OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2022-12-31-accounts

The Trustees’ Annual Report

1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022

Published in the Elgar Society News in April 2022 and presented to the Annual General Meeting on 16th July 2023

1

THE ELGAR SOCIETY

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period 1 January 2021 - 31 December 2021

A THE SOCIETY

Charitable Status

Founded in 1951, the Society registered as charity no. 298062 on 22 January 1988.

Office

The Society has no registered office. Correspondence should be addressed to the Society’s Secretary at 10 Cullin Park Grove, Strathaven, Lanarkshire, ML10 6EN.

Trustees

The following acted as Trustees during the period under review: Stuart Freed Philip Petchey Sam Dobson (From June 2022) George Smart Caroline Gilderdale(From June 2022) Peter Smith Liz Luder Helen Whittaker (to June 2022) Martyn Marsh Roy Whittaker Peter Newble Prof. David Young

Elected Officers

Chair: Stuart Freed (From June 2022) Vice-Chair: Martyn Marsh (From June 2022) Secretary: George Smart Treasurer: Peter Smith

Other National Post-holders

Archivist: Richard Hall (To June 2022) Caroline Gilderdale ( From June 2022) Data Protection Officer: Stuart Freed Journal Editor: Kevin Mitchell and Board Membership Secretary: Chris Bennett News Editor: Peter James Web Officers: Stuart Freed/Robert Gilbert

Branch Officers

Branch Chair Secretary London Philip Petchey Ruth Hellen North America Arthur Reynolds Lee Kaufman North-West Rev. John Knowles David L. Jones Scotland Ian Lawson Kitty Parker Southern David Pearce David Pearce West Midlands John Harcup Richard Smith Yorkshire & North East David Young Paul Grafton

Advisers

Bankers: Lloyds TSB Independent Examiner: Adrian Benselin

2

Honorary Posts and Awards

President – Sir Mark Elder CH CBE

Vice-Presidents - Diana McVeagh, Dame Janet Baker CH DBE, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Andrew Davis CBE, Dr Christopher Robinson CVO CBE, Andrew Neill, Martyn Brabbins, Tasmin Little OBE, Julian Lloyd Webber FRCM

Recipients of the Elgar Society’s Medal

1992 Dr Jerrold Northrop Moore 2013 Sir Andrew Davis 1992 Leonard Slatkin 2013 Sir Mark Elder 1999 Jerzy Maksymiuk 2015 Daniel Barenboim 2000 Tadaaki Otaka 2015 Diana McVeagh 2007 Andrew Litton 2016 Martin Bird 2008 Sakari Oramo 2016 Teresa Cahill 2009 Danube Symphony Orchestra 2016 Alexander Walker 2009 Vladimir Ashkenazy 2019 Anastasia Vedyakova 2011 Michael Kennedy 2019 Adrian Brown 2011 Anthony Payne 2019 Dame Janet Baker 2012 Barry Collett 2021 Christopher Bishop 2012 Jacek Kaspszyk 2012 Sir Colin Davis

Structure, Governance and Management

The Society is governed under a constitution adopted with effect from 1 January 2008 and subsequently amended in June 2010, June 2011,June 2018 and June 2022. Its Council consists of the elected officers, and eight other members of the Society.

The Executive Committee consists of the elected officers. A representative of the Branch Chairmen’s Committee is a non-voting member. The task of the Executive Committee is to carry out the policy decisions of the Council and to deal with any matters which lie in its terms of reference.

There are five committees/working parties (1) Elgar in Performance( which includes Elgar in Education) which decides on grants in respect of performances of Elgar and in respect of educational project (and special projects) and (2) the Branch Chair's Committee, composed of the Chairs of the branches of the Society. (3) During 2022 the Council established a Working Group, chaired by Sam Dobson, to coordinate the online presentations for members. (4) Two additional have also been formed, one to deal with Recruitment/Retention and another to consider proposals for the Society's 75th anniversary.

3

Sub Committees/Working Parties active during 2022
Name Chair/Convenor Members
Elgar in Performance Steven Halls Martyn Marsh, Peter Newble,
(including Education) Executive Committee
Branch Chairs Committee Philip Petchey All other Branch Chairs
Elgar Online Group Sam Dobson Martyn Marsh, David Young,
Chris Warsaw (North America)
and Marian Rutland .
Recruitment and Martyn Marsh
Retention Group
75th Anniversary Group Andrew Neill Stuart Freed, Martyn Marsh, Chris
Warsaw, Ruth Helen , Geoff
Scargill, David Morris and
Jonathan Hope

Council and Executive

The Council met four times online during the year. The Executive Committee met twice. Much of the business was progressed by e-mail and Zoom. The Branch Chairmen did not meet in 2022.

Branches

At the start of the years there were six UK Branches organised geographically, and a further Branch covering America and Canada. There are also links with Elgar Freundeskreis Deutschland in Germany. The creation of a Branch is at the discretion of the Society’s Council and requires substantive evidence from a sufficiently large group of members that there is a reasonable assurance of viability. Branches report on their activities via the Elgar Society News and are required to submit their annual accounts to the Treasurer for consolidation with the accounts of the national Society.

Risks

No major risks have been identified by the Trustees. The Society is substantially dependent on subscriptions and Gift Aid for its income and it is thus vital to retain and increase membership while ensuring that subscription rates are realistic in the light of the charity’s activities and costs. The Trustees consider that if this is done there are no serious risks to future viability. This Annual Report states the position as at 31 December 2022 and the Trustees are not aware of any material change in risk which needs to be reported.

Reserves Policy

The Council’s policy is to retain reserves equal to at least one year’s expenditure.

