The poem by Newman followed his conversion to Catholicism and follows what is imagined will happen to the soul after death. The poem was written over 22 days. Cardinal Newman was canonised as a Saint in 2019. Elgar did not wish to stray from Newman’s simple text and holy thought. Encouraged by Novello to make more of the Soul’s encounter with God Elgar grappled how to render the culmination of Newman’s vision of an instantaneous glimpse of God and moment of judgement when what was described by Newman was the tiniest moment of profound silence. Certainly less than a sixteenth of a note! Music needs time and timing while the subject matter is outside time. In the end Elgar provided suitable impressive chords. Perhaps disturbing the Souls sleep in purgatory. The first performance in 1900 in Birmingham was a near disaster but a better performance was given in germany in 1901 which satisfied Elgar. Doctrinal differences over the issue of purgatory hampered access to cathedrals and churches. Despite the universalism of the theme the work was not performed much outside the UK from 1914. 2020 sees several UK performances of the work with Birmingham Festival Chorus performing the work in November 2020. The Work is divided into two parts. The first part is 30 minutes. The second part 60 minutes.
The video starts at 27.56 some of Elgars best. Philip Langridge - Gerontius
Catherine Wyn-Rogers - Angel
Alastair Miles - Priest/ Angel of the Agony
Andrew Davis conducts BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus The full libretto
It is easy to overlook the fact that Newman's poem, which Elgar took as his narrative and shortened as his libretto, had experienced remarkable success in its own right long before Elgar turned his serious attention to it. It was reprinted numerous times during Newman's own lifetime, translated into French and German, and carried by General Gordon whose handwritten annotations were copied by admirers onto their own copies after Gordon's death at Khartoum.
The poem By Newman is divided into seven individual "phases".
References
1. The dream of Gerontius (poem) Wikipedia
2. The dream of Gerontius (Elgar) Wikipedia
3. Gerontius companion Best of Me
Nigel Perrin’s musical life began as a boy chorister at Ely Cathedral, from where he won a choral scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, to study under Sir David Willcocks. After a short time spent singing in most of London’s professional choirs, Nigel became well-known as the high voice of The King’s Singers and for the next eleven years he travelled the world on concert tours, recorded some twenty-five albums and appeared in countless television shows with artists as diverse as Kiri Te Kanawa and Cliff Richard. This background and experience formed the basis of his current international career – conducting, directing choral workshops and summer schools, adjudicating and teaching. He is a member of staff at Wells Cathedral Specialist Music School, where he works with young developing voices and trains the Chapel Choir. Having established Bath Camerata as one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs, he is now greatly sought after as an inspiring choral conductor, directing the City of Bath Bach Choir, the Bath Festival Chorus and the Exeter Festival Chorus, and working regularly as consultant and motivator to many other choral groups. Messiah will be back at Pattishall in February 2024 https://www.hunsburymeadows.org.uk/uploads/messiah-perrin-feb2019-1.pdf
Today we looked at the genius of Haydn. Performed in 1798 the mass coincided with the defeat of Napoleon’s fleet by Nelson at the battle of the Nile. When Beethoven accepted the commission to write a mass that became the Mass in C performed in 1807 he said to his patron how difficult it would be to follow in Haydn's talented footsteps.
1797 was a difficult year for Austria. Four times Austrian forces were defeated by Napolean. Haydn's patron was a military man who had Haydn write a sung mass for his wifes birthday each year. The same year Haydn produced the Creation.
Cum sancto spiritu 13.00
Rehearsal notes. Getting "off book" in the Kyrie is relatively easy.
There is a structure to the movement which is easy to memorise.
An abbreviation is made where the words repeat.
} denotes the end of a phrase, [ ] soloists singing and breathing opportunity.
C minor plus starting notes are in lower case. C major notes in upper case.
Of course you should make your own shorthand pnemonic system, you might like colourful emojis!
This is the one I use
Rehearsal note - Kyrie
Ky-ri-e} Kyrie} e-lei-son} K K K [ ] Kyr-rie} e-lei-son [ ]Chris-te}
KE}KKEE}K}E}EEEEEE}KK}E}K}EEEE
Ky-ri-e} Kyrie} e-lei-son} K K K [ ] KK}E}EEEEEE}
Ky-ri-e}KK}EEEE
We can see how tenors are required to sing high g. Note where tenors sing the high g how Haydn where possible makes it easier by having you sing G major followed by g minor. The octave leap makes it much easier. The octave leap is also visible in the D and ds of the opening. This also makes a useful milestone in the piece helping to divide it up into manageable chunks to remember.
Glo-ri-a in ex-cel-sis de-o}GG}GID}GGIID [ ] Et in ter-ra pax ho-mi-ni-bus Repeat
bo-nae vo-lun-ta-tis Repeat Lau-da-mus te Be-ne-di-ci-mus-te Ad-o-ra-mus-te
Glo-ri-fi-ca-mus te te lau-da-mus te be-ne-di-ci-mus te ad-o-ra-mus te glo-ri-fi-ca-mus Repeat te [ ]
Do-mi-ne fi-li u-ni-ge-ni-te Je-su Chris-te Je-su Je-su Chris-te Je-su Je-su Chris-te [ ]
Do-mi-ne-de-us A-gnus de-i fi-li-us Pa-tris Pa-tris [ ]
Mi-se-re-re no-bis Repeat [ ] De-pre=ca-ti-o-nem no-stram Repeat [ ] Repeat [ ]
Mi-se-re-re no-bis Repeat [ ] RRR [ ]
tu, tu so-lus, tu so-lus san-ctus tu so-lus do-mi-nus, tu so-lus al-tis-si-mus} tu, tu so-lus, tu so-lus sanc-tus tu so-lus do-mi-nus, tu so-lus al-ti-si-mus, je-su Je-su Chris-te
