The early choral works of Edward Elgar (1857-1934) in the context of late-Victorian British idealism

Abstract

This thesis seeks to place the substantial early choral works of Edward Elgar in the contexts of the composer’s professional development, his rising reputation, and British cultural identity. This contextualisation is achieved partly by exploring why Elgar 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. Looking briefly at the editorial and compositional methods used in the short oratorio The Light of Life (1896), the thesis then focuses on Scenes from the Saga of King 0laf (1896) and Caractacus (1898) as manifestations of British idealism and Christian identity at the height of the British Empire. King Olaf and Caractacus promote a muscular Christian ideology capable of providing comfort amid evolving imperial anxiety and religious uncertainty at the fin de siècle. The role of the librettist, H. A. Acworth, in the formulation of these ideas is central to the works’ didacticism, and his texts are examined as portals to Elgar’s musical decisions and to the broader cultural context.