"THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 878, 26 July 1910, Page 2

"THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS."

[By the Rev. J. Hiokson, S.5L]

AN APPRECIATION.

PART 11. "The Dream of Gerontius" lends itself easily to a musical setting. Dr. Jaeger, whose analytical and descriptive notes in his "Book of Words" are both entertaining and instructive, assures us that ho knows half a dozen composers of . note who cast longing eyes on the poem. In 3.885 Dvorak visited Cardinal Newman in Birmingham and 011 that occasion lie was given a. German version of the poem in the hope that lie would find the subject to his taste. He- expressed his admiration of the work, hut went 110 further. In ISB9, when Sir Edward Elgar, then organist of the Catholic Church at Worcester, was about to bo married, ho received a copy of tho poem as a. wedding present. Some years passed before he translated it into music, and he said later: "The poem has hten soaking in my mind for at least eight years. All that time I have been gradually assimilating the thoughts of the author into njy musical promptings." -Sir Edward had a high ideal before him, for he headed his manuscript with tho letters A.M.D.G., standing for the Latin words "admajorem Deigloriam," signifying "For the greater glory of God." His music is in keeping with its subject. Tho success and appreciation accorded to tho oratorio setting were instantaneous. The critic of the "Pall Mall Gazette," writing just after the Birmingham Festival, at which the oratorio was first' produced., says: "Since the death of Wagner no finer composition, has been given to the world." (Jn tho saino occasion, the ' Sunday Times" wrote: "Truly' the genius of Edward Elgar has advanced by leaps and bounds since his first festival composition The Light of the \\orld' was brought out aii Worcester four years ago. . 1-Ie was thon a comparatively unknown man. To-day ho stands in the vory foremost rank of English musicians, and the fame of his achievements has travelled to the furthest corners of the musical world. Mr. Elgar has here penned not merely a nne work, but a veritable masterpiece." A writer in the "Tablet" characterised it as "tho most remarkable composition produced by any. man now alive." In tho opinion of Theodore Thomas it is tho most important oratorio of recent times, not excepting Brahms'. Ttequiem.. "Gerontius" (he says) "is lofty work, and; from a technical point of view more masterly than Brahms ever dreamed of. It is by far the most important modern work for voice? and orchestra." ttiehard Strauss is generally held up for imitation as the master of what is called, tone-colour—a perfect harmony between the tone of an instrument and the music arranged for it—but many claim that in "Gerontius" Elgar sur-' passes Strauss.. This is due, without doubt, to tho fact that Elgar, during several years, cultivated an intimate practical acquaintance with tho wood, brass, and string choirs of the modern 01a 'n the "Mui ' mes '.' says, there is a great deal nioro in the cultivation of this tonc-c<olour than most people realise, lor (ho goes 011 to say) "when Elgar conceives a certain phrase, he stinctively feels the double association, ol the melody and the instrument that is to play it, the colourable' conception of the theme and its absolute fitness tor a particular instrument." In support of this let us once more quote An Ursulme." "At the point where tho .. transition is made fiom Gerontius's earthly existence to ins dissolution and the beginning of his spirit-lifo there is a great Imsn throughout tho orchestra, followed by a thrilling of arpeggios on the harp, then a short moan, repeated three times, on the violins, after which conies a chord ror muted horns, clarinet, and English horns sounding above a drum-roll; then a violent stroke 011 a gong. Gerontius is dead. Could anything be more exquisitely imagined? Again, the poetical in music reveals itself at the opening of the chorus of Angelicals when the harp, violins, and'flutes, in thirtysecond notes, give a peculiar fluttering effect, as of countless angels' wings, whereupon the song of praise to file Holiest in the Height is announced by certain voices, and the chorus join in suddenly with the one mighty word 'Praise!' uttered in crescendo and sudden decrescendo, 'as if,' suggested Dr. Jaeger, 'the gates of Heaven had opeiied and _ swung to again' upon a burst of ravishing melody." The same writer goes 011 to say: "The Demon Chorus is stupendous, unparalleled amongst modern composers, defying anything but a profound dissertation to give an adequate' idea of it."

