They may be seen by clicking here.

The first performance of a new orchestration of the Organ Sonata, Op. 28, was given on January 27th 2008 by the Siemens Orchestra in Erlangen, Germany. This orchestration was made without reference to the well-known version by Gordon Jacob, and originally conceived by the conductor and composer Anthony Addison for chamber orchestra with double woodwind, including cor anglais and piccolo. On this occasion the orchestra was augmented with additional brass and percussion to 65 players.

In an introduction before the performance, the conductor Lukas Meuli compared recordings of the organ and orchestral versions, which amply demonstrated how Elgar’s original was crying out to be orchestrated, besides being fiendishly difficult (Meuli said the organist really needed five hands and three feet!). Particularly memorable was the Andante Espressivo in the slow movement (which players at rehearsal referred to as their ‘Nimrod’!), and there were felicitous solos for the leader and woodwind, reminiscent of Richard Strauss and Mahler. This orchestra of gifted amateurs gave a memorable performance to an audience of around 800, and as encore Addison conducted the Andante to tumultuous applause.

To mark the 150th Anniversary of Elgar’s birth, the Society offered prizes for students at some of the UK’s leading colleges of music and universities. The prize of £150 was awarded either for a performance of an Elgar work or for an essay about Elgar’s music. The winners were chosen by the colleges’ tutors and the Society is grateful to them for the enthusiasm with which they responded to the idea when it was put to them, and for the care which they took in making what was often a difficult choice.

Here is the list of winners:

Performance

Natalia Luis-Bassa University of Huddersfield conducted the Huddersfield Philharmonic Society in a performance of the Second Symphony

Peter Davoren University of Leeds sang Orbin in the Music School’s performance of Caractacus

Kathryn Holt University of Nottingham performed two movements of the Cello Concerto in her final year recitals, later performing the whole work with the University Orchestra

Christopher Pearson University of Glasgow performed the Cello Concerto in his final year recitals

Judy Brown University of Edinburgh performed Sea Slumber Song and Where Corals Lie from Sea Picturesin her final year recital

Nathan Williamson University of Oxford (Worcester College) performed the piano part of the Piano Quintet in a public concert with the Allegri String Quartet, the University’s quartet in residence

Peter Rossiter and the Nero String Quartet Birmingham Conservatoire performed the Piano Quintet at the Conservatoire’s Chamber Musicfest in February

Chris Clark University of Manchester whose composition Transience of Enigma was performed by the Psappha Ensemble

PhD Laura Meadows Durham University Elgar as Post-Wagnerian:  A Study of Elgar's Assimilation of Wagner's Music and Methodology

Essays

Emily Riddle Chetham’s School of Music Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E Minor by Edward Elgar

Sophie Kirk Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama The Dream of Gerontius – An Evaluation of Performance Practice

Thomas Morgan Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Performing the Organ Music of Elgar

William Golding Cardiff University Write a critical response to Byron Adams ‘The “Dark Saying” of the Enigma: Homoeroticism and the Elgarian Paradox’, which demonstrates your understanding and interpretation of the author’s arguments. Your response should consider critically the role of sexuality in music as well as the specific critical and interpretative strategies used by Adams. What does his approach tell us about Elgar and his music?

Lucy Nolan Royal Northern College of Music The People and Places influencing the Violin Concerto

Daniel Ross Royal Holloway University of London Falstaff

Luke Aldworth Davis University of Bristol Elgar, England and the Empire

Ronnie Gibson University of Aberdeen Sir Edward Elgar: the Man and his Music

Matthew Badham University of York The Dream of Gerontius

Volume 37, Music for Violin, and Volume 4, Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf, are now available. Please contact John Norris (01923 775882) for details.

Kevin Allen has written another book, The Portsmouth North End Choral Society, Elgar, and 'Caractacus', which tells the story of Elgar's visit to Portsmouth in 1928 to conduct his cantata.

One neglected aspect of Elgar's career is the extent to which his presence, willing or unwilling, was invited to boost declining audiences for choral societies during the twenties and thirties. Such conducting opportunities may have served to reassure the ageing and often lonely composer that his music was still wanted, and provided welcome income, but his moods and behaviour could be unpredictable, as when he reputedly interrupted a lengthy introductory speech from a local dignitary before a performance of The Apostles by telling him to 'shut up, you bloody fool.' One conducting experience of a happier kind was that of April, 1928, when Elgar visited the dockyard city of Portsmouth to conduct Caractacus at the Guildhall. It was Elgar's only appearance there, and he came at the invitation of Ernest Birch, a dynamic, meticulous organist and choirmaster who single-handedly founded a new Choir which outshone other local bodies, especially after the imprimatur of Elgar's visit. The occasion was a success, although no doubt Birch was disconcerted by Elgar's insistence on a shopping trip to Woolworth's before the rehearsal. The Portsmouth North End Choral Society, Elgar, and Caractacus is based almost entirely on local documentary sources and on the reminiscences of people present at the Caractacus concert, and has been specially issued to mark the 150th Anniversary.

Profusely illustrated, 38 pp including acknowledgements and footnotes, it is available from the Birthplace at £5 plus p&p.

Andrew Neill gave a talk entitled The Spirit of England, 2007 at the 2007 Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester. It ma be downloaded as a Word file by clicking here.