Objectives and Activities

Under its Constitution, the Society’s objective is the education in, and promotion of, the appreciation of the public in the music of Edward Elgar and the education of the public in the life of Edward Elgar through:

4

e) the publication of or support for a scholarly edition of Elgar’s music.

The Society seeks to promote performance of Elgar’s music, especially the more rarely performed works. While its focus has heretofore been on performances in Britain, it has emphasised encouraging performances of Elgar’s music abroad as far as its resources permit, concentrating particularly on Germany. It is concerned to introduce the composer and his music to younger audiences and, by making grants for appropriate educational activities, to enhance the quality of life of members of the public.

The Society publishes its Journal three times a year, which contains the results of Elgar research and is sold to educational institutions and the general public as well as being sent to members as part of their subscription benefit. There is also a thrice-yearly News publication sent to members only. The Society maintains a website which is proving increasingly valuable for members and non-members alike.

Funds are centrally administered, the Council approving the annual budget and budget heads. Branches submit bids for support of their activities based on their administrative costs plus an element in support of their local meetings. Grants are made both to Branches and outside bodies in respect of specific charitable activities and are awarded only when a proposed project is shown to have satisfied strict conditions relating to the stated aims and objectives of the Society. The Society’s grant-making policy is conditioned by its objectives and its relatively constrained financial resources. In general, grants are made for the major purposes listed below.

_____

B ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (1 January 2022– 31 December 2022)

General Overview

In considering undertaking any activities, the four objectives below are the criteria against which we judge any proposals so that we might:

  1. Increase our membership

  2. Raise money in support of our activities,

  3. Add demonstrably to the encouragement of performances and recordings of Elgar’s works,

  4. Increase access to the Elgar oeuvre.

At national level, and with all due acknowledgement of Branch activities, our efforts continue to be focused on rebuilding activities following the Covid-19 pandemic nationally and at Branch level. The main developments during the year were:

5

Elgar Journal: Under Kevin Mitchell’s leadership, the editorial board continues to oversee the production of an informative and interesting Journal which is issued three time each year (together with the Society’s News, edited by Peter James) and is distributed both in physical and electronic form.

Sponsorship and Legacies: We continue to encourage donations and legacies for specific projects.

Education & Young People: Initiatives in relation to Young People are being reviewed by the Vice Chairman with a view to refocusing activity and initiatives.

Elgar Society Medal and Certificate of Merit: In April The Chairman presented the Elgar medal to Christopher Bishop in recognition of his pioneering work as a producer of first recordings of the major Choral works and his contribution to recording British music. The presentation was made at an all Elgar Concert at Snape Maltings.

Elgar Works and the Elgar Complete Edition: We continue to promote Elgar Works and the Elgar Complete Edition to make more of Elgar's music available in a timely fashion at a reasonable cost to performers and conductors all over the world.

6

Elgar in Performance

As the effects of the Corona Virus and the poor state of the economy continue, the effect on the arts remains deleterious. As I reported last year, in all cases, we offered to hold over any previously agreed grants to groups who intended to perform the works in the subsequent two years. Events moved on, however, and some organisations cancelled the event for which they had received a grant; some bided their time and hoped for better days; some set a date for their postponed performance - the Schwerte Apostles from 2020, for example, took place in November 2022. The table below sets out the position for 2022, with some ‘aged’ granted events taking place after postponement and, happily, some new applications being considered and then coming to performance within a twelve-month period. It is a pleasure to report a first performance in Thailand this year.

The Elgar in Performance Group comprises the Executive Committee, Peter Newble and Steven Halls.

RECIPIENT ACTIVITY DATE VENUE GRANTED
CobbePianoCollection £400prev. Care of Elgar's Piano 2021-25 Guildford 400
Hertfordshire Chorus
Avon Valley Concerts
Konzertgesellschaft Schwerte
Phoenix & Beccles CS
Thailand Phil.Orch
Associaçao Novo Dialogo
EnglishMusicFestival
Three Spires Singers
Hereford Chamber Choir		 The Black Knight 26-Feb St.Alban's Cath'l 1000
Brinkwells Ch.Music 26-Mar Dorset 500
The Apostles 12-Nov Schwerte,Germany 1500
MusMakersSeaPix Cockaigne 23-Apr Snape Maltings 1000
SymphonyNo.1,Serenade 6&7 May Thailand 1500
P&C No.3 as ballet 20-Jan-22 Portugal 0
Ov.SpanishLady+Misc. 27,28,29 MayOxfordshire 500
Sea Pictures 19-Nov Truro 800
The Black Knight 10-Jun Hereford Cathedral 500
Welwyn GdnCityCoir Spirit of England Withdrawn. Allocated 500 originally

Steven Halls Co-ordinator, the EiP Group

The Journal

During 2022 further editions of Volume 23 of The Elgar Society Journal were published in April, August and December, running to 69, 69 and 57 pages respectively, with a cover photograph in colour of Yns Lochtyn in April, Ralph Vaughan Williams in August and Elgar’s wind quintet in about 1877 for December.

The April issue contained Kevin Allen’s concluding article on Richard Baxter Townshend, Andrew Neill wrote an extended essay on the Introduction and Allegro for Strings with many illuminating comments from executants. Kevin Mitchell provided background information relating to Elgar’s performance of Wolfrum’s Ein Weinachtsmysterium in December 1901 with translations by Geoff Scargill of Wolfrum’s correspondence with Elgar and Alice.

Stephen Johnson’s A.T. Shaw lecture opened the August issue, followed by Arthur Reynolds’ article on Elgar and Ysaye, but the majority of the issue was devoted to Vaughan Williams to mark his 150[th] anniversary, with articles by Andrew Neill, Hugh Cobbe and Stephen Connock.

