Gervase Cary Elwes
Encyclopedia
Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, DL
(15 November 1866 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English
tenor
of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music
from the early 1900s up until his death in 1921 due to a railroad accident in Boston
at the height of his career.
, Northampton
, the son of Alice Geraldine (née Ward) and Valentine Dudley Henry Cary-Elwes , a descendant of John Elwes
. Of the Northamptonshire
and Lincolnshire
county gentry, he attended The Oratory School
(a Roman Catholic school) and moved to Woburn School, Weybridge in 1885, from whence he enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford
, where he was active as a cricketer
and violin
ist. At the age of 22 he married Lady Winifride Feilding. He was initially trained as a lawyer
and diplomat
, spending some years in Brussels
where he began his first formal singing lessons at the age of 28. However, before he could to commit he had to overcome a social convention of resistance to one of his class making a professional career as a singer, and not until the early 1900s, in his late thirties, did he gave his first professional performances in London
. His principal teachers were Jacques Bouhy
in Paris
(1901–03), and in London Henry Russell and Victor Biegel, who remained his friend and teacher throughout his life. Bouhy asked him to decide between a baritone career in opera or a tenor career in oratorio and concert (and he chose the latter).
His first professional appearance in London was opposite Agnes Nicholls
, in Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar by Heinrich Heine
at the St James's Hall, with the Handel Society under J. S. Liddle in late April 1903, and immediately afterwards he appeared at the Westmorland Festival. In June 1903 he was auditioned at the Royal College of Music
in London by Charles Villiers Stanford
, who left the room and brought Hubert Parry
in to hear him as well. The violinist Professor Kruse, who was then attempting to revive the Saturday 'Pops' at the St James's Hall jumped out of his chair and promptly engaged him, and it was Kruse who arranged for his first appearance in Edward Elgar
's The Dream of Gerontius
early in 1904 as an addition to his Beethoven Festival. Harry Plunket Greene
, who had encouraged Elwes through this audition, also remained his lifelong friend.
Victor Biegel, a "little round, bald Viennese", was for some time accompanist to the celebrated German lieder singer Raimund von zur-Mühlen
and had a special understanding of the songs of Johannes Brahms
, which he imparted to Elwes. There was a great rapport, and his teaching, especially during his six-month residence at Billing Hall
(an Elwes estate) in 1903, completely freed and relaxed Elwes' voice, opening the way for the sustained power and brilliance of his upper register, and the vocal stamina which enabled him to maintain great oratorio roles (for which he was much in demand) with absolute conviction through a singing career of nearly two decades.
.
In 1905, at the suggestion of his friend Percy Grainger
, an open competition class for folk-singers was included. As a result, many wonderful songs were collected, notably from Joseph Taylor
(who made some commercial records for the Gramophone Company
). Taylor was the source of the melody used by Delius
for his Brigg Fair
.
) of Edward Elgar
's The Dream of Gerontius
, which he first performed on 9 April 1904, with Muriel Foster
and David Ffrangcon Davies
at the Queen's Hall
under the baton of Felix Weingartner
. He was inspired by the music on hearing the concert performance in May 1903 just preceding the ceremonial opening of Westminster Cathedral
. The religious authenticity of his interpretation was immediately recognized. He performed the work 118 times in all. He was also completely identified with the role of the Evangelist
in Bach
's St Matthew Passion. His appearances at the Three Choirs Festival
s, and at those of Peterborough
and Norwich
, became annual fixtures. In 1908 at the Norwich Festival he was partnered (according to Henry J. Wood) in Gerontius by the Dutch contralto Julia Culp
, and in the same festival performed Bach's Magnificat
with Louise Kirkby Lunn
and Herbert Witherspoon
. In 1909 Elwes sang Gerontius and the St Matthew Passion Evangelist in New York
under Walter Damrosch.
Culp sang the Gerontius angel role at the London Music Festival on 22 May 1911 with Elwes, with Herbert Brown and the Norwich Festival Chorus, and Wood states that this was the occasion upon which Elwes finally established his reputation as the greatest exponent of the name part. Five days later Wood and Elwes closed the 1911 Festival with a performance of the St Matthew Passion with Agnes Nicholls
, Edna Thornton, Herbert Brown, Herbert Heyner and Robert Radford
.
