Re: Cardinal Newman's text to Elgar's "Gerontius"
I'm not qualified to comment on the literary quality of Newman's text so will refrain from doing so , but the reply of Dieter, where he states that he is "repulsed by this work" interests me very much as the word that springs to my mind to describe Gerontius is "Repellent" and it has been this way since I first heard it many years ago. I can't fathom why I should feel this way about it; I don't find Newman's poem objectionable and, while I'm not Elgar's biggest "fan" I find much that he wrote very beautiful and, indeed, there is much beautiful music in this particular work. I can only conclude that the combination of Newman's poetry with Elgar's music produces - for me, anyway - a febrile, toxic mixture that I find is almost embarrassing to listen to.
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