''The Crown of India'', was a masque, an elaborate theatrical presentation, staged in 1912 to celebrate the visit the preceding December of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

and Queen Mary to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

for their coronation as

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

and Empress of India. For this masque, the English composer Sir Edward Elgar wrote the music as his Op. 66, with a libretto by Henry Hamilton. The masque consisted of two

tableaux The International Conference on Automated Reasoning with Analytic Tableaux and Related Methods (TABLEAUX) is an annual international academic conference that deals with all aspects of automated reasoning with analytic tableaux. Periodically, it joi ...

: "The Cities of Ind" and "Ave Imperator!".

Music

The masque was first performed at the

Coliseum Theatre The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre o ...

in London on 11 March 1912. Elgar composed twelve pieces for

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and orchestra: Tableau I: The Cities of Ind *1a Introduction *1b Sacred Measure *2 – Dance of

Nautch Girls The nautch (; meaning "dance" or "dancing")Scott A. Kugle, 2016When Sun Meets Moon: Gender, Eros, and Ecstasy in Urdu Poetry p.230. was a popular court dance performed by girls (known as "nautch girls") in India. The culture of the performing ...

*2a India greets her Cities *3 – Song (Agra): 'Hail, Immemorial

Ind Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

!' (The

homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

of Ind) *3a Entrance of Calcutta. India: 'Welcome Calcutta!' *3b Entrance of Delhi. Delhi: 'Stop! That place is mine' *4a Introduction *4b March of the Mogul Emperors. India: 'Illustrious Emperors!' *5 – Entrance of

John Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. Calcutta: 'Good John Company, reply' *5a Entrance of St. George. India: 'Calcutta, Delhi, give your quarrel pause' *6 – Song (

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

): 'The Rule of England' *7 – Interlude Tableau II: Ave Imperator! *8a Introduction *8b Warriors' Dance *9 – The Cities of Ind. India: 'Hail Festal Hour from out the Ages drawn' *10 – March: 'The Crown of India'. India: 'Incessu patuit Imperator' *10a The Homage of Ind *11 – The Crowning of Delhi *12 – Ave Imperator!

First performance

The London Coliseum programme for the first week of the performance shows that ''The Crown of India'' masque was the most important of the eleven acts in the show. There were two ''

Tableaux The International Conference on Automated Reasoning with Analytic Tableaux and Related Methods (TABLEAUX) is an annual international academic conference that deals with all aspects of automated reasoning with analytic tableaux. Periodically, it joi ...

'': "The Cities of Ind" and "Ave Imperator!". The programme listed the cast, who personified 'India' herself, England represented by 'St. George', and various Indian cities. There were also attendant performers, in elaborate costumes, personifying other roles. Elgar attended the daily rehearsals for two weeks, then conducted the hour-long show two performances a day for a further two weeks. The cast included: *

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

- Nancy Price *

- Harry Dearth *

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

- Marion Beeley *

May Leslie Stuart May Leslie Stuart (born Mary Catherine Barrett, January 1887 – 20 June 1956) was an English actress and singer in operetta and Edwardian musical comedy from 1909 to 1915. She also sang on the music hall circuit, performing with her father, th ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

- Evelyn Kerry * Benares - Sybil Etherington * Cities, Mogul Emperors, Princes, Guards, Executioners, Courtiers, Fan Bearers, Ladies Attendant Syce, Litter Bearers, Heralds, Trumpeters, etc.

Extracts

Elgar later extracted five of the pieces – 1(a), 2, 5, 8 and 4 – and added an intermezzo for solo violin to create The Crown of India Suite. The first performance was at the Hereford Festival on 11 September 1912, by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

conducted by the composer. The Suite gained immediate popularity: during Elgar's lifetime, there were 102 live performances of it on the

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. The Crown of India March from the incidental music for the masque is also performed separately.

Complete score

The complete score for the ''Crown of India'' incidental music was only published in a piano-vocal version by Elgar's friend

Hugh Blair Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. As a minister of the Church of Scotland, and occupant of the Ch ...

. The remaining orchestral parts were destroyed in the 1960s. In 2007 the

Elgar Society The Elgar Society was founded in 1951 to promote performance of the music of British composer Edward Elgar, especially the more rarely performed items. Registered as a charity on 22 January 1988, It is particularly concerned with introducing the co ...

commissioned the composer Anthony Payne to complete the orchestration of the music for ''The Crown of India''. Payne is to "complete the scoring of the piano-vocal version and combining this, where appropriate, with the orchestral suite and march."

Recordings

* The CD with the book ''Oh, My Horses! Elgar and the Great War''Foreman, Lewis (ed.),''Oh, My Horses! Elgar and the Great War'', Elgar Editions, Rickmansworth, 2001 has many historical recordings including ''"Hail, Immemorial Ind"'', a 1975 recording with Carol Leatherby (soprano) and the Kensington Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leslie Head * The Anthony Payne orchestration of the complete pageant was recorded by the BBC Philharmonic and Sir Andrew Davis in 2007 (Chandos). A fine recording exists as part of The Great British Collection. Douglas Bostock conducts The Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Notes

References

* * *

External links and sources

*
The Crown of India, Op. 66
on the site of th

*Jeffrey Richards: ''Imperialism and Music'', Manchester University Press, 2001, {{DEFAULTSORT:Crown of India, The Suites by Edward Elgar 1912 compositions Masques Incidental music Orchestral suites