An Englishman in Germany

In 1894, as many English people did, Sir Edward Elgar (of Nimrod and Pomp and Circumstance fame) went walking in the Bavarian Highlands with his wife and composed a series of songs as a memento of the trip. Of course when travelling in Germany it is a must to hear some of its glorious music, as Elgar must have done (and, surprisingly, he was more famous in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century than he was in England). So, under Jenny Firth’s baton, this concert takes us on a journey through German music of the Romantic period, from three of Elgar’s songs, to Brahms (A Thought Like Music), Rheinberger (Abendlied; excerpts from his Mass in Eflat), Bruckner (Locus Iste), and Mendelssohn (Above All Praise and All Majesty, Der ersten Frühlingstag). A highlight will be Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer featuring our charming soprano soloist, Elizabeth Mandeno. We are delighted that Janet Gibbs will again accompany us on piano and organ with her beautiful musicianship.