"such as Hilaire Belloc, Lord Acton, and J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Edward Elgar, whose oratorio ""The Dream of Gerontius"" was based on a 19th-century poem by Newman. At various points after the 16th century hopes have been entertained by many English Catholics that the ""reconversion of England"" was near at hand. Additionally, with the arrival of immigrant masses of Irish Catholics, some considered that a ""second spring"" of Catholicism across Britain was developing. Rome responded by re-establishing the Catholic hierarchy in 1850, creating 12 Catholic dioceses in England from existing apostolic vicariates and appointing diocesan bishops (to"
"which was performed twice. In 1885 Antonín Dvořák provided ""The Spectre's Bride"" and Gounod provided ""Mors et Vita"". In 1891 Dvořák's commission delivered his ""Requiem"" for £650. 1900 saw the commission ""The Dream of Gerontius"" from Edward Elgar. The chorus master, Charles Swinnerton Heap had died suddenly four months before the concert was due, and with ten works in hand and only one copy of the score, rehearsal started only a few days before the performance date. It was not sung well but was strongly applauded and well reviewed as a composition. He returned in 1903 with ""The Apostles"", and"
"death and the soul of the Victorian era and one of Newman's most famous works. The Dream of Gerontius (poem) The Dream of Gerontius is a poem written by John Henry Newman consisting of the prayer of a dying man, and angelic and demonic responses. The poem, written after Newman's conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, explores his new Catholic-held beliefs of the journey from death through Paradise to God and thence to Purgatory. The poem follows the main character as he nears death and then reawakens as a soul, preparing for judgment, following one of the most important events"
"The Dream of Gerontius (poem) The Dream of Gerontius is a poem written by John Henry Newman consisting of the prayer of a dying man, and angelic and demonic responses. The poem, written after Newman's conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, explores his new Catholic-held beliefs of the journey from death through Paradise to God and thence to Purgatory. The poem follows the main character as he nears death and then reawakens as a soul, preparing for judgment, following one of the most important events any human can experience: death. Newman uses the death and judgement of Gerontius as a"
"and the soul's ""life"" in the realm eternal, one step further. Because ""The Dream of Gerontius"" deals with the journey of the soul from life to death to Heaven, something not many authors and poets had done up to that point, many people wondered what inspirations Newman was drawing from when he wrote it. Some believed that Newman drew inspiration from an 11th-century hymn of Saint Peter Damian, ""De Die Mortus Rythmus"", when constructing his vision, but there are some who feel that Newman’s inspirations and motives were more personal. Due to its title, some believed that Newman drew inspiration"
"of the poem that had already been absorbed into Anglican hymn books: ""Firmly I believe and truly"", and ""Praise to the Holiest in the Height"". ""The Dream of Gerontius"" received its US premiere on 23 March 1903 at The Auditorium, Chicago, conducted by Harrison M. Wild. It was given in New York, conducted by Walter Damrosch three days later. It was performed in Sydney, in 1903. The first performance in Vienna was in 1905; the Paris premiere was in 1906; and by 1911 the work received its Canadian premiere in Toronto under the baton of the composer. In the first"
"for the poem from dreams and not from any religious text. Some also felt that the poem itself might not even deal with death at all, but rather be a vision of an old man—maybe even Newman himself—worrying about life after death. Besides these various groups there were also some who viewed ""Newman himself as carrying greater religious authority and credibility than any available creed or communion"", and that the ""Dream of Gerontius"" was a vision of sage wisdom by a Cardinal in the Catholic Church. Whatever Newman's inspiration, ""The Dream of Gerontius” remains one of the pivotal works on"
"""The Dream of Gerontius"", Op. 38, many times since it first performed it at the Queen's Hall, London, on 18 May 1931, conducted by Stanford Robinson. A performance of the oratorio was given in the sixth-century St Irene's Church as part of the 1997 Istanbul International Music Festival. Leonard Slatkin conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby, tenor John Aler and baritone Alan Opie. A special performance of the oratorio was given from St Paul's Cathedral on 26 November 1997 to mark the 75th anniversary of the BBC. Andrew Davis conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and"
"Gerontius"" under Julius Buths in Düsseldorf in May 1902, of which the Manchester Guardian wrote: ""The part of the Angel was given by Miss Muriel Foster with the wonderfully beautiful and genuine voice ..."" She had previously sung in Elgar's ""Sea Pictures"". She was also memorable in Brahms' ""Alto Rhapsody"". She was a personal friend of Elgar and sang in the first performance of his ""Coronation Ode"" of 1902; ""The Apostles"" (1903); ""The Kingdom"" (1906); ""The River"" (1910) and ""The Music Makers"" (1912). Elgar dedicated his song ""A Child Asleep"" to Muriel Foster's son Anthony Goetz 'for his mother's singing'."
