Elgar and Religion
Tuesday 29 July 2008 23:00-23:15 (Radio 3)
Four commentators reflect on aspects of Elgar in the context of his time and after, exploring the contradictions and enigmas in his complex and paradoxical personality.
Playlist:
2/4. Elgar and Religion
Elgar's masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius was given a notoriously inadequate first performance, which may have undermined his Catholic faith. After Gerontius, he began work on a trilogy of oratorios based on the life of Christ and his Apostles, but completed only two of them, The Apostles and The Kingdom. Pianist and conductor Stephen Hough, himself a Catholic, wonders how deeply rooted Elgar's faith actually was.