In May 1916 he gave six performances of Gerontius on consecutive days, with Clara Butt
as the Angel, Charles Mott (Angel of the Agony) and Herbert Brown (Priest), the Leeds Choral Union and London Symphony Orchestra
, conducted by Elgar himself, in aid of the Red Cross
. His last performance of the work was in Northampton in October 1920, with Robert Radford and Norah Dawnay, shortly before leaving for his American tour.
lieder in the first decades of the 20th century. In January 1907 he made a tour in Germany which included Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Frankfort and Cologne, giving recitals with Fanny Davies
(a celebrated pupil of Clara Schumann
's). He sang mixed programmes, but his performance of German lieder, and especially of Brahms (in German) was greatly admired. (He was then singing 'Komm bald,' 'Am Sonntag Morgen,' 'Salamander,' 'Ein Wanderer,' 'Wir wandelten', 'Auf dem Kirchhof', 'Magyarisch,' 'Die Kränze,' Ständchen' and 'Botschaft.') He sang the Brahms Liebeslieder in Brussels
in 1908 with Marie Brema
, and in London gave a recital with Paderewski
. In January 1913 at the Queen's Hall
, under Henry J. Wood, he sang Mahler
's Das Lied von der Erde
in company with the contralto Doris Woodall: Wood thought it 'excessively modern but very beautiful'. Brahms remained central to Elwes's repertoire to the end, and he also performed lieder of Grieg
, Dvořák
and George Henschel
. Early in his career he found an ideal accompanist in Frederick B. Kiddle
, and they remained associated until his death.
In January 1912 in a recital for Henry Wood at Queen's Hall he introduced the settings of poems of Paul Verlaine
by Poldowski
(Lady Dean Paul, born Régine Wieniawski, the daughter of Henryk Wieniawski
). These songs then had a great vogue in Paris and this performance made a deep impression. During the First World War he participated in the concert tours for British soldiers in France organized by Lena Ashwell
.
cycle On Wenlock Edge and many of the finest songs of Roger Quilter
(including the cycle To Julia), both of whom wrote with his voice in mind. In 1912 he gave the first performance of Thomas Dunhill
's song-cycle The Wind Among the Reeds for the Philharmonic Society
. He had the wholehearted admiration of every generation from Charles Villiers Stanford
to Frank Bridge
, and their successors still acknowledge the authority of his influence. He was also a wonderful inspiration to leading British singers of his time, as their many private and published memorials testify.
. Elwes was married in Kensington
on 11 May 1889 to Lady Winefride Mary Elizabeth Feilding (died 24 February 1959), National President of the Catholic Women's League
, daughter of Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh
and Mary Berkeley. They lived at The Manor House, Brigg
, Lincolnshire
, and at Billing Hall
, Northamptonshire
, and had six sons together:
railway station in Boston, Massachusetts in the midst of a high-profile recital tour of the United States
at the height of his powers. Elwes and his wife had alighted on the platform when the singer attempted to return to the conductor an overcoat that had fallen off the train. He leaned over too far and was hit by the train, falling between the moving carriages and the platform. He died of his injuries a few hours later. He was 54 years old. A week after the event, Edward Elgar
wrote to Percy Hull
, 'my personal loss is greater than I can bear to think upon, but this is nothing - or I must call it so - compared to the general artistic loss - a gap impossible to fill - in the musical world.'
was given at the Royal Albert Hall
, at which John Coates
and Frederick Ranalow sang with the Royal Choral Society. The Musicians' Benevolent Fund
was first established as the Gervase Elwes Memorial Fund for Musicians, and his figure became a presiding genius of twentieth-century English music
. His particular association with the lyrics of A. E. Housman
and the music of Elgar
, and his death soon after the First World War, reinforce his embodiment of the lost Edwardian generation, perhaps the last in which his religious conviction could so thoroughly have endeared him to so many. At much the same time the Glasgow Orpheus Choir instituted a Gervase Elwes Silver Medal, and the Feis Ceoil in Dublin inaugurated its Gervase Elwes Memorial Cup. A choir named after him was established at Walsall
. A portrait plaque by Arthur Vokes was set up in the centre of the village of Billing.
