It’s a long time since the only previous occasion I sang Elijah. As I’ve already remarked, I remembered more of it than I expected to, but there’s still an awful lot of it. (I do wonder whether it might be improved by a cut or two; the practice is acceptable for Messiah and The Creation). Like The Kingdom, it has a rather episodic plot, with incidents such as the raising of the widow’s son being fitted in before we move on to the next event.
We were conducted by Peter Nardone from Worcester, hitherto familiar to me as the composer of some pieces we do in church; in the interval of a rehearsal I was able to catch him and ask him how to pronounce the title of one of them. The title rôle was sung by Sir Willard White, and this was the first time I’d shared a concert platform with him. Also as far as I know the first time I’ve performed to British royalty (I certainly sang for Prince Naruhito of Japan when I was at Merton) as Prince Charles was in the audience. I was glad to be surrounded by singers who were very familiar with the work, which has been quite a Three Choirs staple over the years.
The evening had an unhappy conclusion when the car blew a tyre as we were travelling back on the M5. After nearly 3 hours on the hard shoulder, two of which were spent waiting for assistance, we got in at 3.30 a.m. (My day had started at 6.30 a.m. as there was a rehearsal at 9.) Perhaps the equivalent of the wilderness, but without the angels or ravens.