It was supposed to be a great choral triptych: the foundation of the Christian church in three musical epics, starting with 1903’s The Apostles and ending with the never-to-be-written The Last Judgement. But Elgar’s inspiration and his Catholic faith both deserted the composer before the sequence could be completed, leaving the story in mid-air with the central panel The Kingdom (1906).
Perhaps that’s why the oratorio has always been treated as the runt of litter – less operatic than everyone’s favourite, The Dream of Gerontius, and less dramatic than The Apostles, which hoovers up both crucifixion and resurrection, leaving The Kingdom with the aftermath. Grassroots Christian evangelism is not obviously the stuff of headlines. Or arias.