A portrait bust of him by Malvina Hoffman
was sent by Mrs Vincent Astor
and was set in a specially prepared niche on the grand tier of the old Queen's Hall
(the original venue of the Promenade Concerts
) as a memorial by his American friends, being unveiled in 1922. Around the arch of the niche was a motto, 'With his whole heart he sang songs and loved Him that made him.' On that occasion two Bach
chorales were conducted by Vaughan Williams
.
Sir John Barbirolli
(a successor of the original conductor of Gerontius, Hans Richter
, as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra
, who had played as an orchestral cellist in Gerontius under Elgar's baton with Elwes performing the Soul) remembered Elwes as 'that great and noble artist'. In addition to being a great singer, Elwes was a capital game shot, and devoted much of his spare time to shooting on his estates.
, and later for the Columbia Graphophone Company
. This listing is thought to be complete for known recordings of this artist.
HMV
Columbia
A CD, published in 2011, features thirty tracks of Elwes' discography. The CD marks the 90th birthday year of the Musicians Benevolent Fund and is available in return for a donation to the charity at the Musicians Benevolent Fund website.
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(15 November 1866 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music
English music
English music may refer to:*English folk music*Music of the United Kingdom...
from the early 1900s up until his death in 1921 due to a railroad accident in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
at the height of his career.
Background to his career
Elwes was born in Billing HallBilling Hall
Billing Hall is a manor house in Billing, Northamptonshire, England. Records of the manor, the predecessor to Great Billing Hall, date back to the 12th century. It was originally owned by the Barry family and Baron Dundalk built it in 1629. It became the county seat of the Earls of Thomond,...
, Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, the son of Alice Geraldine (née Ward) and Valentine Dudley Henry Cary-Elwes , a descendant of John Elwes
John Elwes (politician)
John Elwes [né Meggot or Meggott] , MP, Esq. was a Member of Parliament in Great Britain for Berkshire and a noted eccentric and miser, believed to be the inspiration for the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol...
. Of the Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
and Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
county gentry, he attended The Oratory School
The Oratory School
The Oratory School is a Roman Catholic, independent school for boys in Woodcote, Berkshire. It is the last Catholic all-boys boarding school remaining in Great Britain. It has approximately 420 pupils...
(a Roman Catholic school) and moved to Woburn School, Weybridge in 1885, from whence he enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, where he was active as a cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist. At the age of 22 he married Lady Winifride Feilding. He was initially trained as a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, spending some years in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
where he began his first formal singing lessons at the age of 28. However, before he could to commit he had to overcome a social convention of resistance to one of his class making a professional career as a singer, and not until the early 1900s, in his late thirties, did he gave his first professional performances in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His principal teachers were Jacques Bouhy
Jacques Bouhy
Jacques-Joseph-André Bouhy a Belgian baritone, most famous for being the first to sing the Toreador Song in the role of Escamillo in Carmen....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1901–03), and in London Henry Russell and Victor Biegel, who remained his friend and teacher throughout his life. Bouhy asked him to decide between a baritone career in opera or a tenor career in oratorio and concert (and he chose the latter).
His first professional appearance in London was opposite Agnes Nicholls
Agnes Nicholls
Agnes Nicholls was one of the greatest English sopranos of the 20th century, both in the concert hall and on the operatic stage....
, in Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar by Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
at the St James's Hall, with the Handel Society under J. S. Liddle in late April 1903, and immediately afterwards he appeared at the Westmorland Festival. In June 1903 he was auditioned at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
in London by Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
, who left the room and brought Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
in to hear him as well. The violinist Professor Kruse, who was then attempting to revive the Saturday 'Pops' at the St James's Hall jumped out of his chair and promptly engaged him, and it was Kruse who arranged for his first appearance in Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
early in 1904 as an addition to his Beethoven Festival. Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene was an Irish baritone singer who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He made a great contribution to British musical life also by writing and lecturing upon his art, and in the field of competitions and examinations...
, who had encouraged Elwes through this audition, also remained his lifelong friend.
