Communion music
During Communion this week, we shall be listening to “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” by Edward Elgar (1857–1934), performed by the East Carolina University Chamber Singers.
This is the opening movement of Elgar’s oratorio “The Apostles”, which was commissioned for the 1903 Birmingham Festival and is the second of his three major oratorios (preceded by “The Dream of Gerontius” and followed by “The Kingdom”). The text, drawn from the Bible, narrates the events from the calling of Jesus’ first disciples through to the Resurrection. In this section we hear the passage from Isaiah chapter 61 which Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18–21) to inaugurate his own ministry.