大象传媒

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part I Prelude

Good morning and welcome to this Sunday Worship celebrating the choral music of Edward Elgar. My interest in Elgar stretches back to childhood. For we are both children of a beautiful county, shaped by rolling hills and fertile plains: Worcestershire. Growing up, Elgar鈥檚 story seemed to be everywhere in the county. He is perhaps our most famous son. His music 鈥� from the Enigma Variations to the Pomp and Circumstance marches 鈥� remains part of the nation鈥檚 musical landscape, and today we celebrate three extraordinary Choral works written for the Birmingham Festival between 1900 and 1906: The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles and The Kingdom. Each work was written for the concert hall, but whose themes take the listener and performer to matters at the beating heart of faith and spirituality: questions about the meaning of life, death and what comes after; themes about the frailty of humanity and the glory of the Divine; and stories of hope and despair and how God can transform ordinary people so that they may do extraordinary things. Elgar has a genius for creating musical language which speaks to both heart and mind. Indeed, when I first heard The Dream of Gerontius performed live by the Halle Orchestra and Chorus in Manchester, I wept at Elgar鈥檚 exquisite musical storytelling. As we shall hear across this service, his three Choral masterpieces have the power to move and challenge contemporary audiences deeply.

听Joanna Bullivant: I find these works incredibly resonant with this idea of hope

Martyn Marsh: These pieces have a lot of meaning as a Christian.听 Because they cover the Bible, the. Apostles and the Kingdom. And Gerontius is also about the tortured soul going upwards. Elgar has this ability to create amazing works that actually. Transmit the message and very much promote that message about life, about the work of the apostles and developing of the Christian faith.听

Kirsty Thorpe: These pieces are. Full of mystery and miracle, and they create a very powerful atmosphere. All three of them. They are always going to be relevant. Whatever the age they are performed in and they are eternally beautiful and incredibly powerful. Acts of religious music to share.

This weekend and next the Hall茅 will be performing all three of these pieces in Manchester. Here鈥檚 Matthew Hamilton, the Halle鈥檚 Choral Director, explaining why.

Matthew Hamilton:

We're performing Elgar鈥檚 three great sacred oratorios over the course of two weekends.

I think it's a great statement of intent to present all three at the same time. For the audience, I think it's an extraordinary opportunity to hear. Three things that we normally hear separately back-to-back and to really immerse ourselves in Elgar's world and in his spiritual mind.

Elgar鈥檚 first oratorio, The Dream of Gerontius is the story of an old man, an ordinary Catholic. It begins on his death bed, where he is surrounded by his friends praying for his soul. Gerontius sings as life leaves him, expressing his fears for what might come next. Movingly, the choir, representing his friends, ask for God鈥檚 mercy on his soul as they sing, Kyrie Eleison 鈥�

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part I Kyrie eleison ... Holy Mary, pray for him

PRAYER:

O Holy God, may you be with us now and at the hour of our death. May you send the holy angels to carry us to the judgment of your love and to receive your mercy with such grace as you grant us.

O Glorious God, help us to hear the music of your love in Christ Jesus; teach us to attend to your song of mercy and justice and raise our voices in joy and praise.

O Wondrous God, you delight in your creation and long to bless your people with mercy and love; by your tenderness, help us to pray for all who fear for their future this day. Amen

听

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part I Rouse thee, my fainting soul

Rachel: Elgar took his text from John Henry Newman鈥檚 epic poem. Andrew Neil, former chairman of the Elgar Society reflects one why this piece still has resonance today.

This story managed to reach out to a ride across a wide cross section of. Society and partly I think that is because it's about, as Elgar stressed, an ordinary man. Facing what happens to us all, we're all going to die. And whether you have any faith or have lost your faith or really have not a clue, there is always for most people in the back of their minds, what next?

Baritone Roderick Williams has sung the role of The Priest and The Angel of Agony on numerous

听Gerontius I really enjoy. At taking part in that. It's partly a little bit selfish because it's the tenor who has to do all the hard work, as Gerontius鈥� soul, both before and after, is passing through to the next realm. So he does all the hard work and my two roles as the priest and then the Angel agony are kind of dropped in. So the first part of Gerontius has been going on for half an hour and I've been sitting there just revelling all this glorious music. And then when the priest has announced with this amazing trombone chord, I stand up and deliver my stuff. You know, it's a tremendous theatrical moment and also a great emotive moment for me as well, singing the soul onwards to the next place.

