This album includes an excerpt from a 1949 radio broadcast of Haydn's "Harmoniemesse" to demonstrate the relationship between Haydn's "Benedictus" and Elgar's "Ecce sacerdos magnus."
Composition History
Elgar's "Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands" sets six poems by his wife, Alice Elgar, and was dedicated to the owners of the villa where the Elgars stayed in Bavaria.
Composition History
Elgar's "Ecce sacerdos magnus" was composed for a visit by the Bishop of Birmingham to St George's church in 1888 and dedicated to his childhood friend and choirmaster, Hubert Leicester.
Compositional Technique
Elgar's "Ecce sacerdos magnus" opens with the same notes as Joseph Haydn's "Benedictus" from his "Harmoniemesse," suggesting a connection and a slower tempo than usually performed today.
Composition History
Elgar's "O Hearken Thou" was one of two works premiered in Westminster Abbey during the Coronation of King George V in 1911, though the Elgars declined to attend the ceremony.
Composition History
Elgar's "Great is the Lord" was commissioned for the 250th anniversary of the Royal Society and was first performed in 1912.
Composer Biography
Edward Elgar, the composer, was largely self-taught, studying scores in his father's music shop and absorbing music from performances in Worcester's cathedral and St George's Roman Catholic church.