The character of his voice
Elwes had a voice entirely in the English colouring, but with an unusual quality of sincerity and passion, and of considerable power. His diction and intonation were very secure, his delivery somewhat ‘gentlemanly’ but his phrasing long in conception and serving intense melodic inflections. His singing possessed a spiritual fervour deriving from the religious disposition of his parents, who had taken the unusual step of converting to Roman Catholicism when he was five years old.Victor Biegel, a "little round, bald Viennese", was for some time accompanist to the celebrated German lieder singer Raimund von zur-Mühlen
Raimund von zur-Mühlen
Baron Raimund von zur-Mühlen was a celebrated tenor Lieder singer who also became a famous teacher of singing, instructing many famous artists...
and had a special understanding of the songs of Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, which he imparted to Elwes. There was a great rapport, and his teaching, especially during his six-month residence at Billing Hall
Billing, Northamptonshire
Billing is a civil parish in eastern Northampton in England, covering the Great Billing, Little Billing, Ecton Brook and Bellinge areas. It is geographically the largest area of Northampton. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 8,642, but is now over 10,000...
(an Elwes estate) in 1903, completely freed and relaxed Elwes' voice, opening the way for the sustained power and brilliance of his upper register, and the vocal stamina which enabled him to maintain great oratorio roles (for which he was much in demand) with absolute conviction through a singing career of nearly two decades.
Elwes and Lincolnshire music
During the early 1900s Elwes and his wife played an important part in encouraging and organizing the provincial Music Competition Festivals in Lincolnshire (Elwes often conducting or singing), centred upon their family home, the Manor at BriggBrigg
Brigg is a small market town in North Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 5,076 in 2,213 households . The town lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east-west transport routes across northern Lincolnshire...
.
In 1905, at the suggestion of his friend Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
, an open competition class for folk-singers was included. As a result, many wonderful songs were collected, notably from Joseph Taylor
Joseph Taylor
Joseph Taylor may refer to:* Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. , American astrophysicist* Joseph C. Taylor, American baseball player* Joseph D. Taylor , U.S...
(who made some commercial records for the Gramophone Company
Gramophone Company
The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label...
). Taylor was the source of the melody used by Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
for his Brigg Fair
Brigg Fair
"Brigg Fair" is an English folk song. It is best known in a choral arrangement by Percy Grainger and a subsequent set of orchestral variations by Frederick Delius....
.
Gerontius and the St Matthew Passion
Elwes became the greatest living exponent (alongside John CoatesJohn Coates (tenor)
John Coates was a leading English tenor, who sang in opera and oratorio and on the concert platform. His repertoire ranged from Bach and Purcell to contemporary works, and embraced the major heldentenor roles in Richard Wagner's operas...
) of Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
, which he first performed on 9 April 1904, with Muriel Foster
Muriel Foster
Muriel Foster was an English contralto, excelling in oratorio. Grove's Dictionary describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time"....
and David Ffrangcon Davies
David Ffrangcon Davies
David Ffrangcon-Davies, M.A. was a Welsh operatic baritone.-Early life and education:David Thomas Davies was born in Bethesda, Gwynedd. He later adapted the name Ffrangcon, an early variant spelling of the nearby valley Nant Ffrancon, as part of his new surname...
at the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
under the baton of Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
. He was inspired by the music on hearing the concert performance in May 1903 just preceding the ceremonial opening of Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
. The religious authenticity of his interpretation was immediately recognized. He performed the work 118 times in all. He was also completely identified with the role of the Evangelist
Evangelist (Bach)
The Evangelist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the tenor part in his oratorios and Passions who narrates the exact words of the Bible, translated by Martin Luther, in recitative, namely in the works St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio, also in the St Mark...
in Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's St Matthew Passion. His appearances at the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
s, and at those of Peterborough
Peterborough Festival
The Peterborough Festival is held annually in the UK city of Peterborough. The festival takes place over a two-week period, usually the last week of June and the first week of July....
and Norwich
Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Norfolk & Norwich Festival is an arts organisation based in Norwich, England which is primarily responsible for the eponymous international arts festival held in annually every May, with events also held throughout the wider county of Norfolk....
