| Thesis Title: |
The Early Choral Works of Edward Elgar (1857-1934) in the Context of Late-Victorian British Idealism |
| Date Submitted / Accepted: |
2013 |
| Institution Submitting / Submitted To: |
Trinity College, Dublin |
| Genres / Musical Instruments: |
Large choral works |
| Key Issues / Concepts: |
Cultural history, British Empire, Adventure Literature |
| Abstract: |
The success of Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations (1899) and The Dream of Gerontius (1900) have eclipsed the reputations of his substantial compositions of the preceding decade. In particular his choral works of the 1890s have received much less attention, both in scholarship and performance, than his later output. This thesis seeks to place those works in the contexts of Elgar's professional development, his rising reputation, and British cultural identity. This contextualisation is achieved partly by exploring why the composer chose certain topics for musical setting at this crucial stage of his career, and how he tailored those topics specifically for the choral festival audiences of late-Victorian Britain. The thesis looks briefly at the editorial and compositional methods used in the short oratorio The Light of Life (1896), and then in detail at Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf (1896) and Caractacus (1898) as manifestations of British idealism and Christian identity at the height of the British Empire. The ideological influence of H. A. Acworth, librettist of these last two, culturally significant cantatas, is central to this study. |
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