The December issue opened with a conversation between Gareth Newman, former Sub-Principal Bassoon with the LPO, and Andrew Neill dealing with Elgar’s compositions for the Bassoon. Dr Relf Clark wrote an article on Frank Schuster and his ownership of The Hut from a legal perspective.

During the year six books were reviewed, there were two music reviews, eighteen CD reviews with a number of shorter CD reviews. The recordings Elgar made in 1922 were noted and the ‘100 Years

7

Ago …’ columns reflected Elgar life in that year. In August we had an additional ‘100 years Ago …’ column covering RVW’s life in 1922.

The editorial team continue happily to share the work in assembling the contents, and even though there may be some concerns over the continued flow of new material, the pages are always filled. We thank all those who have written for us, particularly our reviewers who often do this alongside their professional tasks and once again we greatly appreciate the invaluable assistance of Mike Byde, who carries out the detailed formatting, often producing several versions before preparing the final copy for the printers. We thank him for his work.

Kevin Mitchell, Andrew Dalton, David Morris and Andrew Neill

The News

The usual three editions were published in 2022 with the aim of combining Elgarian news and features with information from branches and the Society's officers. April's issue included an article about tracking down Elgar in the 1921 census; a report on Christopher Bishop receiving the Elgar Medal appeared in August, as well as a comprehensive tribute to David Lloyd-Jones, who died in June; in December Philip Petchey wrote about Harriet Cohen’s links with Elgar; and, to allay recent concerns, the Elgar Foundation contributed an item about the future of the Birthplace.

It's always a pleasure to receive unsolicited items of interest from occasional contributors, so Society members should not hesitate to send their articles or letters – even handwritten ones sent by snail mail for those without computers. Special thanks go to Robert Gilbert, typesetter and compiler of the concert diary, and to regular contributors including Richard Smith, John Norris, Philip Petchey and Andrew Neill.

Peter James, Editor of the News

Membership Report

The table of branch membership, as at 31/12 2022, is shown below. It should be noted that many members have nominated 2 branches to be members of, and the actual membership figure at the end of the year was 839, this to include Life Members, Hon Members and VPs. This is a decline from the total membership recorded in December 2021 of ????

The total of new members joining in 2022 was disappointingly low at 15. 33 members were removed in November for non-payment of the subscription, and there were a further 21 resignations on the year.

8

Branch
membership		 2022
2021
2020		 2019
2018		 2017 2016 2015 2014
London 269
277
286		 320
321		 307 338 349 362
North
America/Canada		 49
49
52		 49
42		 45 45 36 34
North-West 108
114
119		 120
117		 113 127 125 128
Scottish 46
48
50		 50
47		 59 59 61 72
Southern 76
83
86		 89
97		 90 102 86 107
West Midlands 178
188
192		 229
216		 187 210 210 247
Yorkshire/North-
East		 55
52
52		 55
53		 45 50 46 46
Area
Memberships
South-West
East Anglia		 33
41
45
44
54
54		 54
58
56
57		 58
50		 64
65		 67
56		 69
51
East Midlands 27
31
34		 37
31		 24 33 26 17
No Branch/Area
Affiliation		 129
145
119		 161
127		 143 160 180 258

The Archives

Over the past year, all the Society Archive material, which is housed at the Hive, has been viewed and listed by CG ( Caroline Gilderdale). The collection comprises the uncatalogued material and the catalogued material

Uncatalogued Archive (as in May 2022)

There are forty boxes of Branch documentation/correspondence/photographs/programmes/DVDs etc. There are also bound sets of Elgar Journals and Elgar News. These date back to 1973. The sets have been incomplete, but CG has liaised with Tom Kelly, who has been able to make up the missing sets. These have yet to be deposited at the Hive as they are presently still in Tom’s house in Scotland

Catalogued Archive

The items in this collection comprise some fascinating pieces, including many letters to and from Elgar, Carice, Alice with acquaintances, conductors and musicians.

Hive Public Library

There are sets of Elgar Journals and Elgar News which are stored for public perusal in the main body of the library.

Ongoing work

CG has informed the Elgar Council of what is presently stored in our Society Archive and some discussion has been had as to what we would like to be stored in the future. Up to now, everything has been deposited as hard copies. CG has had a meeting with the Hive Digital Archivist with a view to (nearly) everything being stored digitally. She has also been sent various guidelines and regulations for storing material digitally, along with instructions on using DROID-Digital Record Object Identification .Guidelines on copyright have also been sent, but this requires further consultation.

Once we have decided on exactly what we would like to have stored in our future Society Archive, CG will inform Branches, requesting they send ( virus free) material via email or securely on DVD

9

or USB for CG to store securely on her own computer CG will then have further 1-1 ‘tuition’ from the Digital Archivist on how to use DROID and on how to then organise and send everything over to the Hive.

A few items, such as booklets/photographs etc have recently been sent to CG, from a variety of sources and these will be deposited at the Hive in their ‘hard copy’ form.

Caroline Gilderdale - Hon. Archivist

Elgar Online First Report(covering the period from inauguration in October 2021 to December 2022.)

Elgar Online was set up following my proposal to the Council in October 2021. The idea was to create a group to organize Zoom talks on behalf of the Society as a whole. Such talks had been tried and found to be successful in the East Midlands and other branches during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.

To put this into practice a sub-committee was set up consisting of: Myself, Martyn Marsh, David Young (all National Council members), Chris Warsaw (North America) and Marian Rutland (Bury St Edmunds). The subcommittee has met twice, once in November 2021 with a review of progress in June 2022. On the first occasion only, they were joined by Peter Newble and Andrew Neill who both produce Vimeo films. Here a clear distinction was made between the recorded Vimeo work and the live Zoom sessions.

