"The Choral" and "The Dream of Gerontius"

I made a presentation on the First Friday of October at Mary, Seat of Wisdom, a classical high school here in Wichita on Saint John Henry Newman and "the Wichita Connection", tracing the history of the the programs, events, topics, and speakers presented at different venues here since 1979 and my memories of them. This was after Pope Leo XIV had approved the Cause for Saint John Henry Newman to be named the 38th Doctor of the Church. 

I noted that Newman was indeed in the news, not only for that proclamation but for other reasons: King Charles III visiting the Birmingham Oratory, Newman being the co-patron of Catholic Education with Saint Thomas Aquinas by Pope Leo XIV--and the ongoing attention paid to Sir Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius based on Newman's poem of the same name. I also mentioned that more and more books and studies will be published about Newman and I just finished reading one of the latest, The Most Dangerous Man in England: Newman & the Laity by Paul Shrimpton, published by Word On Fire (review to come).

I highlighted Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius because yet another CD had been announced, a live performance from the 2022 BBC Proms--and now there's yet another announced by Hyperion. And those two on the heals of one from Finland!

Not only that but now there's a film, The Choral, which features a performance of that great work in an English village during the crisis of World War I. As the young men of the village, the basses, baritones, and tenors who sing in the Church of England's choir, enlist for military service--including the chorus master himself--how will the traditions of the community survive?

By hiring a new chorus master and performing Elgar's Dream of Gerontius! In spite of the fact the chorus master's been working in Germany (the enemy) and the work is all about a Soul destined for Purgatory, which Anglicans don't believe in!

Presto Music has posted a summary of the film and reactions of several men who have conducted or performed in the work (no mezzo-soprano Angels!?!?):

Starring Ralph Fiennes as a brilliant, controversial conductor, Roger Allam as an enthusiastic but overparted amateur tenor and Simon Russell Beale* as an irascible Edward Elgar, Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner's The Choral centres on a Yorkshire choral society's ambitious quest to perform Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in 1916 - with their tenor and bass sections depleted by conscription, a Palm Court trio standing in for Elgar's vast orchestra, and a traumatised young soldier newly returned from the Front in the daunting title-role.

* Coincidentally, I had just re-watched God's Composer (Music by Tomás Luis de Victoria from the Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes, Madrid (Single DVD) Presented by Simon Russell Beale; Featuring Harry Christophers & The Sixteen)!

The new release from Hyperion of yet another Dream has a tie-in with the movie in a way because it features a village choral society, from a village much like the one featured in the film, as the Huddersfield Choral Society website emphasizes:

There are just so many parallels between the fictitious choral society in the film and HCS: The Choral is set in a mill town called Ramsden; and the choir is set to perform Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. Well, we thought, we’re known as The Choral by those who love us; Huddersfield was owned by the Ramsden estate until the 1920s; and we’re the choral society that made the first recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. And we’ve just made another!

Choir member and social history enthusiast, Gaynor Haliday, decided to delve deeper into the archives and uncover the experiences of HCS during the First World War. And with the season of Remembrance upon us we’d like to share this with you. It’s longer than our usual posts, so you might want to settle down with a cuppa . . .

If you click on that link, there's another link to a document describing how the village of Huddersfield endured the losses of World War I. Hyperion Records--the CD will be released in January, 2026--also provides a .pdf of their booklet with the same article, and notes the strong connection between the society and the Dream:

It was the Huddersfield Choral Society which made the first complete recording of ‘Gerontius’ on 8-12 April 1945; this latest chapter in the Society’s ties to the work was recorded eighty years later, virtually to the day, on 5 April 2025 and displays as deep an affinity for Elgar’s masterpiece as ever, especially with a conductor of Martyn Brabbins’s Elgarian credentials.

The Huddersfield Choral Society were featured on two mid-20th century recordings by Sir Malcolm Sargent, in 1945 and 1955, according to this comparative review.

The movie--which I hope will come to Wichita, Kansas--is scheduled to be released in the USA on Christmas Day this year! 

That is a picture of me giving my presentation at the first First Friday Tea at the top of the post. The second in November featured the story of Whittaker Chambers, given by the headmaster, Dr. Susan Orr Traffas, and the third in December will feature a lecture by John Traffas (her husband) on "Pope Benedict XVI and his teaching on political life": 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. with tea, coffee, treats, and other libations! It's my new First Friday tradition!