Elgar in Cincinnati Mysticism, Britishness, and Modernity /

by Padgett, Austin D.

Edward Elgar visited Cincinnati in 1906 to conduct The Dream of Gerontius at the Cincinnati May Festival, and the criticism surrounding the event was distinct to the circumstances surrounding the performance. The 1906 May Festival was a critical event for the future of the organization: Theodore Thomas, the festival’s founding music director, had recently died, the May Festival Chorus had been disbanded and newly reformed, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra would appear in the festival for the first time. The May Festival Board contracted Elgar to guarantee a large, ticket-buying audience, but he was hindered from public exposure by his commitment to his publisher, his grief over his father’s death, and the closure to the public of the festival rehearsals. If Elgar’s presence was going to be a promotional device for the May Festival, the critics, who held the only public forum, had to create a sense of importance to surround the composer’s presence. This thesis explores the criticism and reception of Elgar in Cincinnati, examining the themes of mysticism, Britishness, and modernity about the composer and his music and demonstrating their place in the context of Cincinnati’s musical history and Elgar’s biography.