Ardor and Ambivalence in Edward Elgar’s Setting of John Henry Newman’s The Dream of Gerontius

This paper offers a reading of Edward Elgar’s setting of Saint John Henry Newman’s poem, The Dream of Gerontius, and argues that the work reveals Elgar’s ambivalence about his Catholic faith at the same time as he celebrates it. 125 years after its premiere, Gerontius remains one of Elgar’s most highly regarded and most performed works, but its current canonical status disguises both the contentiousness of Elgar’s choice of text and the mixed critical reception the work initially received. Informed not only by research into Elgar’s religious faith and compositional practice but also by insights gained from conducting Gerontius, this paper will demonstrate how musical choices can convey theological concerns just as eloquently as words. In Gerontius, Elgar asserted his freedom both to be a Catholic in a society in which that identity disadvantaged him, and to question the tenets of the faith in which he was raised.