Table of Contents

Elgar and the British Oratorio at the end of the 19th century; narrative and the oratorio; Elgar, "The Light of Life" and the traditional oratorio; "The Dream of Gerontius" and operratic narrative; "The Apostles" and the narrative construction of an epic; "The Kingdom" and the epic continued; epilogue - the oratorio after "the Kingdom". Appendices: Select festival programmes, 1790-1912; narration in English oratorios and oratorios performed in England ca. 1730-1945.