The main aim of the group is to present a wide and interesting variety of talks to those who, for whatever reason, are not attending traditional branch meetings. It is appreciated that for many, and probably a growing number, attending Zoom meetings is becoming their main connection with other society members. The talks are available to anyone, member or non-member, who has internet access.

It was agreed we should aim for 6 events in 2022 in addition to the first event which was actually held in 2021. Titles and presenters are as follows. Attendance at each talk is shown in brackets:

The established practice is that speakers who are society members are not paid a fee. This year 3 speakers were paid a fee of £100. Where possible the talks are recorded. Of course the group is always on the lookout for likely speakers on subjects of interest. We are aiming to present 7 or 8 talks for 2023.

Sam Dobson - Elgar Online

10

Branch Activities

The Society recognises that Branches contribute to the Society’s health as they promote membership and local activity throughout the country. They are particularly important for members who enjoy meeting fellow Elgarians and listening to Elgar talks and performances in their home area.

London Branch

The London Branch held meetings as follows:

7 February Dweller in Shadows: Writing the life of Ivor Gurney Kate Kennedy 7 March From Dunstable to Birtwistle: ‘English’ composers Robert Saxton 25 April 2 A change of mind: Britten and Elgar Philip Reed 9 May Celebrating Elgar’s cello concerto , with Robert Cohen (Royal Academy of Music, Richards Event) 13 June Branch AGM; Song recital by Stephen Dickinson and friends 3 October BBC Radio in the 78 era Jeremy Summerly 7 November Elgar and Parry Relf Clark 5 December An evening with Tasmin Little

Reports of the February to October meetings appear in the relevant issues of Elgar Society News. Relf Clark’s talk in November compared and contrasted two very different men and composers. As usual, Relf gave us plenty to think about and put the record straight about a number of widely accepted accounts of events. Parry always comes across as a very kind man, as well as one who contributed to the musical life of the country in many different ways, including attending several first performances of music by Elgar and other composers. It was good to hear some of his more unfamiliar music to illustrate the range of his compositions.

We were delighted to welcome one of the Society’s vice-presidents, Tasmin Little, to speak to us in December. She gave a fascinating and engaging outline of her career, including her time at the Menuhin School, and talked about performing and recording the Elgar Violin Concerto and Violin Sonata, as well as works by other composers important to her. Her answers to questions were much appreciated.

We continued our celebration of our 50[th] birthday with concerts at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace at the time of the Platinum Jubilee and a visit to Champs Hill in October for outstanding performances by Kathryn Rudge and Will Vann, and Katya Apekisheva and the Navarra Quartet.

A major project reached completion with the publication of A Pilgrim in Cockaigne . This book of essays about Elgar, edited by Kevin Mitchell and David Morris, is based on talks given to the Branch in its first half century. Our thanks go to them and their colleagues for the immense amount of work and care they took with this, which has resulted in what we consider an important contribution to Elgarian studies.

It was good to get back to ‘normal’ meetings throughout the year. These are mostly held in Queen’s College in Harley Street. Attendance has recovered well, though we would like, of course, to see more people at our meetings which are both varied and of a high quality. For all Branch activities we are reliant on a large number of people who help in a variety of ways and our thanks go to all of them.

Ruth Hellen - London Branch Secretary

11

North West Branch

In December 2022, we have 108 members in the North West Branch. The membership has fallen slowly in the past few years – down from 120 in December 2019. In the last two years, the numbers attending branch meetings has also fallen, mainly because of the restrictions imposed by the covid pandemic, but perhaps, also, a reflection of an ageing membership.

15 January 2022 Our first branch meeting in the new year, when Charlie Perry was to have presented “Conducting Elgar (including ‘From The Bavarian Highlands’)”, was postponed to a later date (because of covid restrictions.) His presentation was not thought to be suitable for a live Zoom meeting. But, the scheduled AGM went ahead via Zoom on 15 January.

13 February 2022 Our Annual Lunch, planned for February, was likewise cancelled.

19 March 2022 Live NW Branch meetings were resumed at our new venue at Emmanuel Church, Didsbury, in South Manchester, when Howard Rogerson came to talk to us about “Elgar and The Morecombe Festival”. Unfortunately, attendance numbers were well down from previous levels for what proved to be a very interesting talk.

9 April 2022 Simon Baggs gave an excellent presentation on “Alice Elgar” and it was rewarding that attendance numbers again appeared to be increasing.

28 May 2022 David Young’s fascinating and enlightening presentation entitled “Reading the Music Makers” was very well received by over thirty branch members and friends.

25 September 2022 After our summer break, and because it had been cancelled in February, our new season began with our NW branch Annual Lunch which was held at the Alma Lodge Hotel, in Stockport. We were delighted when Elgar Society Chairman, Stuart Freed, and his wife, Jan, accepted our invitation to join us. After an excellent lunch, three people (including Stuart) talked about and played a short recording of as piece of music which was of interest to them. There were also two interesting visual displays on boards.

22 October 2022 This branch meeting was a very special occasion when Hilary Elgar was in conversation with Geoff Scargill about her life, her interests in music, and of course, Edward. This was not a live meeting, but the exciting premiere showing of a pre-recorded Vimeo presentation, recorded, edited, and produced by Peter Newble. This truly fascinating conversation is available for viewing as one of the Elgar Society’s pre-recorded events.

12 November 2022 Harvey Davies, Director of the Pleyel Music Ensemble, and Sarah Ewins, Associate Leader of the Hallé, made a welcome return to us. They talked about Elgar’s short works for violin and piano, and played several of them, and the afternoon ended with a complete performance of the Sonata for violin and piano, Opus 82. A truly enjoyable and memorable afternoon.

10 December 2022 Edward Clark, President of the United Kingdom Sibelius Society, gave us an interesting presentation on “Elgar and Sibelius” and talked about various connections between these two great composers.

David L Jones (Hon. Sec., North West Branch)

Scottish Branch

This year has not turned out quite as we might have wished. We continued to support Neil Mantle’s orchestra, Scottish Sinfonia, and advertised the work of the Society in its programmes – and many of us enjoyed (and promoted) its performance in November of the ‘Cello Concerto, magnificently played by Robin Michael and available on YouTube here:

Elgar ~ Cello Concerto ~ Robin Michael ~ Scottish Sinfonia - YouTube

Elsewhere we had an excellent Elgar 1 from Martin Brabbins and the BBCSSO in Glasgow and a splendid Fifth Pomp & Circumstance March spectacularly played by John Kitchen on the Usher

12

Hall organ. Society leaflets were made available on these occasions, but a more formal presence would be desirable.

Sadly, the branch’s resources for promoting its own events these days are few and some projects originally intended for 2022 have had to be postponed. The one significant event that should have gone ahead was a performance by the Resol Quartet of the Elgar String Quartet coupled with a contemporary composition by Julian Broughton. Unfortunately, one by one, the four young players went down with a flu-like illness which wiped out their three weeks of planned rehearsal time. A substitute programme of Haydn and Mendelssohn was played – and played brilliantly – but without the Elgar, the branch felt it couldn’t justify the cost of underwriting the concert, which was taken on instead by the venue church.

In view of the lack of activity in 2022, we waived our subvention for 2023 and hope to utilise our accumulated wealth on two or three events in the coming year. One splendid opportunity is an allElgar concert being played by Scottish Sinfonia in August – details yet to be announced – at which its conductor for over fifty years, Neil Mantle, is due to be presented with the Society’s Medal – a supremely well-deserved honour!

Ian Lawson- Branch Chairman, Scottish Branch

Southern Branch

The Southern Branch in 2022 had a year that was much closer to normal, given that in the early part, there was clearly reluctance on the part of some to attend meetings, presumably through fear of Covid. It was the SB Committee decision that we should not resume regular monthly meetings until March 2022, by which time we had resolved the remaining problem on how to manage meetings at our Winchester location – St Lawrence’s Church Hall. On Saturday 19 March 2022 at 2 PM in Winchester, we held an AGM and then Vice Chairman, Duncan Eves, gave his longdeferred talk on The Music Makers .

On Friday 25 March, we finally had a long-awaited joint meeting with the Avon Valley Concert Society, when all three of Elgar’s chamber works were performed. I gave a 30 minute pre-concert talk. An excellent performance was given by members of the Castalian String Quartet, who were joined by the Society’s President, Leon McCawley on piano. My talk on the ‘Brinkwells Works’ had included comments on the incomplete Elgar Piano Concerto and interest was show afterwards by Leon in playing a completed version. I have taken the matter up with David Owen Norris, who had the original idea on its possible completion, and who has recorded a version. This was a splendid event attended by many AVCS members, but surprisingly few Elgar Society members.

On Saturday 23 April, the well-known conductor of Elgar’s works, Adrian Brown, gave a talk about his illustrious predecessor, Adrian Boult, at our Havant location and on 14 May in Winchester, Michael Butterfield gave a talk on the Part Songs of Edward Elgar. Our season concluded with a meeting on 17 September, when Richard Westwood-Brookes gave a talk on Elgar’s entre into the world of the music hall with The Fringes of the Fleet .

I have mentioned before that Zoom membership of the Southampton RMS has been offered outside our normal geographic area, including the Elgar Society, with three free sessions as a trial. This has attracted new members, but unfortunately, none from the Elgar Society. This is unfortunate as SRMS has developed these talks to a high technical standard, offering stereo ‘original sound’, in both the presentations and the sessions recorded and made available on the members web site. The offer remains open, but it seems that Elgar Society members, for whatever reasons, do not wish to try Zoom as a presentation medium. www.southamptonrms.org.uk

13

I have again reminded all members, particularly in the south and London that the Southern Branch is in desperate need of a Branch Secretary, but no one seems willing to take on the job. Despite this, we have a full programme of meetings planned for 2023. It remains to be seen how our membership numbers and meeting attendance will hold up after the pandemic, but fewer SB members have renewed in 2022. It is no surprise that SB has spent less money in 2022 than in 2019 and previous years. We now find that professional speakers are asking for higher fees and the cost of travelling has gone up, as has the price of venue hire. We will also now have to invest in a video projector as all speakers now need this item of equipment. Again, I offer my thanks to the hard-working members of the SB Committee, given that vacancies remain.

David Pearce - Chairman, Elgar Society Southern Branch

West Midlands Branch

22 January 2022 One of our Committee members, David Packman , compared the ‘Sacred and the Secular’ the music of Edward Elgar and Arthur Sullivan. He began by reflecting that Sullivan’s work was immediately well received whereas Elgar’s was not always, but of course it is the latter which has endured at least in the more serious genre. He felt that Sullivan was writing to bring release and joy to the hard-working men and women of England while Elgar was writing for the more sophisticated and learned audience and bringing them through the soul’s journey. Seemingly miles apart yet, on reflection, release from perhaps drudgery, to bring joy and hope to people who found life hard physically, mentally and spiritually transforming as inviting the soul to make its final journey to another form of being. In his music choices he compared and contrasted Patience by Sullivan and Gerontius but Elgar.

