"Elgar: the Man behind the Mask" on BBC4

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Looking at all those photos and images especially in later years, I just can't help thinking about that moustache, and soup, and, erm, osculatory interference. I wonder what the two Alices and that other woman really thought....

He might have used one of these:

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/01/31/Moustache-Spoon/

[Nick Armstrong]

Another chance to see this excellent 90 minute programme on the big screen tomorrow at 19h30 on BBC4 (and now on BBC4HD )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vv0zx

[Petrushka]

Another chance to see this excellent 90 minute programme on the big screen tomorrow at 19h30 on BBC4 (and now on BBC4HD )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vv0zx

Thanks for the reminder. The original broadcast was on the hard drive of my old DVD recorder and I somehow never got round to watching it before it crashed on me.

[Pabmusic]

There is also a major influence of Wagner in such works as The Dream of Gerontius which is built on the use of leitmotifs.

Yes, Parsifal especially. Of greater influence, though, was surely Mendelssohn and the French romantics, such as Delibes and Massenet. Remember that Elgar's personal experience came mostly from the Three Choirs and Stockley's Orchestra, where Mendelssohn and Delibes were regularly programmed (no Wagner, almost no Brahms). He was also bowled over by Dvorak in 1884, who conducted at Birmingham.

[Tevot]

Another chance to see this excellent 90 minute programme on the big screen tomorrow at 19h30 on BBC4 (and now on BBC4HD )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vv0zx

Thanks also Caliban for the reminder.

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[gradus]

Yes many thanks for the reminder.
By the way did anyone see the review in the TLS of John Drysdale's book 'Elgar's Earnings'? The reviewer opines that 'Drysdale's own findings challenge the romantic myth that Elgar was unable to compose without Alice (what about the third symphony?) and retreated from the public eye'. Nice to see received wisdom prodded sharply.

[Barbirollians]

Just as irritating that there is no mention of or discussion of the Cello Concerto at all . I find rather too much on his choral music too . Yes I know that is how he made his name originally but few of these great choral edifices are masterpieces .

[Don Petter]

Just as irritating that there is no mention of or discussion of the Cello Concerto at all . I find rather too much on his choral music too . Yes I know that is how he made his name originally but few of these great choral edifices are masterpieces .

I got in this evening just as SWMBO was watching the end of the programme (and I was anxious to turn over to the cricket, though this was a lost cause ). She was disappointed that there was no mention of any of the chamber works, even though these related directly to Elgar's reaction to the Great War, which is very much a current favourite for the media. We hadn't realised that the programme was a repeat, so the latter point was irrelevant, as it turned out.

Nonetheless, still a pity that these, and the Cello Concerto, from that same unique period, were ignored.

[Barbirollians]

I got in this evening just as SWMBO was watching the end of the programme (and I was anxious to turn over to the cricket, though this was a lost cause ). She was disappointed that there was no mention of any of the chamber works, even though these related directly to Elgar's reaction to the Great War, which is very much a current favourite for the media. We hadn't realised that the programme was a repeat, so the latter point was irrelevant, as it turned out.

Nonetheless, still a pity that these, and the Cello Concerto, from that same unique period, were ignored.

A good point about the violin sonata , piano quintet and string quartet. Instead a great deal of weight was placed by Bridcut on Sospiri.

[BBMmk2]

I suppose with Elgar's large output, they decided to focus on a particular genre. As his choral works were his first success, it stands to reason to focus more on these?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

a welcome repeat [apologies Caliban missed yer nudge]

the chamber music and concertos and more of DON on the next Elgar doc please!

and less love life and more personality; the man had a grit to overcome class and religion - what kept him taking on the British Establishment? how did he educate his musical mind?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

and less love life and more personality; the man had a grit to overcome class and religion - what kept him taking on the British Establishment? how did he educate his musical mind?

YES! (please)
The image of himself that Elgar preferred to present to the public in his later years conceals the bolshie young man determined not to let Class and Religious prejudices keep him in "his place" - and the mid-life crises that so made him so disillusioned in his last years. The story of how he copied out the Mozart 40th as a teenager and then wrote his own Music on the harmonic grounds of that work - that's a programme in itself (Anthony Payne at the ready?!)

[amateur51]

i hope that salymap is able to watch this on her (relatively) new telly at home