dream of Gerontius--that has become a classic, performed more often in his native Britain than any other choral work except The Messiah? This book tells how Elgar came to write Gerontius, describes the work's first performance in Birmingham in 1900, recounts its subsequent history and explores the reasons for its continuing appeal. Edited by Geoffrey Hodgkins, the book combines materials from contemporary and archival sources with newly commissioned articles. The thirty selections range from an intimate description of the Elgars at home at Birchwood Lodge, where much of Gerontius was composed, to a scholarly account of the libretto by Harvard musicologist Charles E. McGuire and a musical analysis by Andreas Friesenhagen. There are memories of the Birmingham premiere by William Bennett, who sang in the chorus that day, and reviews of early performances. Critic Neville Cardus describes the unique style of recitative Elgar employs in Gerontius. John Barbirolli, one of the work's greatest interpreters, offers his views in a 1965 essay. Walter Essex compares recorded interpretations by Barbirolli, Adrian Boult, Benjamin Britten, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Simon Rattle and others. In a closing article, Elgar biographer Michael Kennedy examines the place of Gerontius in British music today. Illustrated with more than 90 drawings and photographs, this is a book that both performers and listeners can learn from and enjoy.

Best of Me: A Gerontius Centenary Companion

Biographies & Memoirs

Hodgkins, Geoffrey

Arts & Literature

Elgar Editions

Half-century: a History of the Elgar Society, 1951-2001

John Norris

Geoffrey Hodgkins

Michael Trott

, xi, 467 pages, illustrated throughout in black and white, errata slip present

Elgar and chivalry

ROBERT ANDERSON

History

<p>Many towns and cities have a music society, formed to promote an annual programme of chamber concerts, but few if any can have as long and illustrious history as the Malvern Concert Club with its unbroken 100 years of active concert promotion. It is unique too in having been founded by Sir Edward Elgar with the active participation of his close friend Troyte Griffith who, together with Elgar's daughter Carice, provided the club with a strong and benevolent leadership from its creation until the latter's death in 1970.</p>

Elgar's Legacy: A Centennial History of the Malvern Concert Club

Messenger, Michael

Cockaigne: Lectures from the London Branch of the Elgar Society

Elgar in America: Elgar's American Connections Between 1895 and 1934

Richard, Smith

A Young Person's Guide to Elgar

Chris Bennett

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