"good in people. The original Oratory in Rome was one of the great centres of sacred music for the city. The most celebrated singers and composers of the day would perform there. From this heritage comes the word ""oratorio"". Right from its founding, the Birmingham Oratory has been noted for the high level of its music, due largely to the active interest of Newman himself. The parish continues to provide services which use the music of Palestrina, William Byrd, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Haydn, Mozart, as well as modern composers. Newman also founded the Oratory School there in 1859, as"
"Newman's possible canonisation. Some speculated the Vatican was embarrassed by the relationship between the two. Newman's remains in the shared grave were exhumed as part of a plan to move them to the Oratory in Birmingham city centre. At the exhumation, Newman's wooden coffin was found to have disintegrated and the bodies completely decayed. In ""The Dream of Gerontius"", Edward Elgar's piece based on Newman's poem, the character of the Guardian Angel is considered to be based on St. John. Ambrose St. John Ambrose St. John (1815 – 24 May 1875) was an English Oratorian and convert to Catholicism. He"
"chorus master for a wide variety of groups and projects, and has also worked as a composer and arranger, notably for American folk singer Arlo Guthrie. Between 2002 and 2009 Burton was Choral Director at the Hallé Orchestra, and became music Director of the Hallé Youth Choir when it was founded in 2003. He prepared both choirs for the award-winning recording of Elgar's ""The Dream of Gerontius"" which won the 2009 Gramaphone Choral Award. In 2002 he became the Music Director of Schola Cantorum of Oxford, the chamber choir established in 1960 and now well known which is made up"
"one of the earliest operas composed by an American to be broadcast on radio. It was the first opera by an African-American to be presented on Broadway. Its score combines themes from spirituals, Southern melodies, jazz, and traditional Italian opera. Freeman received the prestigious Harmon Foundation Award in 1930 for achievement in music. At New York's Steinway Hall in 1930, Freeman accompanied at the piano a performance of excerpts from ""The Martyr"", ""The Prophecy"", ""The Octoroon"", ""Plantation"", ""Vendetta"" and ""Voodoo"". Freeman died of a heart ailment at his home at 214 West 127th Street, New York City on March 24,"
"even better known as an oratorio than as an opera singer."" In concert, his repertoire ranged from Purcell to Bach's B minor Mass and Tippett's ""A Child of Our Time"". It included works outside the general repertory such as Kodály's ""Te Deum"" and Elgar's ""The Apostles"". At the Three Choirs Festival, he sang in Verdi's ""Requiem"" and Elgar's ""The Dream of Gerontius"", in which he was praised for his ""forthright nobility"". This aspect of his singing was not without its critics: Edward Sackville-West called it ""monotonously hearty"", while his colleague Andrew Porter thought it ""fine and forthright."" Among the other"
"Winston Churchill); NICAEA (""Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!"", a tune which bears striking similarities to John Hopkins’ TRINITY, set in 1850 to the same words ); ST. CROSS (""O come and mourn with me awhile""); and ST. CUTHBERT (""Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed""). He also submitted a harmonisation of the tune STOCKTON. Other, later, tunes which achieved acclaim include GERONTIUS (""Praise to the Holiest in the height"", taken from Cardinal Newman's poem ""The Dream of Gerontius"", and sung at the funeral of William Gladstone ); LUX BENIGNA (set to Newman's poem ""Lead, Kindly Light""); STRENGTH AND STAY (""O"
"of St Pancras when he became Dean of Gloucester, a post he held until his death. As Dean, he banned performances of Edward Elgar's choral work ""The Dream of Gerontius"" from Gloucester Cathedral from 1900 until 1910 because of Roman Catholic references in its text. He adopted, additionally, the surname Jones (his wife's maiden name) in 1904. At some point he became a Doctor of Divinity (DD). Donald Spence Jones Henry Donald Maurice Spence (Spence Jones from 1904; 14 January 1836 - 2 November 1917) was an Anglican dean and author in the last decades of the 19th century and"
"southern ones, and liked singing to audiences of public schoolboys. Plunket Greene was a friend of Elgar's, and appeared in his Malvern Concert Club events. He was the original baritone in the first (October 1900) performance (Birmingham Festival) of Elgar's ""Dream of Gerontius"", alongside Marie Brema (angel) and Edward Lloyd (soul), under Hans Richter. In June 1900 Elgar had written to Jaeger, ""he sings both bass bits and won't they suit him. Gosh."" Although his recordings, and some commentators, suggest the voice was not a large one, it must have been capable of sustaining and projecting a considerable tone at"