, became annual fixtures. In 1908 at the Norwich Festival he was partnered (according to Henry J. Wood) in Gerontius by the Dutch contralto Julia Culp
Julia Culp
Julia Bertha Culp , the "Dutch nightingale", was an internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano in the years 1901–1919....
, and in the same festival performed Bach's Magnificat
Magnificat (Bach)
The Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, is a major vocal work of Johann Sebastian Bach. It was composed for orchestra, a five-part choir and four or five soloists. The text is the canticle of Mary, mother of Jesus, as told by Luke the Evangelist .Bach composed an initial version in E flat major in 1723...
with Louise Kirkby Lunn
Louise Kirkby Lunn
Louise Kirkby Lunn was an English contralto. Sometimes classified as a mezzo-soprano, she was a leading English-born singer of the first two decades of the 20th century, earning praise for her performances in concert, oratorio and opera.-Training:Kirkby Lunn had her early vocal training in her...
and Herbert Witherspoon
Herbert Witherspoon
Herbert Witherspoon was an American bass singer and opera manager.-Biography:A native of Buffalo, New York, Herbert Witherspoon graduated from Yale University in 1895 where he had performed as a member of the Glee Club. After leaving school he studied music with Horatio Parker, Edward MacDowell,...
. In 1909 Elwes sang Gerontius and the St Matthew Passion Evangelist in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
under Walter Damrosch.
Agnes Nicholls
Agnes Nicholls was one of the greatest English sopranos of the 20th century, both in the concert hall and on the operatic stage....
, Edna Thornton, Herbert Brown, Herbert Heyner and Robert Radford
Robert Radford
Robert Radford was a British bass singer who made his career entirely in the United Kingdom, participating in concerts and becoming one of the foremost performers of oratorios and other sacred music...
.
In May 1916 he gave six performances of Gerontius on consecutive days, with Clara Butt
Clara Butt
Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...
as the Angel, Charles Mott (Angel of the Agony) and Herbert Brown (Priest), the Leeds Choral Union and London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, conducted by Elgar himself, in aid of the Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
. His last performance of the work was in Northampton in October 1920, with Robert Radford and Norah Dawnay, shortly before leaving for his American tour.
Elwes and Lieder
He was the foremost English-born performer of the BrahmsJohannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
lieder in the first decades of the 20th century. In January 1907 he made a tour in Germany which included Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Frankfort and Cologne, giving recitals with Fanny Davies
Fanny Davies
Fanny Davies was an English pianist who was particularly admired in Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and the early schools, but was also a very early London performer of the works of Debussy and Scriabin...
(a celebrated pupil of Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
's). He sang mixed programmes, but his performance of German lieder, and especially of Brahms (in German) was greatly admired. (He was then singing 'Komm bald,' 'Am Sonntag Morgen,' 'Salamander,' 'Ein Wanderer,' 'Wir wandelten', 'Auf dem Kirchhof', 'Magyarisch,' 'Die Kränze,' Ständchen' and 'Botschaft.') He sang the Brahms Liebeslieder in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
in 1908 with Marie Brema
Marie Brema
Marie Brema was an English dramatic mezzo-soprano singer in concert, operatic and oratorio work in the last decade of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th centuries...
, and in London gave a recital with Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...
. In January 1913 at the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
, under Henry J. Wood, he sang Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Das Lied von der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde is a large-scale work for two vocal soloists and orchestra by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler...
in company with the contralto Doris Woodall: Wood thought it 'excessively modern but very beautiful'. Brahms remained central to Elwes's repertoire to the end, and he also performed lieder of Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
, Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
and George Henschel
George Henschel
Sir George Henschel , was a British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer of German birth....
. Early in his career he found an ideal accompanist in Frederick B. Kiddle
Frederick B. Kiddle
Frederick B. Kiddle was a prominent English pianist, organist and accompanist.Kiddle was born at Frome, Somerset, and studied at the Royal College of Music under Sir Walter Parratt, Rockstro and Higgs...
, and they remained associated until his death.
