Elgar ‘The Dream of Gerontius’

The first performance of Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ at the Birmingham Music Festival in 1900 was not a success as it was under-rehearsed and poorly performed. Luckily subsequent performances in Germany came to the attention of Richard Strauss who toasted Elgar as a remarkable ‘modern’ English composer.  That led to the proposal to mount performances of the work in London and Arthur Fagge was commissioned to put together a choir for the London premiere in 1903.  The new choir was called The London Choral Society. As the choir approached its centenary year it changed its name to The London Chorus and celebrated with a performance of ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ at the Royal Festival Hall. Now the work returns to help the choir celebrate its one hundred and twentieth anniversary season.