"work for ""too frequent reliance on sequences"" and an over-idealised depiction of the female characters. Reed thought that the principal themes show less distinction than some of Elgar's earlier works. Elgar himself thought ""Falstaff"" the highest point of his purely orchestral work. The major works for voices and orchestra of the twenty-one years of Elgar's middle period are three large-scale works for soloists, chorus and orchestra: ""The Dream of Gerontius"" (1900), and the oratorios ""The Apostles"" (1903) and ""The Kingdom"" (1906); and two shorter odes, the ""Coronation Ode"" (1902) and ""The Music Makers"" (1912). The first of the odes, as"
"Variations"" (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, ""The Dream of Gerontius"" (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. In his fifties, Elgar composed a symphony and a violin concerto that were immensely successful. His second symphony and his cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity and took many years"
"important part in encouraging and organizing the provincial Music Competition Festivals in Lincolnshire (Elwes often conducting or singing), centred upon their family home, the Manor at Brigg. In 1905, at the suggestion of his friend Percy Grainger, an open competition class for folk-singers was included. As a result, many wonderful songs were collected, notably from Joseph Taylor (who made some commercial records for the Gramophone Company). Taylor was the source of the melody used by Delius for his ""Brigg Fair"". Elwes became the greatest living exponent (alongside John Coates) of Edward Elgar's ""The Dream of Gerontius"", which he first performed"
"""Orfeo"", which she first delivered in 1905, was considered one of her best parts, and her showpiece aria, 'Che faro?', was committed to disc. Henry Wood first conducted the ""Prelude and Angel's farewell"" from ""The Dream of Gerontius"", with Kirkby Lunn, in February 1901. In March 1904, she was a principal soloist in the Elgar Festival concerts given at Covent Garden, appearing on the first night with John Coates and Ffrangcon-Davies in ""Gerontius"", and on the second with them and with Agnes Nicholls, Kennerley Rumford (the husband of Clara Butt) and Andrew Black in ""The Apostles"". In this way she"
"with Reinhard Schwarz who often visited Cape Town as a guest conductor. Under his baton, the choir was invited to participate in the Schubert Bicentenary Festival in Vienna in May 1997, as well as performing in Munich. On his last tour to Cape Town before his death, Schwarz chose to conduct the choir in a performance of Dvořák's ""Requiem"". In 2001, the choir toured to England where they performed in several cathedrals and churches, and performed Elgar's ""The Dream of Gerontius"" in Worcester Cathedral on 2 June, the anniversary of the composer's birth. The Philharmonia Choir has been conducted by"
"greatest conductors of his time, including Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Thomas Beecham. When in England he sang in every season of Sir Henry Wood's Promenade Concerts in 1921-51. An acclaimed performer in Elgar's oratorio ""The Dream of Gerontius"", Williams often worked with the composer. He sang at Elgar's memorial service in 1934 as well as at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. In 1938, he was one of 16 eminent singers invited to take part in the first performance of the ""Serenade to Music"", written"
"London recital (Aeolian Hall) with Hamilton Harty (piano) was on 3 April 1906, and he sang for the Philharmonic Society. For Weingartner he gave the ""Die Walküre"" finale with Agnes Nicholls, and at Queen's Hall the premiere of Balfour Gardiner's ""When the lad for longing sighs"". In 1906 at Southport he took baritone roles in ""The Dream of Gerontius"" (beside John Coates) under the baton of the composer, Sir Edward Elgar. In April 1907 he was at Reading, Berkshire, in Parry's ""De Profundis"" and Stanford's ""Elegiac Ode"": at Hanley he gave the premiere of Havergal Brian's ""By the Waters of"
"not much appreciate the value of the work or their efforts. This was followed by Gounod's ""Faust"", this time in the title role. That year he also appeared in the ""Gürzenich's Concerts and Opera"" at Cologne and at Leipzig. Coates became one of the most popular festival singers in England, singing at the triennial Leeds Festival in 1901 and performing Elgar's oratorio ""Dream of Gerontius"" at Worcester in 1902, followed by numerous other Elgar works. In 1902, he was heard at the Berlin and Hanover royal opera houses and, in 1906, at key venues in Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Mannheim and"
"taking part in performances of his Magnificat with one voice per part. Independent instrumental accompaniment opened up new possibilities for choral music. Verse anthems alternated accompanied solos with choral sections; the best-known composers of this genre were Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell. Grands motets (such as those of Lully and Delalande) separated these sections into separate movements. Oratorio, pioneered by Giacomo Carissimi, extended this concept into concert-length works, usually loosely based on Biblical stories. The pinnacle of the oratorio is found in George Frideric Handel's works, notably ""Messiah"" and ""Israel in Egypt"". While the modern chorus of hundreds had to"
