Re: Cardinal Newman's text to Elgar's "Gerontius"
That's very possible, Ralph, as, being an agnostic, I find the sort of , what I can only describe as the "Hallelujah, praise the Lord!" type of worship similarly antipathetic mainly because of its seemingly exhibitionistic nature. Maybe I regard Elgar's "theatricalising" of the mystery of death in a heavily-scored ,occasionally melodramatic, occasionally mawkish oratorio far too personal an expression of his own beliefs (and, perhaps, of his own "Baggage") but which has , nevertheless, been offered for public consumption as something which is , in a way, distasteful. The work's great popularity passes judgement on my attitude to it as that of a tiny minority, but it would be interesting to hear from any other members of that minority to see if they can express any negative reactions to the work in a more cogent way than I can.
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