MUSIC: GO FORTH UPON THY JOURNEY CHRISTIAN SOUL FROM 大象传媒 PROM 75 2015

Thus, the soul of Gerontius goes on his journey towards the judgment seat of God. He is no longer afeared, supported by his guardian angels. Yet as he draws closer to God he is assaulted by demons, fallen angels who mock his longing for grace and transformation.

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part II Lo Born Clods

Reverend Dr Kirsty Thorpe is a minister at Wilmslow United Reformed Church and a regular presenter of Radio 4鈥檚 Daily Service. She鈥檒l be singing with the Hall茅 Choir in their Manchester performances.

Kirsty Thorpe: Well, I first sang her on to us when I was just 20 years old, and I don't think I really understood it at all. Then now singing it. One of the things that strikes me about it is the significance of a piece that's focused around death. And entry into the life hereafter, and I wonder whether that will resonate a lot more with people now. In a post COVID world.

The one chorus which always gets me and which I love and find I can't sing if I start thinking about what it really means to me, is Praise to the Holiest. Elgar writes amazingly beautiful music and it takes us into the presence of God and the word 鈥榞lory鈥� keeps coming from all the different parts of the choir, and it builds up to such a peak that it somehow transports you spiritually. I just want the music to go on forever.

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part II Praise to the Holiest

听

The Soul of Gerontius asks to be taken into the Presence of God.听 But how to represent something so transcendent, something so other, in music? Matthew Hamilton again鈥�

Matthew Hamilton:

Gerontius鈥� soul then goes on this this journey where his soul is, is tested and. Always the choir provides the dramatic accompaniment to the levels of heaven and hell through which he's journeying. The great anger and terror of the demons chorus, which I think is every choral singers you know in their top five moments to sing music of real athleticism and bite and anger. And then through that to this wonderful hymn, praise to the holiest in the heights. Through all this music, as Gerontius is drawing nearer to God. Through all this music, Gerontius is drawing nearer. To a vision of God and. Somehow Elgar has to depict that moment musically. And when it comes, it's the most arresting and shocking and vital moment and it's over in a second, after Gerontius sings, I go before my judge, when everybody on the stage, plays as loudly as they possibly can, one very, very short note.听 And then the dust clears and in a high, searching melody, Gerontius sings 鈥楾ake me away鈥� having beheld the face of God.

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part II Praise to His Name! ... Take me away

Finally, the soul of Gerontius is taken away and finds rest and hope in Purgatory 鈥� a deeply Catholic idea which reflects how Elgar鈥檚 text was written by the English convert to Catholicism, Cardinal John Henry Newman

MUSIC: The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part II Softly and gently

Dr Joanna Bullivant is Lecturer in Historical Musicology at Oxford University.

DR JOANNA BULLIVANT:听

So it's an interesting question of what Elgar's Catholicism meant to him, because sometimes with Elgar that we tend to purely think in terms of faith. How strong his faith is at any particular moment, whether he is fully a believer or not, and famously the premier of Gerontius was a very poor performance. It was disastrous. There wasn't enough time. The players couldn't cope with it. And Elgar was incredibly disappointed because by this point he's 40. He's been working so hard for so long and this is a work that he's really put everything into and then he's denied this good performance. And so, he says. 鈥淚 always said God was against heart, and now my heart is closed against every religious impulse forever鈥�. So there's almost this sense of was this a loss of faith?

There's also the fact that Gerontius in particular caused him a lot of difficulties in terms of its explicit Catholicism at a time of when Catholicism was treated with suspicion in England, and where this could be a source of prejudice. So famously when it started to become part of the menu for the three Choirs festival to be performed in places like Worcester Cathedral, there was this bowdlerisation of the text. So they didn't want references to. Mary, the mother of God. They were uncomfortable with the concept of purgatory, which is part of Roman Catholic doctrine but not Protestant doctrine. So he was coming up against these tensions between his own religion and the broader context of society. So I think in these works as well that there's a tension between what he wants to achieve as an artist and his identity as a Catholic and how those things may work together.听

Having said that, I think that we see in these works the real nature of his faith and the fact that he has this sort of sympathy with the human figure with the Sinner.听

MUSIC: The Apostles, Op. 49: Part 1, III. By the Sea of Galilee, In the Tower of Magdala

It is precisely this tension and sympathy we see in Elgar鈥檚 second Oratorio, The Apostles in his treatment of the听 figures of Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot. However, it begins with the chorus 鈥淭he Spirit of the Lord is upon me鈥�, sung not by Jesus but by the chorus. By permitting the chorus to sing the words Jesus adopts as his ministry manifesto from the prophet Isaiah, it is as if Elgar wishes to reveal that the work of Good News belongs to all.听 The text is taken from Chapter 4 of The Gospel of John.

MUSIC: The Apostles, Op. 49: Part 1, Prologue: The Spirit of the Lord

Reading: Luke 4:14-21

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

听

Matthew Hamilton:

The seed for the oratorio was planted in Elgar鈥檚 mind actually as a schoolboy. When a teacher described the apostles to Elgar as being 鈥楶oor men, young men. And perhaps about as clever as some of you boys are now鈥� was the phrase and this idea that the works of God would play out in the lives of ordinary people was the driving force behind the oratorio. So although the apostles tells the story from the calling of the apostles to the Ascension, we see it through the eyes of the apostles and through the effect it has on the apostles.

听

The Apostles and The Kingdom are oratorios in a more traditional sense than Gerontius, articulating classic Biblical themes in the spirit of Bach and Handel, with perhaps the additional dramatic flourish of Wagner. For these pieces, Elgar created his own libretti. As he brings together texts from the psalms and the old testament prophets as well as the New Testament, he is able to听 tell the familiar Gospel story in a fresh way, every bit as bold as Handel鈥檚 approach in The Messiah鈥�

Roderick Williams will be singing the role of Jesus in the Hall茅 performance of The Apostles next weekend.

RODDY WILLIAMS: One of the moments that I really enjoy in this piece actually it's it's not, it's very little to do with my role, but it's it's a it's a great moment. It's when Elgar brings in the shofar the Rams horn and he has it tuned to the orchestra so whoever plays the Rams horn has to get something that's vaguely in the right key. For for elgars music, but it's just a great it's a great bit of theatre.听 I think it's the dawn that is announced with this this Rams horn and I just love that moment.

MUSIC: The Apostles, Op. 49: Part 1, I. The Calling of the Apostles, The Dawn

Rachel: O God of all good things, we give thanks and praise for your steadfast love shown forth in each dawning day. May our hearts, and minds and souls sing this day with hope and joy, and proclaim how great are your works, O Lord! Amen

In The Apostles Elgar turns to the life and teaching of Jesus, his death, resurrection and ascension. Roddy Williams鈥�

I think the spiritual impact of singing the role of Jesus is is it? It's hard to define. I'm not a person of faith myself, but I am certainly inspired by the character, the sayings, the works of this, this man. And I am particularly inspired by his capacity for infinite compassion, infinite kindness, infinite forgiveness. So I try to embody those qualities when I sing him. The music that Elgar writes is full of compassion and full of breadth and especially full of humanity. So rather than coming across as some sort of alien God like creature, I hope I come across as a human being, the very best of a human being.

RACHEL: But, as in Gerontius, Elgar鈥檚 focus is on ordinary people.

Dr Joanna Bullivant is a Lecturer in Historical Musicology at Oxford University

These pieces show us a number of things, but this central focus, I think of Elgar's faith, his fascination is in this idea of the flawed human figure the Sinner. So the in the apostles, for example, the figure of Jesus is almost somewhat less prominent than us being with Mary Magdalene and being with Judas and sort of going through their emotions.

In the apostles, we note that we have these two sort of human experiences sort of a juxtaposed of Mary Magdalene and Judas. So both are we know that there are sinners. So there is this kind of tradition around. Mary Magdalene, having been being a Sinner and then rejecting this and she's embracing this voice of hope over the possibility of despair in one's own flaws, whereas for Judas. He is saying. Being I'm, you know, hope has gone, nothing can save me. My iniquity is so great. So it's him losing that faith, that hope in God and God's forgiveness, God's salvation, that is the root. Of his despair.

MUSIC: The Apostles, Op. 49: Part 2, V. Golgotha

听

Yet, beyond Judas鈥� despair, lies Christ鈥檚 self-offering on the Cross at Golgotha. A sparse and desolate moment where the words 鈥淓li, Eli lama sabchthani鈥� are written above the score but are not sung. We then find ourselves at another dawn, an empty tomb. 鈥淗e is not here but is risen鈥�

MUSIC: The Apostles, Op. 49: Part 2, VII. The Ascension, "They platted a crown of thorns"

The Apostles ends with all the forces of earth and heaven singing resounding alleluias as Jesus ascends into Heaven鈥� which brings us to The Kingdom, Elgar鈥檚 final oratorio.

The Kingdom takes us into that extraordinary space after the Ascension when the people of God wait to receive the Holy Spirit to be poured out at Pentecost 鈥�

Matthew Hamilton:

The Kingdom is full of prayers. It's full of moments of corporate and communal singing and there's this sense throughout that after the Ascension, these spirit filled men. Are now having to find a way to be the community of Christ.

MUSIC: The Kingdom, Op. 51: III. Pentecost "And When the Day of Pentecost"

The central moment of this change is one in our own minds today 鈥� last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost, the coming of The Holy Spirit 鈥� Reverend John Knowles is a member of the Elgar Society

Revd John Knowles:

The Pentecost scene in the Kingdom is just wonderful, overwhelming. It's been prepared for. They're waiting for that moment. Jesus promised that the coming of the Holy Ghost, we're dealing with the Authorised Version of the Bible, the Holy Ghost would sweep upon them and would change things. And we see in that moment, these fallible men are brought to an absolutely new life and a new way of doing things. And the way Elgar portrays it with the orchestra, with the choir, with the soloists, is just overwhelming and you have that sense of movement as if the Holy Spirit is sweeping through and nothing will be the same again.

MUSIC: The Kingdom, Op. 51: III. Pentecost "And Suddenly There Came from Heaven"

John Knowles: So exciting things happened on that day of Pentecost, signs and wonders as healings as people speaking in strange tongues, and for most of those who were there, it must have been extremely puzzling. And so we hear those words again. Remember, in the Authorised Version of the Bible, 鈥渨hat meaneth this?鈥�

MUSIC: The Kingdom, Op. 51: III. Pentecost "Repent and be Baptized"

Rachel: And now we see that theme of transformation shine through. These ordinary men and women have become something new鈥�

Kirsty Thorpe:

Being given the gift of the Holy Spirit. They are coming to terms with. The implications of the gift, even as those around them are coming to them for guidance. But everyone is struggling. And grieving at the same time. And I think that is a model we can identify with because in many sense. Is our world is full of people who are contending with deep problems, feeling themselves overwhelmed by those and looking for sources of steadiness and strength in changing times.

What really resonates for me听 is the moments when individuals and in all cases they're men are being set aside to leadership roles in the life of God's people. And there's a repeated sense in which they they're not going to be speaking their words, but because of the presence of the spirit, they will be given the words to share with everyone.听 As an ordained minister myself, I sense that responsibility. And so I feel that I stand in the line of this holy succession from those first apostles. So I made promises at my ordination and we all prayed for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and I believe as we sing, that when I lead worship, it's not my words that I'm going to speak, but the words that God has given me.

MUSIC: The Kingdom, Op. 51: I. In the Upper Room "O Ye Priests"

听

As St Peter steps forward into leadership, the early Church begins to take root and is established in recognisable ways: in the celebration of Eucharist, and in fellowship, prayer and thanksgiving.

Lord of Grace, as we seek to be faithful to the call you make on our lives, by your Spirit may we show forth in the church today, all the goodness you poured out on your people in the days of old. Amen.

Revd John Knowles:

And so as we come to the end of the Kingdom. Bread shed wine is shared. I suppose in a sense, the first Eucharist. The Lord's Prayer is sung and then John and Peter reflect on all that's happened. And they sing ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 鈥淎bba, Father鈥� And then the chorus pray 鈥淭hou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, and we are thine鈥�.

MUSIC: The Kingdom, Op. 51: V. The Upper Room "Our Father"

RACHEL: Eternal God, in you is the fullness of life; you know us at our coming in and going out and you equip the people of god to serve you in your Kingdom. And the blessing of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, be with us this day and always. Amen