19 February 2022 Our ever popular Branch Lunch included a musical quiz with the audience invited to ‘name that tune!’

19 March 2022 Following an illness by our intended speaker, Stuart Freed stepped in at the last minute to give a most enjoyable illustrated talk on some of Elgar’s lighter pieces , some familiar, some not. Ably assisted by his wife, Jan, Stuart began by saying that while he could not compete with the erudition of a world famous composer such as Robert, he hoped that his presentation would bring a smile to the audience. Perhaps this might be considered as ‘Radio 2 Elgar!’

9 April 2022 Our AGM took the usual format with Dr Roger Allen being added to our Committee, but sadly David Parkes was forced to stand down as our Events Secretary. Following tea Richard Smith gave a short illustrated presentation on Elgar’s visit to Delius in 1933.

14 May 2022 We were delighted to welcome our one-time national chairman, Wendy Hill who talked and introduced music on the subject ‘From Broadheath to Nimrod’ . Her selection began with Humoreske Broadheath which was written in 1867 when Elgar was only 10, and was eventually incorporated into the Wand of Youth Suite. Next came ‘ The Language of Flowers’ – a 15-year old’s tribute to his sister Lucy on her 20th birthday. A number of other early pieces followed, some well-known, some not so well-known. Her talk ended, of course, with Nimrod.

11 June 2022 On a delightful sunny day John Knowles , Chairman of the North West Branch, gave us a fascinating insight into Elgar, Malcolm Sargent and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic . John began by talking about Elgar’s association with Liverpool and especially Alfred Rodewald and Granville Bantock. It may be remembered that Elgar conducted the first performances of Pomp and Circumstance Nos. 1 and 2 at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. The second part of his talk was a biography of Sargent. As John remembered Sargent directed the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester

14

(1939–1942) and the Liverpool Philharmonic (1942–1948) and later conducted one of the finest recordings of Gerontius plus other Elgar works .

28 July 2022 The Three Choirs Festival was held in Hereford. As speaker at the Elgar Society lecture we were fortunate in having the well-known conductor and organist, Nicholas Cleobury , talking on ‘Elgar the master orchestrator’ . In his talk Nicholas gave us a masterly review of Elgar’s orchestration techniques. We found that Elgar had not only gained some of his ideas from German composers but also from those of France, especially Hector Berlioz. His talk was illustrated with both sound and visual excepts culminating in extracts from The Apostles which has long been so neglected. The 100 strong audience was most impressed how Nicholas succeeded in conveying Elgar’s musical ideas being neither simplistic or baffling people like me who have little technical musical knowledge. Following the talk, many of us walked the few steps to the Green Dragon hotel in Broad Street for our three course lunch . Some of you may know that Elgar was a regular visitor to the hotel during his time at Plas Gwyn. We would very much like to thank the staff of the hotel for their excellent service and a great spread.

10 September 2022 Our autumn season began with a recital by the young harpist, Anwen Mai Thomas . Held only two days after we heard the sad death of Her Majesty, the meeting began with a tribute to her and a recording of Elgar conducting God Save the King in 1928. Anwen’s delightful recital began with a piece by Jean-Michael Damase entitled Sicilienne Variée and was followed by Fantasia in Eb Major by Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach. Other pieces followed and after tea she concluded with a arrangement of by Trneček of Smetana’s The Moldau , an exceptional rendition of a favourite piece.

15 October 2022 One of our recent new Branch members is Jonathan Hope , assistant organist and music director at Gloucester Cathedral since March 2014. He gave a presentation on ‘Elgar at the Console, ’ beginning by describing Elgar’s Vesper Voluntaries composed in 1889. He played extracts from one of them both electronically and then on the fine organ at Holy Trinity church in Malvern. He then talked about arranging a composition for other instruments, remembering Elgar’s orchestration of J.S. Bach’s Organ Fantasia and Fugue in C minor and Handel’s Chandos Anthem II. He followed this with a detailed survey of Elgar’s Organ Sonata which had been composed to be given at Worcester Cathedral for a party of visiting American musicians in 1895. Again he played extracts from three of the four movements on the organ. Jonathan regretted that few orchestral pieces had been transposed and decided to remedy this by adapting Elgar’s Froissart overture for organ. He played some of his adaptation and this led to a more ambitious project to transpose another Elgar overture, In the South , for organ.

12 November 2022 Richard and Joan Smith gave an illustrated presentation on ‘ Fred Gaisberg, Elgar and recorded music’. They began with a brief history of recorded music playing some very early recordings dating from the turn of the century. Gaisberg was sent by the pioneer Emile Berliner to establish a record company in London in 1898 and later recorded many famous artists of the time. However, it was not until 1914 that Gaisberg recorded an Elgar piece, Carissima which was its first public performance. Elgar and Giasberg gradually became good friends and several more recordings were made using the early acoustic process. Eventually, in 1924, this method was replaced by the much superior electrical process which led Gaisberg to re-record many Elgar pieces and add new ones. These included the two symphonies, both Concerti the three overtures but, sadly only extracts of Gerontius. At the end of his life Elgar dedicated Mina to Fred.

3 December 2022 The final meeting of the yearcember, was by our old friend Richard WestwoodBrookes who talked on ‘The Soul of the Violin Concerto’ . In this he gave four alternatives for the identity of the person to which the five dots refer on the title page of the Elgar Violin Concerto. He dismissed the first two possibilities, Helen Weaver and the little-known Adeline Nelson, fairly

15

logically, but that left Alice Stuart-Wortley and the American Julia Worthington, both of whom could have been the ‘soul’. Both had five letter names, ‘Alice’ and either ‘Julia’ or ‘Pippa’ and both have equal claims. Richard plumped for the latter - but it is doubtful whether either will ever be definitely chosen.

Finally, the Branch continues to publish its bi-yearly Newsletter which is distributed to all our members, with electronic versions going to the Chairmen and Secretaries of other Branches.

Richard Smith - West Midlands Branch Secretary

Yorkshire & North East Branch

Our programme for 2022 opened on 22 January with our AGM followed by a delightful presentation by committee member Howard Gregg on Elgar’s Part Songs. Howard’s musical examples – ‘As torrents of summer’, ‘Death on the Hills’, ‘The Prince of Sleep’, ‘Go Song of Mine’, and the haunting ‘Owls’ – reminded us of the rich repertoire available in this oftenneglected genre.

Stuart Freed gave a highly original presentation on 26 March. In a light-hearted programme entitled ‘Elgar and the Critical Ear – with reference to the Introduction and Allegro for Strings ’ - participants were guided through a large number of recordings with the aim of choosing just one. Despite the best attempts of the audio-visual gremlins to disrupt continuity, the meeting was a great success.

We were delighted to welcome Wendy Hill from the West Midlands branch on 30 April for her presentation on ‘Elgar’s Early Years from Broadheath to Nimrod’. In a wide-ranging talk, covering both biographical and musical aspects – at this stage in Elgar’s life the two elements were inseparable – Wendy touched on various fascinating aspects, and played a varied range of musical examples, from ‘The Wand of Youth’ up to Elgar’s own recording of ‘Nimrod’. We were grateful to Wendy for presenting her fascinating material with such grace and eloquence.

The local historian Sarah Lister gave a most interesting talk on ‘Elgar and Settle’ on 21 May. The focus of the talk was Elgar’s friendship with Dr Buck, but the topic was extended in virtuoso fashion to include a large network of characters from Settle to Shibden Hall, including Anne Lister (better known from the television series as ‘Gentleman Jack’) and Anne’s ‘wife’ Ann Walker. The Bar Convent, York, with its central location close to the railway station and park-and-ride stops, delightful tea room, perfectly proportioned meeting room and so on, is an ideal venue for our talks, but it lacks one highly desirable element: a piano. Over the past three years we have considered various options but have decided to stay where we are and buy a portable digital piano. We believe the new instrument, a Roland FP-30X, will enhance proceedings in cases where speakers wish to demonstrate at the piano, or where the presentation is by a chamber choir or instrumental group with piano.

The instrument was unveiled auspiciously at Julian Rushton’s talk on 25 June, entitled ‘Elgar’s ’ Symphonic Study Falstaff . In masterly fashion, Julian guided us through the background to the work, described the musical form and played the most important themes at the keyboard, so that when we came to a complete recording, played in the second half of the presentation, we were able to follow the structure clearly.

For our meeting on 24 September, following the summer break, we were delighted to welcome for a return visit Daniel Grimley, who gave a most enlightening presentation entitled ‘A Tale of Two Concertos: Elgar, Delius and Beatrice Harrison’. Many factors of great interest emerged, such as the different approaches of the two composers to their concertos: Delius was happy for Harrison to make whatever changes she wished to the solo cello figuration, whereas Elgar ensured that the figuration was complete and fully notated before handing it over to the soloist. Professor Grimley demonstrated that the charge of loose structure often levelled against Delius’s music was not justified in the case of either the Cello Concerto or the Double Concerto. A comparison of the two

16

recordings Harrison made of the Elgar Cello Concerto (with the composer conducting) revealed marked differences of interpretation – the first being somewhat reserved and strictly metrical , the second more relaxed and expansive – differences which may be explained to a degree by the changing conditions, both physical and technical, of recording sessions, but also by maturing approaches to interpretation. We were further grateful to Professor Grimley for a most stimulating question and answer session at the end of his presentation.

The mezzo soprano Jacqueline Edwards - well known as a concert and opera singer, teacher and vocal coach, and loyal member of the Elgar Society - was our guest speaker on 15 October, for a presentation entitled ‘England’s Britannia: Dame Clara Butt.’ The topic was thoroughly prepared, highly enlightening, and superbly delivered, with a wealth of information about Clara’s life, education, rise to stardom, professional partnership with her husband, the baritone and pianist Kennerley Rumford, and connection with Elgar. Much helpful context was offered, such how she compared with other notable contraltos of the age, especially Muriel Foster. We were delighted to discover the relatively large number of recordings which are still available, from which we can marvel at the expressive quality and power of Clara Butt’s voice, and appreciate how radically vocal technique, style and taste has changed from her time to the present.

Our season was brought to a close by long-standing committee member Paul Kampen and his talk on ‘Barbirolli in Yorkshire’. Paul presented a series of fascinating and in-depth facts and anecdotes about a little known, but significant aspect of Yorkshire’s cultural heritage: how John Barbirolli revived musical life in Leeds, a decade before he did the same for Manchester. The talk was the result of extensive archival research in the Leeds libraries, and of Paul’s experience as a horn player, including a quarter of a century with Opera North. For the wealth of information, illustrations, humourous tales about Sir John and his devoted orchestral players, and musical examples, reminding us of what a wonderful conductor he was, we remain eternally grateful to Paul.

In conclusion, a word about attendances at meetings. As is well known, during the pandemic the YNE branch initiated a series of Zoom meetings in order to keep up the interest during lockdown, and a number of branches followed our lead. Coming out of lockdown we nervously wondered what the take-up would be once we returned to ‘in-the-flesh’ meetings. The result was a slow start, but with numbers picking up over the months, despite the attempts of the various railway unions to disrupt our meetings. Pleasingly, attendances are now close to pre-lockdown levels.