In January 1912 in a recital for Henry Wood at Queen's Hall he introduced the settings of poems of Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
by Poldowski
Poldowski
Poldowski was the professional pseudonym of a Belgian-born British composer and pianist born Régine Wieniawski , the daughter of the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. Some of her early works were published under the name Irène Wieniawska. She married Sir Aubrey Dean Paul, 5th...
(Lady Dean Paul, born Régine Wieniawski, the daughter of Henryk Wieniawski
Henryk Wieniawski
Henryk Wieniawski was a Polish violinist and composer.-Biography:Henryk Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. His father, Tobiasz Pietruszka, had converted to Catholicism. His talent for playing the violin was recognized early, and in 1843 he entered the Paris...
). These songs then had a great vogue in Paris and this performance made a deep impression. During the First World War he participated in the concert tours for British soldiers in France organized by Lena Ashwell
Lena Ashwell
Lena Ashwell, OBE was a British actress and manager, known as the first to organize large-scale entertainment for troops at the front, which she did during World War I....
.
Elwes and English art-song
But it was as singer of English art-song, and the friend of many leading English composers, that Elwes left his most permanent legacy. He was the dedicatee and first performer of (and the first person to record) Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
cycle On Wenlock Edge and many of the finest songs of Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter was an English composer, known particularly for his songs.-Biography:Born in Hove, Sussex, Quilter was a younger son of Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet, who was a noted art collector...
(including the cycle To Julia), both of whom wrote with his voice in mind. In 1912 he gave the first performance of Thomas Dunhill
Thomas Dunhill
Thomas Frederick Dunhill was an English composer and writer on musical subjects. He is best-known for his song-cycle The Wind among the Reeds.-Life and career:Thomas Dunhill was born in Hampstead, London...
's song-cycle The Wind Among the Reeds for the Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
. He had the wholehearted admiration of every generation from Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
to Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
, and their successors still acknowledge the authority of his influence. He was also a wonderful inspiration to leading British singers of his time, as their many private and published memorials testify.
Family
He was the brother of Dudley Cary Elwes, Roman Catholic Bishop of NorthamptonBishop of Northampton
The Bishop of Northampton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton in the Province of Westminster, England.The see is in the town of Northampton where the bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Saint Thomas of Canterbury.The current bishop is the Right...
. Elwes was married in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
on 11 May 1889 to Lady Winefride Mary Elizabeth Feilding (died 24 February 1959), National President of the Catholic Women's League
Catholic Women's League
The Catholic Women's League is a Roman Catholic lay organisation aimed at women in England and Wales. Through emigration in the past, the CWL may be found in some Commonwealth countries. It is especially flourishing in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. -References:* Olivier Rota,...
, daughter of Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh
Rudolph Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh
Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh, 7th Earl of Desmond was a British peer, succeeding to his titles on the death in 1865 of his father, the 7th Earl of Denbigh...
and Mary Berkeley. They lived at The Manor House, Brigg
Brigg
Brigg is a small market town in North Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 5,076 in 2,213 households . The town lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east-west transport routes across northern Lincolnshire...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, and at Billing Hall
Billing Hall
Billing Hall is a manor house in Billing, Northamptonshire, England. Records of the manor, the predecessor to Great Billing Hall, date back to the 12th century. It was originally owned by the Barry family and Baron Dundalk built it in 1629. It became the county seat of the Earls of Thomond,...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, and had six sons together:
- Robert Geoffrey Gervase John Elwes (1890–1956), World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran - Rudolph Philip Cary Elwes (1892–1962), actor
- Francis Guy Robert Elwes (1896-1966), architect and interior designer
- MonsignorMonsignorMonsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
Aubrey Valentine Denis Elwes (1899-1966 Brigg, Lincolnshire), Roman Catholic cleric - Sir Richard Everard A. Elwes (1901–1968), High Court Judge and Recorder of NorthamptonNorthamptonNorthampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
- Simon Edmund Vincent Paul ElwesSimon ElwesLt. Col. Simon Edmund Vincent Paul Elwes, better known as Simon Elwes, RP, RA, KM was a British war artist and society portrait painter whose patrons included kings, queens, statesmen, sportsmen, prominent social figures and many members of Britain's Royal Family...
(1902–1975), a portrait artist and Royal Academician
Death
On 12 January 1921, Elwes was killed in a horrific accident at Back BayBack Bay (MBTA station)
Back Bay station, located at 145 Dartmouth Street, between Stuart Street and Columbus Avenue, is a train station in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston...
railway station in Boston, Massachusetts in the midst of a high-profile recital tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the height of his powers. Elwes and his wife had alighted on the platform when the singer attempted to return to the conductor an overcoat that had fallen off the train. He leaned over too far and was hit by the train, falling between the moving carriages and the platform. He died of his injuries a few hours later. He was 54 years old. A week after the event, Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
wrote to Percy Hull
Percy Hull
Sir Percy Clarke Hull was an English organist and composer who revived the Three Choirs Festival during his time as organist of Hereford Cathedral from 1918 to 1949...
, 'my personal loss is greater than I can bear to think upon, but this is nothing - or I must call it so - compared to the general artistic loss - a gap impossible to fill - in the musical world.'
Memorials
Among many memorial concerts nationwide, a memorial performance of The Dream of GerontiusThe Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
was given at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, at which John Coates
John Coates (tenor)
John Coates was a leading English tenor, who sang in opera and oratorio and on the concert platform. His repertoire ranged from Bach and Purcell to contemporary works, and embraced the major heldentenor roles in Richard Wagner's operas...
and Frederick Ranalow sang with the Royal Choral Society. The Musicians' Benevolent Fund
Musicians' Benevolent Fund
The Musicians' Benevolent Fund is a United Kingdom charity offering help and support to working and retired musicians, other professionals in the music industry, and their dependants....
was first established as the Gervase Elwes Memorial Fund for Musicians, and his figure became a presiding genius of twentieth-century English music
English music
English music may refer to:*English folk music*Music of the United Kingdom...
. His particular association with the lyrics of A. E. Housman
A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman , usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900...
and the music of Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
, and his death soon after the First World War, reinforce his embodiment of the lost Edwardian generation, perhaps the last in which his religious conviction could so thoroughly have endeared him to so many. At much the same time the Glasgow Orpheus Choir instituted a Gervase Elwes Silver Medal, and the Feis Ceoil in Dublin inaugurated its Gervase Elwes Memorial Cup. A choir named after him was established at Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
. A portrait plaque by Arthur Vokes was set up in the centre of the village of Billing.
A portrait bust of him by Malvina Hoffman
Malvina Hoffman
Malvina Hoffman , was an American sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people...
was sent by Mrs Vincent Astor
Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor was a businessman and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Astor family.-Early life:...
and was set in a specially prepared niche on the grand tier of the old Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
(the original venue of the Promenade Concerts
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
) as a memorial by his American friends, being unveiled in 1922. Around the arch of the niche was a motto, 'With his whole heart he sang songs and loved Him that made him.' On that occasion two Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
chorales were conducted by Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
.
Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
(a successor of the original conductor of Gerontius, Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
, as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
, who had played as an orchestral cellist in Gerontius under Elgar's baton with Elwes performing the Soul) remembered Elwes as 'that great and noble artist'. In addition to being a great singer, Elwes was a capital game shot, and devoted much of his spare time to shooting on his estates.
Recordings: Discography
Elwes recorded first in 1911-1913 for the Gramophone CompanyGramophone Company
The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label...
, and later for the Columbia Graphophone Company
Columbia Graphophone Company
The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...
. This listing is thought to be complete for known recordings of this artist.
HMV
- 4-2156 Phyllis hath such charming graces (Lane Wilson arr.) recorded 29 July 1911 (matrix y13904e).
- 4-2161 Absent yet present (Maude Valerie WhiteMaude Valerie WhiteMaude Valérie White was a French-born English composer who became one of the most successful songwriters of the Victorian period.-Early years:...
) recorded 29 July 1911 (matrix y13902e). - 4-2189 Morning Hymn (Henschel) recorded 17 November 1911 (matrix ab4297e).
- 4-2195 To Daisies, and Song of the Blackbird (Quilter) recorded 17 November 1911 (matrix ab4296e).
- 4-2232 Sigh no more, ladies (Aiken) recorded 3 September 1912 (matrix y15619e).