"The LSC performs mainly with the LSO at the Barbican Centre in London as well as appearing at other concert venues around the UK and Europe and regularly at the Avery Fisher Hall, New York. The Chorus's core repertoire consists of the major nineteenth and twentieth century orchestral choral works. The Chorus has performed and recorded works such as Elgar's ""The Dream of Gerontius"", Mahler's Second, Third and Eighth Symphonies, Ravel's ""Daphnis et Chloé"", Dvořák's Stabat Mater, Janáček's ""Glagolitic Mass"", Britten's ""War Requiem"", Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and ""Missa Solemnis"", Berlioz's ""La damnation de Faust"" and ""Roméo et Juliette"", Schoenberg's ""Gurre-Lieder"","
"depravity, barbaric jazzy outbursts, and the lamentations and finally the rejoicing of the Jewish captives. The ""couple of brass bands"" added at Beecham's suggestion to an already large orchestra each consist of three trumpets, three trombones and a tuba. Many critics judged it the most important English choral work since Elgar's ""The Dream of Gerontius"" in 1900. None of Walton's later choral works have matched its popularity. They include ""In Honour of the City of London"" (1937) and a ""Gloria"" (1960–61) composed for the 125th anniversary of the Huddersfield Choral Society. From the days of 78 rpm discs, when relatively"
"beginning with an eerie ""Kyrie Eleison"" progressing to a fast-paced ""Sanctus"", through a solemn ""Benedictus"", reminiscent of German baroque progressions and Russian Orthodox melodies, and concluding with an elegiac ""Agnus Dei"". This funeral Mass, regarded as a masterpiece of new sacred music in Vatican cultural circles, was written for the 1000th anniversary of Pope Sylvester II's death (May 12, 1003) and premiered in the year 2003 in the very Cathedral of Rome, where Sylvester II is buried. The last performance, ""Gloria"", a piece endowed with Wagnerian traits uttered a finale in which, D'Alessandra conducting, 140 musicians and singers reached the"
"today, was first heard at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival on 13 September 1899, with Elgar conducting. The European continental premiere was performed in Düsseldorf, Germany on 7 February 1901, under Julius Buths (who would also conduct the European premiere of ""The Dream of Gerontius"" in December 1901). The work quickly achieved many international performances, from Saint Petersburg, where it delighted Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1904, to New York, where Gustav Mahler conducted it in 1910. The work is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B, 2 bassoons,"
"of ""The Dream of Gerontius"", ""The Apostles"" and ""The Kingdom"". Oratorio returned haltingly to public attention with Igor Stravinsky's ""Oedipus Rex"" in France (1927), William Walton's ""Belshazzar's Feast"" at Leeds (1931), Arthur Honegger's ""Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher"" in Basel (1938), and Franz Schmidt's ""The Book with Seven Seals"" (""Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln"") in Vienna (1938). Michael Tippett's oratorio ""A Child of Our Time"" (first performance, 1944) engages with events surrounding the Second World War. Postwar oratorios include Dmitri Shostakovich's ""Song of the Forests"", Op. 81 (1949), Sergei Prokofiev's ""On Guard for Peace"" (1950), Vadim Salmanov's ""Twelve"", Krzysztof Penderecki's ""St."
"to Kennedy, ""It is unquestionably the greatest British work in the oratorio form ... [it] opened a new chapter in the English choral tradition and liberated it from its Handelian preoccupation."" Elgar, as a Roman Catholic, was much moved by Newman's poem about the death and redemption of a sinner, but some influential members of the Anglican establishment disagreed. His colleague, Charles Villiers Stanford complained that the work ""stinks of incense"". The Dean of Gloucester banned ""Gerontius"" from his cathedral in 1901, and at Worcester the following year, the Dean insisted on expurgations before allowing a performance. Elgar is probably"
"literary review ""The Month"", a position which she held for a year until it was taken over by the Jesuits. It was in this journal under her editorship that John Henry Newman's poem ""The Dream of Gerontius"" was first published. In 1884 she helped Fr Dignam to publish his popular ""Messenger of the Sacred Heart"", the organ of the Apostleship of Prayer. Her works also brought her into contact with clerical literary figures, such as Brother Henry Foley SJ, the historian of the Society of Jesus, and Father Matthew Russell SJ, the founder-editor of the ""Irish Monthly"". Most of her"