David Young, Chairman Yorkshire & NE Branch

C 2022 INITIAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLANS

Given the purpose of the Society is the education in and promotion of the appreciation of the public in the music of Edward Elgar and the education of the public in his life, Council have agreed a strategy that enabled our activities to be grouped under the aims mentioned under below:

a. the provision of educational programmes and activities to widen knowledge of Elgar's music for all and to develop the public benefit achieved by the Society;

17

b. support for the Elgar Birthplace, museums and educational establishments that attract the general public to Elgar's music and life;

c. the funding and encouragement of performances and recordings of his works;

d. the encouragement of research into Elgar's music, and the publication of a scholarly journal containing the results of such research,

e. the publication of or support for a scholarly edition of Elgar's music.

During 2021 the Covid -19 pandemic continued to have a major impact on the live activities at branch and national level. As restrictions eased during 2022, branch meetings resumed. However, due to the success and continuing demand, the programme of online meetings and presentations initiated during the pandemic, have continued and become an important feature of the Society’s activities. Almost all of the online offering has been archived and can be accessed by both members, researchers and the general public. It should also be noted that by developing the online element of the Society, it has been able to engage more directly with its overseas members.

As Chair of the Society I would like to pay tribute to my colleagues on Council and the Executive and each and every post-holder in the Society and its Branches, for all their efforts in helping to keep interest in the Society and its activities alive and adapting to the changing conditions surrounding the pandemic and its aftermath.

Particular mention should be made of Peter Newble and Andrew Neill, who have continued to develop online video presentations and to Sam Dobson, who has both initiated a series of real time Zoom meetings and brought the three arms of Society’s digital offering under a single umbrella, Elgar Online.

The Society’s News and Journal continue to offer both items of general interest and more in depth material. These two publications appear three times each year and are distributed in both physical and electronic form.

In common with many other similar groups, the Society has begun to engage with the problem of its falling membership. Whilst still healthy in terms of numbers, the Executive and Council are conscious of the ageing demographic of its membership and the reluctance of a younger one to become members of groups such as ours. In order to address these issues, the Vice-Chairman, Martyn Marsh, has convened a working group with the aim of formulating proposals to be discussed by the Council of the Society, aimed at increasing membership both within the UK and overseas and attracting younger members.

Mention should also be made of two new projects initiated by Vice-President Andrew Neill. The first of these the founding of a Research Bursary, to be awarded occasionally, when a worthy project is forwarded to the Society at graduate or post graduate level.

The second project surrounds the upcoming 75th anniversary of the founding of the Elgar Society in 2026 and how this should be marked and celebrated. Once again, a small sub-group within the Society has been formed and will present recommendations to the Council of the Society.

Stuart Freed Chairman

18

The Elgar Society

Statement of Financial Activities

Income
Subscriptions
Gift Aid
Royalties
Investment income
Branch receipts
Donations and Legacies
Total income
Expenditure
Society objectives
Journals & Newsletters
Branch Activities
AGM
PR & Advertising
Web site maintenance
On-line presentations and
meetings
Sundry
Elgar in performance
Elgar Medals
Administration
Authorised exps Council &
Executive
Re-branding and web site
redesign
Membership administration
Total Expenditure
Surplus/Deficit
Branch account transfers
Balances b/f		 2022

Balances c/f 93,251 101,865 195,116 188,546

19

The Elgar Society

Balance sheet

Balance sheet
Current accounts
Investec investment
Monmouth BS 90-day account
Branches' bank balances
Debtors and Accrued Income
Creditors
Net assets
Restricted Funds
Kay Trust
Branches (London & West Midlands )
General fund
Total funds		 2022
£
33,466
54,125
86,027
34,090
600
(13,192)
195,116
-
81,407
20,458
101,865
93,251
195,116		 2021
£
22,994
54,125
85,387
33,956
478
(8,394)
188,546
77,433
19,986
97,419
91,127
188,546

20

The Elgar Society

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022

1. Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared on the basis of historical cost in accordance with:

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

  1. Accounting policies

2.1 Subscriptions

Subscriptions are accounted for in the year in which they are received, except for subscriptions received in advance which are carried forward to the next year. 2.2 Other incoming resources

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when:

Where incoming resources have related expenditure (for example, subscriptions) the incoming resources and related expenditure are reported gross in the SoFA. 2.3 Donations and legacies

Donations and legacies are only included in the SoFA when the Society has unconditional entitlement to the resources. During the year generous donations were received from the estates of the late Henry Atterbury and the late Richard Bradburn. The Society is very grateful for both these gifts.

2.4 Tax recoverable on subscriptions, donations and gifts

Incoming resources from tax recoverable are included in the SoFA at the same time as the income to which they relate.

2.5 Branches

Although the regional branches of the Society are constituted under separate rules the income and expenditure of the branches are included in these accounts. 2.6 Taxation

The Society is a registered charity no 298062 and accordingly is exempt from taxation on its income and gains where they are applied for charitable purposes.

21

3. Trustees’ expenses

During the year, travel and other out of pocket costs amounting to £972 were reimbursed to 3 members of the Council and the Executive when appropriate claims were made (2021 £436 reimbursed to 6 individuals).

No member of the Council nor any person connected with them has received any remuneration in the year.

  1. Donations, sponsorship and projects

Grants and other financial support given to institutions are a material part of the total resources expended by the Society. Elgar in Performance grants amounting to £15,600 were made to 15 organisations (2021 £13,717 to 5 organisations). Grants totalling £3,500 which were granted in earlier years but not taken up because of Covid have been written off.

  1. Restricted funds

Kay Trust

These funds were given with the proviso that the funds may not be used for routine running expenses but should be devoted to capital or other longer term projects.

22

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of The Elgar Society

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Elgar Society (the Society) for the year ended 31 December 2022.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Society you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Society’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Society as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Adrian Benselin

3 Maylands Avenue Breaston Derbyshire DE72 3EE

16 July 2023

23