- 7-42004 Ich liebe dich (Grieg) recorded 17 November 1911 (matrix ab4298e).
- 02379 So we'll go no more a-roving (M.V. White) recorded 17 October 1911 (matrix ac5577f). Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 02379X So we'll go no more a-roving (M.V. White) recorded 27 December 1912 (matrix z6936f).
Columbia
- 65826 Battle Hymn (arr Stanford)/F.B. Kiddle
- 65827 Sonnet XVIII (W.A. Aiken)/F.B. Kiddle
- 6847 Blow, blow thou winter wind (Quilter) 1916. Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 6848 Fill a glass with golden wine (Quilter)
- 6849 In Summertime on Breedon (Peel)
- 6850 Now sleeps the crimson petal, and Love's Philosophy (Quilter) 1916. Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 6851 The Roadside Fire (Vaughan Williams) 1920. Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 6852 Cuckoo Song (Quilter)
- 71017 Listen to the voice of love
- 71018 Brittany
- 71051 Gifts (Taylor)/F.B. Kiddle
- 71052 By Wenlock Town (Janet Hamilton)/F.B. Kiddle
- 74150 The Lake Isle of Innisfree (Ley)/F.B. Kiddle
- 74151 A Sea Dirge (Dunhill)/F.B. Kiddle
- 75329 O Mistress Mine! and Fair House of Joy (Quilter) Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 75330 Songs my mother taught me (Dvorak)
- 75357 A carol of bells (C.V. Stanford)/F.B. Kiddle
- 75360 Where'er you walk (Handel)/F.B. Kiddle Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 75419 On Wenlock Edge (Vaughan Williams)/London String Quartet Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- 75420 From far, from eve and Oh when I was in love with you (Vaughan Williams) /London String Quartet
- 75421 Is my team ploughing? (Vaughan Williams)/London String Quartet
- 75422 Bredon Hill (Vaughan Williams)/London String Quartet
- 75423 Clun (Vaughan Williams)/London String Quartet
- 76089 So sweet love seemed (Piggot) and Jenny kissed me (Brougham)/F.B. Kiddle
- 76091 A Pastoral (Colin Taylor)/F.B. Kiddle
- 76092 Love went a-riding (Bridge)/F.B. Kiddle
- 76093 Lift up your heads on high (Bach)/F.B. Kiddle Sample at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
A CD, published in 2011, features thirty tracks of Elwes' discography. The CD marks the 90th birthday year of the Musicians Benevolent Fund and is available in return for a donation to the charity at the Musicians Benevolent Fund website.
Further reading
- J. Barbirolli, The Dream of Gerontius – A Personal Note (EMI 1965).
- J. R. Bennett, Voices of the Past, 1: The HMV English Catalogue (Oakwood Press 1955).
- R. D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (The Gramophone Shop, New York 1936).
- A. Eaglefield-Hull (Ed), A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
- R. Elkin, Queen's Hall 1893-1941 (Rider, London 1944).
- R. Elkin, Royal Philharmonic (Rider, London 1946).
- Lady W. Elwes and R. Elwes, Gervase Elwes, The Story of his Life (Grayson & Grayson, London 1935).
- T. E. Goodbody, 'Gramophone Celebrities - VIII: Gervase Elwes', The Gramophone March 1925 p. 23 ff.
- V. Langfield, Roger Quilter, His Life and Music (Boydell, Woodbridge 2002).
- M. Scott, The Record of SingingThe Record of SingingThe Record of Singing is a compilation of classical-music singing from the first half of the 20th century, the era of the 78-rpm record.It was issued on LP by EMI, successor to the British company His Master's Voice — perhaps the leading organization in the early history of audio recording.The...
, II:1914 to 1925, pp. 172-3. (Duckworth, London 1979). - D. Taylor, Gervase Cary Elwes, in Music Lovers' Encyclopedia (5th edn), 1950.
- H. Wood, My Life of Music (Gollancz, London 1938).
- (MS Source): "Elwes (Great Billing)": Northamptonshire Family and Estate collections records 1610-1921. (1749 docs. & 9 boxes, ref. E(GB) & CE(B)).