In 1865 the English cardinal Newman wrote a poem about an old man’s deathbed and his soul’s subsequent journey to heaven. It reads like a lesson in catholicism and the teachings of that faith about death, the torment of demons, up to the judgement by God and the eventual purgatory to reach heaven in the end. It might have been a poem that was written by the cardinal out of fear for his own soul.
Elgar created this choral work based on the poem in 1900. The first performance of it was a real disaster. The singers were not prepared, the chorus leader replaced at the last moment. Miraculously critics were not destroying it in the aftermath: somehow it got the praise it deserved, and when it was performed again two years later, this time in Germany, it was praised as Elgar’s greatest work. A true masterpiece.
The poem might have grown from the fertile ground of late 19th century fascination with death. In that sense it’s popularity can be compared with that of the Gothic literary works of the time. Elgar’s adaptation came at the right moment. And in England it never lost any of it’s shine: in 2024 the version of Paul McCreesh was found on many best-seller lists.