There is Sweet Music: Part-Songs by Sir Edward Elgar Proteus Ensemble & Stephen Shellard

• Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934): The Fountain, Op. 71, No. 2:
• 1 Elgar: The Fountain, Op. 71, No. 2 03:27
• Serenade, Op. 73, No. 2:
• 2 Elgar: Serenade, Op. 73, No. 2 01:45
• Death on the Hills, Op. 72:
• 3 Elgar: Death on the Hills, Op. 72 03:17
• To her beneath whose stedfast star (from No. 10 "Choral Songs in honour of Her Majesty Queen Victoria"):
• 4 Elgar: To her beneath whose stedfast star (from No. 10 "Choral Songs in honour of Her Majesty Queen Victoria") 04:45
• Angelus (Tuscany), Op. 56:
• 5 Elgar: Angelus (Tuscany), Op. 56 03:10
• Deep in my soul, Op. 53, No. 2:
• 6 Elgar: Deep in my soul, Op. 53, No. 2 03:39
• Good Morrow (a simple carol for His Majesty's happy recovery):
• 7 Elgar: Good Morrow (a simple carol for His Majesty's happy recovery) 03:44
• O wild West Wind!, Op. 53, No. 3:
• 8 Elgar: O wild West Wind!, Op. 53, No. 3 03:08
• My love dwelt in a Northern land, Op. 18, No. 3:
• 9 Elgar: My love dwelt in a Northern land, Op. 18, No. 3 03:54
• As torrents in summer (from "Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf", Op. 30):
• 10 Elgar: As torrents in summer (from "Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf", Op. 30) 02:02
• They are at rest (Elegy):
• 11 Elgar: They are at rest (Elegy) 03:21
• Love, Op. 18, No. 2:
• 12 Elgar: Love, Op. 18, No. 2 02:43
• The Shower, Op. 71, No. 1:
• 13 Elgar: The Shower, Op. 71, No. 1 02:41
• There is sweet music, Op. 53, No. 1:
• 14 Elgar: There is sweet music, Op. 53, No. 1 04:22
• I sing the birth:
• 15 Elgar: I sing the birth 04:30
• Love's Tempest, Op. 73, No. 1:
• 16 Elgar: Love's Tempest, Op. 73, No. 1 02:52
• O happy eyes, Op. 18, No. 1:
• 17 Elgar: O happy eyes, Op. 18, No. 1 02:35
• Total Runtime 55:55

Info for There is Sweet Music: Part-Songs by Sir Edward Elgar

There Is Sweet Music is the idyllic title of the first AVIE release by the eight-voice Proteus Ensemble and their conductor Stephen Shellard, which surveys a selection of relatively rare part-songs by Sir Edward Elgar. Elgar maintained his dedication to composing part-songs throughout his life and imbued each of them with an inimitable character.

Like the composer's celebrated "Enigma Variations", his part-songs bear an array of inspirations and dedicatees, including his wife Caroline Alice who penned the poem of the album's closer, "O Happy Eyes", shortly after she and Elgar were married. This early work became a companion to the song "Love," written eight years later and also dedicated to Caroline Alice. Elgar turned to famous poets and peers - Lord Byron for "Deep in my soul", Percy Bysshe Shelley for "O wild West Wind!", and Alfred Lord Tennyson whose poem "The Lotos-Eaters" provides the album's title track. English translations of Russian poems lend themselves to "Death on the Hills", "Love's Tempest" and "Serenade". Elgar frequently found inspiration in Italy, where he composed "Angelus', a song dedicated to his close friend Alice Stuart Wortley whom he called "Windflower" and whose spirit is enshrined in his Violin Concerto. Stephen Shellard's Elgarian epiphany began in 1990 when he joined Dr. Donald Hunt's choir at Worcester Cathedral as an Alto Lay Clerk. Dr. Hunt's inspired and devoted expertise in performances of works by Worcester's most famous musical son cast a life-long spell on Stephen that manifests itself in these beautiful performances with his Proteus Ensemble.

Proteus Ensemble
Stephen Shellard, conductor

The Proteus ensemble
was founded by Stephen Shellard in 2013 and consists of professional singers drawn from all parts of the UK. Named after the Greek sea–god Proteus, the group takes its musical raison d’etre from the adjective ‘protean’ which means ‘versatile’ or ‘capable of assuming many forms’.

The group’s first CD, on Regent Records, Serenity, Courage, Wisdom, was recorded in Worcester Cathedral and launched at their inaugural concert in Pershore Abbey as part of the 2014 Worcester Three Choirs Festival. It was met with unanimous praise in the musical press with MusicWeb describing it as ‘a disc…for profound literary and musical enjoyment’. The group’s second disc of music by the contemporary composer Paul Fisher is to be released by Regent Records later this year.

Stephen Shellard
comes from Dublin. He began his musical career as a chorister at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, later moving to St. Patrick’s Cathedral where he became Head Chorister and Winstanley Scholar. His musical education continued at Trinity College, during which time he became the youngest ever Alto Lay Vicar Choral in the 800 year history of St. Patrick’s.

In 1990, Stephen moved to join Worcester Cathedral Choir as an Alto Lay Clerk, and latterly became the Senior Lay Clerk. In his 32 years at Worcester, he sang solo on Cathedral Choir recordings and in concerts with the Worcester Festival Choral Society. He also featured as a soloist in the annual Three Choirs Festival, including Britten’s Abraham and Isaac and Handel’s Messiah with Sir David Willcocks. Outside Cathedral duties, he sang with Musica Contexta, singing solo on their Palestrina recordings with Chandos Records and in their debut at the Wigmore Hall, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

In 1998, he founded the Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir. The foundation of the choir was historic in that, for the first time in its 900 year history, female voices became a part a Cathedral Choir in Worcester.

In 2023, while continuing his association with the Chamber Choir, Stephen left the Cathedral Choir to embark upon a Masters degree in choral conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, from which he has recently graduated with distinction. As well as founding the Proteus Ensemble in 2013, he was also appointed chorus master to the newly established Elgar Festival Chorus in 2019.

Booklet for There is Sweet Music: Part-Songs by Sir Edward Elgar