From Birmingham
A Programme of Excerpts from Oratorios composed for the Birmingham Triennial Festivals, and a new work by a Birmingham Composer.
The Birmingham Studio Augmented Orchestra (Leader, Frank Cantell). Conducted by Joseph Lewis
Emilie Waldron (Soprano); Alice Vaughan (Contralto); Geoffrey Dams (Tenor); James Howell (Bass)

I. The Dream of Gerontius (1900) Elgar
Prelude
Tenor Solo, 'Jesu Maria' Chorus, 'Kyrie Kleison'
Tenor Solo, 'Rouse thee, my fainting soul' Chorus, 'Be merciful, be gracious' Tenor Solo, 'Sanctus fortis'

In 1865, Cardinal Newman wrote the poem, The Dream of Gerontius, inspired by his thoughts as he sat by the death-bed of a friend. It pictures the dream of a dying man, as he anticipates what lies beyond.

Elgar, himself of the same faith as Newman, long afterwards set the poem to music, and his setting had its first performance in 1900, .at the Birmingham Festival.

The Prelude to the Oratorio gives an epitome of the work. and the vocal passages we are to hear come at the beginning of the work.