Composer Anthony Payne agrees to complete the orchestration of the music for Elgar’s Crown of India

In 1912, Elgar composed the music to a masque celebrating the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Delhi the previous December. The masque was produced at London’s Coliseum theatre on 11 March 1912 and Elgar subsequently produced an orchestral suite of the music and a separate march. The complete score was only published in a piano-vocal version by Hugh Blair, the remaining orchestral parts being destroyed sometime in the 1960s.

The Council of the Society has decided to complete the celebrations of this Year of Elgar by commissioning the composer, Anthony Payne, to complete the scoring of the piano-vocal version and combining this, where appropriate, with the orchestral suite and march.

It is hoped that a broadcast by the BBC of the completed score and a subsequent recording of the music in 2009 will lead to a wider interest in this little known music.

Anthony Payne is a widely known composer for works such as The Spirit’s Harvest and Time’s Arrow for orchestra and the fantasy-sextet A Day in the Life of a Mayfly. He is also well known for his orchestration of Elgar’s Queen Alexandra Memorial Ode and completion of the composer’s Pomp & Circumstance March No 6 and celebrated for his ‘elaboration’ of the sketches for Elgar’s Symphony No. 3.

The Dorabella Cipher, contained in a letter from Elgar to Dora Penny, dated 14 July, 1897, has remained unsolved since that date.

With the benefit of sponsorship, the Elgar Society is pleased to be able to offer a prize of £1500 for a solution to the puzzle.

Click here for full details.

The Elgar Birthplace Museum has launched a Donate an Elgar scheme to raise funds towards the upkeep of the Museum. The £20 note with Elgar's image is being withdrawn this year. If you can afford it, you can now donate one (or more!) to the Museum. Click here to access the Elgar Birthplace Museum "Donate an Elgar" page for full details.

The Mediatheque at BFI Southbank have launched a collection of films and televisions programmes about Elgar, available to view free of charge.

A 3-CD set of broadcasts, mostly from the 1930s, recorded 'off-air' by Kenneth Leech has recently been issued by the Elgar Society. It contains excerpts from performances of Gerontius, Sea Pictures, King Olaf, Caractacus, The Spirit of England, etc., conducted by such Elgarians as Adrian Boult, Percy Hull, and Malcolm Sargent. The set can be ordered from the Elgar Birthplace Museum Shop, which can be accessed here.

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra website has recordings of its concerts available. Alison Weilerstein recently performed the Cello Concerto.

To listen, go to the New York Philharmonic web site and follow the links through "attend" "broadcast" and "index".

The firm of printers and music publishers in Munich, Musikproduktion Juergen Hoeflich (www.musikmph.de), specialise in producing very fine quality study scores (about 9" x 6.5") of music that isn't available in print elsewhere.  For instance, their catalogue includes much orchestral music by Raff, Rubenstein, Rudi Stephan, Svendsen, Schmidt, Chadwick, Magnard, Suk, Novak and Bruch, as well as Parry, Stanford, Hurlstone, Holst, Grainger and others.

Each volume has an introduction in English and German, giving the background and context of each work, and contains details of where to obtain performance material.  This is the real purpose of this series - to encourage performances.  The publishers have subscribers all over the world.

MPH have just published Parry's music to The Birds, several pieces by Josef Strauss, and two volumes of the complete orchestral and chamber music of George Butterworth, much of which has been newly typeset.  More importantly for the Elgar Society, they have just brought out Elgar's Falstaff, with the composer's own analytical note, plus a volume of all four string pieces (Serenade, Intro & Allegro, Elegy and Sospiri).  They have the Three Bavarian Dances in print as well.

In the coming months, they will publish study scores of The Coronation Ode, Coronation March and God Save the King, From the Bavarian Highlands (with orchestra), The Banner of St George, and several short works (inc. Sevillana, Spanish Serenade and the Three pieces Opus 10), the P & C Marches (with the Imperial March), the Crown of India, Polonia and all the concertante works (inc. the Romance for Bassoon).

The Musical Times web site includes full obituaries of many composers, including Elgar

Full details may be seen at www.musicaltimes.co.uk.

Full details of The Elgar Education Programme may be seen by clicking here.

The Elgar Society has agreed a sponsorship deal with the British Schools Cycling Association which marks a new and exciting venture for the Society by linking up with a non-musical organisation.

As part of the Society’s remit to engage with young people, it was felt that the society could tap into the fact that Elgar was a very keen cyclist all his life and composed some of his greatest music while out riding his bicycle over the Malvern hills.

Lucy Chittenden (14yrs) a member of the Farnborough & Camberley Cycling Club and who also rides for British Schools Cycling was presented with £1000 at the Porsche Centre Guildford who kindly hosted the presentation. Lucy said "From what I know of Elgar he was quite an amazing guy and I am quite impressed that he rode a bike". Lucy went to say "This sponsorship was really kind of the Elgar Education Programme and hopefully this will encourage more young people to get active and like Elgar better themselves". Lucy has aspirations to compete for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics in the Triathlon.

Mr. Ron Dowling, representing the British Schools Cycling Association said that "this sponsorship deal between us and the Elgar Society was a great opportunity for holding an Inter-County Schools Team Competition on a closed circuit. This type of event would be a first for us and without this generous sponsorship it would not be possible for it to happen. The South of England would be hosting the first event in summer 2006".