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PROGRAM NOTES Brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, and with a father who for many years was the organist at St George's Church in Worcester, it is unsurprising that Elgar wrote a number of religious works intended to be performed in church services. True, Elgar's father, like Fauré, was not a pious man and had little difficulty in separating the musical from the religious aspects of his post. And Elgar also increasingly lost his faith as he grew older. But the church played an important part in his musical development. From the age of twenty, he composed short religious pieces for performance at St George's. And when, in 1885, he succeeded to the post of organist there, the move gave him a regular platform for such compositions. It was in this role that he produced the charming trio of works Pie Jesu, Ave Maria and Ave Maris Stella - works which held such a lasting appeal for Elgar that some twenty years later he orchestrated them, giving them the opus number 2, with Pie Jesu becoming Ave Verum Corpus in the process. Als kind uit een katholiek gezin en als zoon van een vader die organist was in de St George's Church St George's Church in Worcester in Worcester, is het niet te verwonderen dat Elgar ook kerkmuziek componeerde. Vooral avanaf zijn 20ste toen hij zijn vader was opgevolgd als organist componeerde hij heel wat korte gelegenheidswerkjes die dan werden uitgevoerd in de St George’s Church. Zijn ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ dateert uit 1902 en componeerde hij voor de begrafenis van zijn jeugdvriend William Allen. Het is pure devotie en romantiek die hand in hand gaan met treurnis en eenvoud.

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