Elgar and the Zeppelin Raids on London
Donald Macleod focuses on the year 1915, when Elgar wrote music for The Starlight Express, a work that met a public need for escapism.
By the end of the Great War, Sir Edward Elgar couldn't compose any music to celebrate peace, disillusioned as he was by the whole period, which Donald Macleod explores in conversation with Terry Charman from the Imperial War Museum.
At the beginning of 1915 came the realisation that the Great War was not going to be over in three months. German cruisers had been shelling Whitby and Scarborough, and Zeppelin raids were happening over London. Keen to do his bit, Elgar joined the Hampstead Special Reserve, being called out when needed for air-raid duties. He also started to compose a work genuinely inspired by the pity of war and the inhumanity of warfare, The Spirit of England. But with the sinking of the Lusitania, riots took place in London, and xenophobia was on the rise. At this very same time, Elgar was writing his Polonia, a symphonic prelude in aid of the Polish Relief Fund. However, what the people needed more than anything, was escapism, and Elgar supplied it by returning to fairyland, with his Starlight Express.
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Edward Elgar's disillusionment with WW1
Duration: 03:29
Music Played
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Edward Elgar
2 Songs Op.41
Singer: John Brecknock. Performer: Victor Morris.- Meridian: CDE84173.
- Meridian.
- 15.
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Edward Elgar
The Windlass for chorus a 4 [c.1914]
Choir: Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Conductor: David Temple.- MERIDIAN : CDE-84173.
- MERIDIAN.
- 8.
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Edward Elgar
Une voix dans le désert Op.77 for reciter, soprano and orchestra
Narrator: Richard Pasco. Orchestra: Rutland Sinfonia. Conductor: Barry Collett.- Pearl: SHE CD9602.
- Pearl.
- 8.
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Edward Elgar
The Starlight Express - incidental music Op.78 [for Algernon Blackwood's play]
Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley. Singer: Valerie Masterson. Singer: Derek Hammond-Stroud.- EMI : 7243 5-85907 2.
- EMI.
- 26.
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Edward Elgar
The Spirit of England Op.80 for high voice, chorus and orchestra
Singer: Felicity Lott. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra: Royal Northern Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.- EMI : CDC-7494812.
- EMI.
- 3.
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Edward Elgar
Polonia - symphonic prelude Op.76
Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Adrian Boult.- EMI : CDM-7 69207 2.
- EMI.
- 17.
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