From Birmingham
The Birmingham Studio Chorus and Augmented Orchestra (Leader, Frank Cantell). Conducted by Joseph Lewis
FlFINE DE LA COTE
(Soprano)
MARGERY PHILLIPS
(Contralto)
RICHARD HAWKINS
(Tenor)
DUNSTAN HART
(Baritone)
I. ' THE LIGHT OF LIFE'
A Sacred Oratorio by Edward Elgar
For Four Solo Voices, Chorus, and Orchestra
WHEN -The Light of Life was performed at the Worcester Three-Choirs Festival of 1896, nobody suggested that the composer of this simple-voiced and complacently fashionable music was destined to stand before the world as a genius. But even then he was at work on the far greater work, The Dream of Gerontius, which was to place him on his pedestal four years later.
The subject of the Oratorio is the miracle of the blind man restored to sight, told in St. John, chapters ix. and x. The Gospel words were selected and expository verses added by the Rev. E. Capel-Cure, vicar of Brndninch, in Devonshire.
There are sixteen sections, the first of which is an orchestral Meditation. The third is opened by the Contralto soloist with the narrative words: 'As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from his birth.' In the fifth, sung by the Baritone soloist, occur the words: 'As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,' which give the clue to the spiritual theme of the Oratorio : Jesus, the Bringer of Light.