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100 YEARS
AGO...
The New Year saw the continuing success of Elgar's Symphony. It was given on New Year's Day in Queen's Hall, and Alice
reported 'Overwhelming - Tremendous demonstration of enthusiasm'. Walter Damrosch conducted the American premiere two
days later, and wrote to say '...what an overwhelming effect the work made on [the orchestra] and on the public'. On 7
January Elgar conducted it once again at Queen's Hall in an all-Elgar concert. Alice wrote of a 'crowded & enthusiastic
audience'. They went to Brighton to stay with the LittIetons, and Edward conducted The Dream of Gerontius and In the
South in the Dome on the 13th. Three days later he conducted the symphony at the Queen's Hall for the third time in
just over a fortnight.
Yet back at Plas Gwyn on the 18th he was 'very depressed - disappointed at material prospects'. In the autumn he
had negotiated a fee for the composer from every performance, but having discovered that no such fee had been charged
to the Queen's Hall for the I January concert, he complained bitterly to Novello. Henry Clayton, the company secretary,
pointed out that although Novello 'wanted to get as much as possible' for each performance, they were anxious 'not to
kill the goose for the sake of the eggs of gold'. In agreeing to accept a reduced fee, Edward wrote back complaining
about the 'incredible meanness' of the Queen's Hall: 'They pay any foreigner 4, 5, 6. 7 or even 8 times the amount
given to me & lose largely over the visitor because they say its good for the art'.
On 4 February Edward decided to take the waters at Llandrindod Wells, but was really no better for his nine-day
stay there. On the 17th he travelled to London to dine with the King at Marlborough House, and was in the royal party
at the Queen's Hall concert. Another five days at Llandrindod Wells made little difference: Alice thought he 'did not
look well' on his return, and she too was not in the best of health. Elgar's first winter in England for three years
did not suit him: 'A. thought of Madeira. E. pleased with idea'. It seems that lack of money prevented them going: as
he wrote to Ivor Atkins on 27 February after the latter had conducted the symphony in Worcester: 'I feel no joy in my
product. I am not well & dodging wintry ailments with no success & cannot afford to go away yet'. On 5 March the Elgars'
cook returned to the house drunk, and upon being dismissed made a dreadful scene which necessitated the police being
called. The first half of March was cold with heavy snow, which did nothing to improve Edward's state of mind.
Then came a suggestion from Julia Worthington for the Elgars to join her in the villa near Florence she had taken
for several weeks. It was settled on 23 March, and had an immediate effect: that day Edward was '... very hard at work
... wrote fine words for March tune & arranged it all'. He left for London later in the day and spent a week there,
meeting friends and visiting publishers. He returned to London on 6 April and three days later left for Paris, sending
a telegram to say that he was 'safe & comfortable', and that the weather was 'lovely ... extraordinarily hot'. Alice
and Carice joined him on the 17th: he was 'looking well & very fine ... E. much to tell & had been very happy in Paris
& amused'. The following day (Sunday) they attended High Mass at the Madeleine: 'Music quite pleasant except Offertory
who was most frivolous & dreadful'. Julia Worthington joined them on the Monday, and Mr Whittemore, a friend of
Schuster, took them on a taxi tour of the city: they dined with him that evening at the Hotel Foyot. The train
journey on .20 April was enjoyable: 'very pretty thro' the pleasant Pays de France. In evening beautiful mountains
& sunset ... Went to bed early & most slept well'.
Geoffrey Hodgkins
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