A Note from the Chairman – May 2023
On May 4th and 5th, Jeremy and Alison Dibble and I attended recording sessions in Cardiff for Stanford’s Opus 21, The Elegiac Ode from 1884, and the Opus 66, The Te Deum, from 1898. These were held at the Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff’s Millennial Center.
The orchestra was The BBC National Orchestra of Wales,(BBC NOW) with the BBC National Chorus of Wales. The four soloists were Rhian Lois, Soprano, Samantha Price, Mezzo Soprano, Alessandro Fisher, Tenor and Morgan Pearse, Baritone. The conductor was Adrian Partington. The recording company was Lyrita Records. These are both first recordings.
This recording was a follow-up to Lyrita’s recording of Stanford’s Mass Via Victrix released in May 2019 (CD SRCD382). Lyrita and the BBC NOW were so happy with that recording that they asked the Stanford Society for suggestions of other Stanford choral music to record. We proposed both the Opus 21 and Opus 66 as suitable for this project.
The Elegiac Ode is a setting of part of the poem “ When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloom’d “ by the American poet, Walt Whitman. The poem was written in 1865-66 on the death of Abraham Lincoln. Interestingly Stanford did not set the famous opening line. He appears to have been one of the first British composers to set a Whitman poem and returned to Whitman’s poetry for the Three Songs of Faith, Opus 97 in 1906. Whitman’s poetry was subsequently set by a number of Stanford’s students including Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst.
The work received its premier at the Norwich and Norfolk Festival on 15 October, 1884. It was well received although the critics were puzzled that Stanford had set a poem by Whitman, whose poetry was not well known in England at that time.
The Musical Times commented that “ Dr. Stanford has written an extremely effective and pleasing work, and in many parts, especially in the opening chorus, the music possesses real charm… Taken all in all we consider the Elegiac Ode the best work that the composer has yet given us”.
The work consists of four numbers. An opening chorus, baritone solo, soprano solo with female chorus accompaniment and final chorus. This is the first recording of this music.
The second piece recorded in Cardiff was the Te Deum of 1898, Opus 66. This music was premiered at the Leeds Festival on 6, October, 1898. The work was dedicated to Queen Victoria in recognition of her Diamond Jubilee. Stanford set the Latin text of the Te Deum for orchestra, chorus and SATB soloists. The Musical Times commented that “ The work must be amongst the best balanced and sustained of all Dr. Stanford’s compositions. “ It is a powerful work, of a similar type to Stanford’s Requiem and Stabat Mater.
The same forces that recorded the Elegiac Ode and Te Deum in Cardiff were supposed to give a broadcast concert of both of these works at the Hoddinott Hall at 2,00pm on Saturday 6, May. Sadly, this concert was cancelled because of the Coronation.
The Lyrita recording will be well worth waiting for. These are both powerful works written by Stanford in his prime. It will be good to have them recorded at last and hopefully this will lead to more concert performances of both works.