Hen- Max Hohemann, of Essen, a great musical critic, wrote thus: "The strange world-removed tone of tho poem is marvellously reproduced. The yearning of the dying for the beyond has rarely been clothed in tones more devotional or moving, and rarely has the dread sublimity of Death's majesty been depicted with greater boldness or more majestic awesomem_'ss."

As already stated, Sir Edward Elgar's setting of "The Dream of Gorontius" was first heard at tho Birmingham Festival of 1900. It was next produced in IDOI at Dusseldorf, with the libretto in German, and was' repeated at the same place ill the following year. It has had considerable vogue in the United States. London heard it for the first time in June, 1903, under the direction of Mr. Gorlitz. On that occasion Cardinal .Vaughan graciously allowed the performance to take place in Westminster Cathedral. The orchestra was the famous one from the Queen's Hall, "known and beloved by all who care for music." Sir Edward Jslgar himself wielded tile baton. The chorus was from the North Staffordshire District Choral Society. The part of the ministering angel was entrusted by Mr. Gorlitz to Miss Muriel Foster. Dr. Ludwig AVullner, who had been previously heard in tho part at Dusseldorf, took the tenor solo part, while Mr. Frangcon-Davies had th'e bass solo of the priest and tho angel of the agony. The "Tablot" characterised the performance as "undoubtedly the finest rendering ever given of the most remarkable composition produced by any man now alive." The' musical critic of the "Pall Mall Gazette" wrote- a long appreciation from which, in conclusion, wo make some extracts: "In what terms of quiet praise can one discuss the amazing score of 'The Dream of Gorontius' ? Wo have followed it in every reasonable way through its various performances in different parts of Europe. Wo confess that our attitude towards the work is one of almost iibject admiration. Every quality of beauty is apparent when beauty is necessary, in the exposition of the libretto; every quality also of discord (united, let it always bo said, to such n musical knowledge that never aro we disappointed or hurt by any sonso of ugliness) is, in its immediate significance, utilised with perfect skill; and over the whole work there reigns an almost unutterable sense of power, which contains as in a shell tho kernel of a deeply-felt meaning, resulting in a perfect expression of art, conceived with an ultimate sincerity—characteristics which have no parallel since AVagner penned tho last bar of 'Parsifal.' . . . The Demon Chorus may bo regarded as one of the last words of musical audacity. . . . That which makes tho English master so wonderful is that having realised in music the 'sense of tears in human things,'

ho always retains a sonso of the majesty of art. . . It i s verv difficult to pursue to a critical finality the definite meaning of a composer who lives upon such splendid levels as those which (listmgmsh Elgar's work, and to discover exactly from what sources ho wins tho beauty, tho. discord, the mildness, the wickedness, the vitality, the meaning, oyer, tho umntelligihility, and (to conclude) the facility of his utterance Secretum est mini,' is Elgar's motto, no less than was it that of St. Augustine. In Francis Thompson's magnificent phrase, he may bo described as tho Hound of Heaven,' and to discover him, to'meet him in such a work as 'Tho Dream of Gerontius,' as it waa interpreted on Saturday, is to come face to face with genius of a most rare and splendid order. . . . Edward Elgar seems to us in this composition to realise everything which Newman, with his intense dogmatic feeling for religious ideals, purposed to utter and to teach. That utterance and that teaching may possibly not be liked by. many tender and gentle personalities; but it remains a force in the world, and this magnificent musician has undoubtedly shown how completely that force has occupied his mind by raising the poem, as one may say, in his arms, and tat' ing flight with it to that solitary place of peace which belongs only to the great musicians of all times, and which provokes one to envy as one waits at the gates listening to the music thai streams fortb, knowing as we well know that the House of Creation stands very separate and apart from tno House of the Critic."