To find the Bar Convent:

The historically significant and architecturally notable Bar Convent is a five-minute walk from York Railway Station; at the station exit turn right onto Queen Street, follow the road round to the traffic lights, cross the road, turn right and the Bar Convent is immediately on your left.

Park and ride buses from Askham Bar (White Line, No 3 service) stop outside the Everyman cinema; this is across the road from our venue.

There is a pay-and-display car park close to the Bar Convent on Nunnery Lane – SATNAV YO23 1AA.

On November 24th 2018 Dr Donald Hunt was to address the Yorkshire and North East branch meeting. Sadly that was not to be due to the death of Dr Hunt; but he had given Caroline Gilderdale a copy of the script which he had prepared; it was read for us by Dr Simon Lindley.

Caroline Gilderdale is seen here (left) conducting an ensemble comprising singers from the Yorkshire Bach Choir and York Cantores, performing a selection of Elgar’s church music, edited by Donald Hunt. Simon Lindley (right) accompanies.

Elgar had great respect and admiration for Hubert Parry – and publicly acknowledged the debt that he, in particular, and English music in general, owed to Parry.

The violinist Rupert Marshall-Luck has recently recorded a triple-disc set of Parry’s complete music for violin and piano, and is also currently editing all Elgar’s violin music.

From this perspective, on Saturday March 23rd, he gave a talk to the Yorkshire and North East branch which described and demonstrated the two composers’ writing for violin; also revealing what their musical notations for the instrument can tell us of contemporary playing styles and characteristics.

Our meeting on Saturday May 4th 2019 featured live music performed by the Fairfax Ensemble.

Photo collage by Caroline Gilderdale.

Our meeting on 25th May 2019 featured Jonathan Clinch who spoke on Elgar and Herbert Howells.

Edward Elgar was one of the greatest influences on the young Herbert Howells and played an important practical role in his early career.

Howells in turn dedicated the middle movement of his Concerto for String Orchestra of 1938 jointly to the memory of Elgar and Howells’ son Michael.

Jonathan offered new insights into the nature of their relationship. Dr Jonathan Clinch is an organist, musicologist and Lecturer in Academic Studies at The Royal Academy of Music.

John investigated the early links between Liverpool and Elgar and between Sargent and Elgar, as an introduction to Sargent’s Elgar performances with Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

John is presently the Chairman of the North West Branch of the Elgar Society.

Elgar’s 1917 ballet The Sanguine Fan, is one of his most delightful but neglected scores. In his talk, Daniel argued that the Sanguine Fan in fact constituted a means of mediating the processes of mourning, memorialisation and loss that lay at the heart of Elgar’s creative project during wartime.

Daniel is a Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, and Douglas Algar Tutorial fellow at Merton College.

A first-edition vocal score of The Dream of Gerontius (Novello, 1900) which once belonged to Elgar’s early biographer Robert J. Buckley, contains numerous, previously unnoticed, annotations in the hand of Edward Elgar himself.

Jonathan examined the significance of some of Elgar’s notes and annotations.

Jo Wainwright is Professor of Music at the University of York. He is a musicologist, conductor and performer.

Andrew has been writing up CD notes on Grania and Diarmid as well as a forthcoming recording of Caractacus, and shared with us some of the highlights of his researches.

Andrew is a Vice-President of the Elgar Society, a member of its London Branch and a past Chairman of the Society ( 1992-2008) and has contributed to four books on Elgar’ life and music.

The AGM was followed by a talk given by Branch Chairman Professor David Young entitled Reading The Music Makers.

After reading the poem, the score, and press reviews, one is left wondering why Elgar’s The Music Makers at first met such a muted response.

David’s talk included a specially prepared Listener’s Analytical Guide and a complete recording conducted by Sir Adrian Boult and featuring Dame Janet Baker.

Elgar’s portrayal of Judas Iscariot in his oratorio, The Apostles, is perhaps his most heartfelt characterisation. In this illustrated talk, Peter Newble explored how Judas’s portrayal in musical works has evolved over a period of nearly 500 years, and examined his role in The Apostles in more detail.

Our final meeting of 2020 featured a Zoom presentation by committee member Prof. Bernard Porter on ‘Elgar, the North, and King Olaf’, in which Bernard took a brilliant, multi-disciplinary approach, highlighting various strands of cultural history.

The talk was enjoyed not only by branch members but by the good number of guests who joined us from other branches, a characteristic of all four on-line meetings.

Our 2021 AGM was followed by a talk by Branch Treasurer Paul Kampen on preliminary findings which he has made on Sir John Barbirolli’s time as Principal conductor of the Northern Philharmonic Orchestra in Leeds; this lasted from 1932 until Barbirolli (he was not ‘Sir John then) went to New York in 1936.

The NPO was a professional orchestra whose membership comprised players whose daily work was in the various theatres and cafes in Leeds; it gave some 25 concerts per year and made many BBC broadcasts.

Elgar Society Vice Chairman Stuart Freed writes: To those of us with limited academic schooling, music theory can be both dry and baffling.

Consequently, it takes a teacher of rare quality to bring into the light the sometimes labyrinthine complexity of music and its relationship with science, whilst holding the attention of an audience.

However, such was the case on Saturday, when David Owen Norris presented his talk on Elgar and the Note A flat, the latest in the series of virtual meetings presented by the Yorkshire and North East Branch.

If nothing else, it was worth hearing his explanation of the difference between A flat and G sharp.

Julian Rushton published a short book on Elgar’s Variations in 1999. Some autograph material has since resurfaced; and the number of proposed ‘solutions’ to the ‘Enigma’ has considerably increased.

Julian’s talk did not propose a new solution, nor did it review these new ideas, whose propagation can safely be left to their authors; rather, Julian reviewed the question of whether there really is a question to be answered.

Elgar’s part songs are highly regarded and reflect another aspect of his great musical gifts yet they are rarely heard.

Howard’s talk looked at their place in Elgar’s creative life and the context for which they were written. With musical examples.

In a light-hearted programme, Stuart guided us through 18 different recordings with the aim of choosing just one.

Our final choice was the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten!

In a light-hearted programme, Stuart guided us through 18 different recordings with the aim of choosing just one.

Our final choice was the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten!