Three Minutes with Newman
Elgar’s Musical Composition of The Dream of Gerontius
September 28, 2024
(Edward Elgar from Wikipedia entry)
St. John Henry Newman’s beautiful poem, The Dream of Gerontius, written in 1865 did not become famous until Edward Elgar set it to music. From an excellent Wikipedia article
The composer Antonin Dvorak had considered The Dream of Gerontius fifteen years earlier and had discussions with Newman, before abandoning the idea. Elgar knew the poem well and had owned a copy since at least 1885. In 1889 he was given another copy as a wedding present after his marriage at the Brompton Oratory in London. The copy he received had belonged to General Gordon who annotated it before his death in Khartoum.
Edward Elgar, however, began working on the musical composition in 1899 for the Birmingham Music Festival, and it was first performed at this festival in 1900. Various matters conspired to make the debut a failure: the complexity of the piece, the death of the chorus master a few days before the performance as well the fact that the conductor received the full score only on the eve of the first orchestral rehearsal.
Shortly after the premiere, the German conductor and chorus master Julius Buths made a German translation of the text and accomplished a successful performance of Elgar’s score in Düsseldorf on December 19, 1901 and again on May 19. Elgar was present at both and very pleased with the results. Richard Strauss was Buth’s co-director and was also impressed by the performance and praised it.
Elgar had been given permission to cut out half of the poem, but not allowed to change the words. Some Anglican clergymen asked that the Catholic doctrine in the poem be toned down for the oratorio that would be performed in English cathedrals. Admission to Gloucester cathedral was delayed until 1910, and in 1930 the composition was banned from Petersborough cathedral. Nevertheless, in 1903, the oratorio premiered in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall in New York. This was followed by performances in Sydney, Vienna, Paris and Toronto.
Elgar composed this piece when he was already well known in England, yet the oratorio is regarded as Elgar’s finest choral piece, and moreover, it is regarded as one of the greatest English choral compositions. Interestingly, Elgar did not like his composition to be called an oratorio. There have been many notable soloists who interpreted the Dream such as Edward Lloyd and Marie Brema, Gervase Elwes and Elena Gerhardt.
The oratorio consists of two parts, approximately 35 minutes and 60 minutes. It begins with a long orchestral prelude which sets the theme of pathos which is followed by a litany of prayers.
The choir of angels sing with a joyful heavenly tone which contrasts later with the jarring voices of the choirs of demons. The choir of angels near the beginning resembles a Gregorian chant.
The soloist performing Gerontius has a strong pleading tenor voice. The Guardian Angel sings with mezzo soprano voice phrases beginning with words such as: Anima Christi, and Go Forth in the name of Christ. The piercing voices of the angels reaches it zenith with the hymn: Praise to the Holiest (at 1.02)
Elgar wrote on the manuscript score a quotation from John Ruskin‘s Sesame and Lilies:
“This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another: my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.”
After having considered Newman’s beautiful poem, listening to this magnificent choral composition by Elgar wonderfuly completes Newman’s work. The music and chorus elevate the soul to contemplate God’s “generous love,” and to praise his holiness, “most sure in all his ways.” The Guardian Angel experienced in the music feels like a loving friend; the communion of the saints becomes a comforting reality, and Purgatory is conceived as a loving mercy of our God. Elgar’s gift to Newman and to us is this inspired composition, which more than anything else, brings St. John Henry Newman’s beautiful words and his sublime faith to a wider audience. This pairing could only have been a divine plan.
