The Starlight Express

Production

On 9 November 1915 Sir Edward Elgar was invited by Robin Legge, music critic of The Daily Telegraph, to write the music for a children's fantasy play to be produced at the Kingsway Theatre that Christmas. The play was The Starlight Express, an adaptation of a novel by Algernon Blackwood called A Prisoner in Fairyland, by Blackwood and Violet Pearn. The baritone and composer Clive Carey had already started his own setting, but abandoned it when Elgar was commissioned.

The producer was to be Basil Dean: but since he had been called up for army service in France, he was replaced by the actress Lena Ashwell. Elgar was soon shown the script by Ashwell and had successful meetings with her and with Blackwood. The story appealed to Elgar because of its similarities to the private fantasy world of his own childhood which he had depicted in the music he wrote for "The Wand of Youth"; his first thought was to re-use that music, and he wove many reminiscences of it into the score. He worked on it enthusiastically, and in just over a month had produced over 300 pages of score – songs and incidental music – in time for the rehearsals. On 6 December the two chosen singers, the Australian-born soprano Clytie Hine and baritone Charles Mott, rehearsed with Elgar.

The Starlight Express was produced by Lena Ashwell at the Kingsway Theatre in London, as one of her high-quality wartime entertainments. The production was announced in The Times, mentioning that the small orchestra pit of the theatre would be enlarged to accommodate a full orchestra. It opened on 29 December 1915. The premiere was to have been the conducted by the composer, but because Lady Elgar had suffered concussion a few days before as the result of a traffic accident, he stayed at home with her, and the conductor was the young Julius Harrison. It ran for only one month, closing on 29 January 1916.

The reasons for the failure were inappropriate design of the characters and scenery by Henry Wilson (who had been chosen and his work approved by Lena Ashwell), and the difficulty Pearn had in making something theatrical with her adaptation of the book. Both Blackwood and Elgar had expressed misgivings about the design, and Blackwood had considered using his right to object and get a new artist. Blackwood objected to "this murder of my simple little Play ... Arts & Crafts pretentious rubbish stitched onto your music by a silly crank who has never read the play". Elgar agreed. This would have meant postponement of the opening. The critics who reported their view of the opening night, while praising the music and particular performers, remarked on the lack of substance to the story. The music did not deserve to be forgotten. Elgar negotiated with The Gramophone Company, and on 18 February 1916, the music was recorded on eight sides, with the songs performed by Agnes Nicholls and Charles Mott. Later that year the three Organ Grinder's Songs were published by Elkin, with a piano accompaniment arranged by Julius Harrison.

Cast of characters

Cast list:

Daddy ("John Henry Campden", an author)

Mother (his wife "Henrietta")

Jane Anne ("Jinny", their eldest daughter, aged 17)

Monkey (their youngest daughter, aged 12)

Jimbo (their son, aged 10)

Grannie (Irish mother of Henrietta)

Cousin Henry ("Henry Rogers", cousin of Daddy)

Madame Jequier (a Widow, owner of the Pension Wistaria)

Organ-Grinder (may also be the Tramp)

Children ('Street Arabs') who accompany the Organ-Grinder before the curtain

Miss Waghorn and three other retired Governesses

The Pleiades (dancers)

Sprites: Tramp, Lamplighter, Gardener, Dustman, Sweep, Woman-of-the-Haystack, Little Winds and Laugher

Songs

Act I

1. Organ Grinder (Baritone): "To the Children" – "O children, open your arms to me,"

Act II

2. Organ Grinder: "The Blue-Eyes Fairy" – "There's a fairy that hides"

Act II Scene 1

3. Organ Grinder: "Curfew Song" (Orion) – "The sun has gone"

4. Laugher (Soprano): "The Laugher's Song" – "I'm ev'rywhere"

5. Organ Grinder: "Come Little Winds" – "Wake up you little night winds"

Act II Scene 3

6. Laugher: "Tears and Laughter" – "Oh! stars shine brightly!"

7. Jane Anne (Soprano): "Sunrise Song" (or "Dawn Song") – "We shall meet the morning spiders"

Act III

8. Organ Grinder: "My Old Tunes" – "My old tunes are rather broken"

Act III Scene 1

9. Jane Anne: – "Dandelions, daffodils"

Act III Scene 2

10. Laugher: – "Laugh a little ev'ry day"

11. Organ Grinder: "The Dawn" – "They're all soft-shiny now"

12. Jane Anne: – "Oh, think Beauty"

Act III Finale

13. Jane Anne & Cousin Henry, duet: "Hearts must be soft-shiny dressed" – "Dustman, Laugher, Tramp and busy Sweep"

Musical quotations

From Elgar's The Wand of Youth Suites

The Little Bells (Scherzino) – in all Acts

Fairy Pipers – in all Acts

Sun Dance – interlude at the end of Act II

Moths and Butterflies – introduction to Act II Scene 3

March – in Act III

From Elgar's The Music Makers

a sequence in Jane Anne's song at the end of Act II Scene 2

From the Christmas Carol The First Nowell

at the end of Act III

Publications

Piano Suite, arranged by Albert Ketèlbey, pub. Elkin & Co. Ltd. London & New York, 1916

To the Children (Organ-Grinder's Song)

Dance of the Pleiades

Sunrise Song

In the Forest

"The Blue-Eyes Fairy" (Organ-Grinder's Song)

Finale

Organ Grinder's Songs, piano accompaniment arranged by Julius Harrison, pub. Elkin & Co. Ltd. London & New York, 1916

1. "To the Children"

2. "The Blue-Eyes Fairy"

3. "My Old Tunes"

Act I

After short musical overture, the Organ grinder appears in front of the curtain and sings "To the Children". The Song (first at the words "eyes; Let me sleep a moment") includes self-quotations of "The Little Bells" music from "The Wand of Youth".

Song

1. The Organ Grinder: "To the Children"

The music continues though the curtain rise on the first scene

Scene 1

The curtain rises on a family living in a pension in the mountains of Switzerland, showing grown-ups with problems which are first expressed unaccompanied by music: there is Daddy (an unsuccessful author), Mother (with domestic problems), the pension manageress Widow Jequier with residents that do not pay, old Miss Waghorn always searching for her long-lost brother, and Cousin Henry. The children identify with star constellations: Jane Anne the Pleiades, Jimbo the Pole Star, and Monkey with the Great and Little Bear. Cousin Henry is Orion. The children are concerned that the adults who have become 'wumbled' (worried/muddled) need 'sympathy' in the form of star-dust. There is incidental music but no songs in this Act, which has only one Scene.

Act II

Before the curtain opens, there is a short musical prelude, and the Organ Grinder sings the waltz-song "The Blue-Eyes Fairy".

Song

2. The Organ Grinder: "The Blue-Eyes Fairy"

The scene is concluded by an Entr’acte "In the Forest".

Scene 1

Scene 1 – Part 1

The curtain rises during the Entr’acte music. Cousin Henry, Monkey and Jimbo are outside the Star-Cave at the edge of a pine-forest. The cave is too narrow for them to enter. They fall asleep. The Sprites appear and Night falls. The Organ-Grinder sings the Curfew Song. The Sprites hide.

Song

3. The Organ Grinder: "The Curfew Song"

There is the Dance of the Pleiades as the curtain falls.

Scene 1 – Part 2

The curtain rises. It is now night-time and the children are awake. The introduction includes a violin and harp duet, and the "Little Bells" music from "The Wand of Youth". The Sprites descend from the Starlight Express: they are the Organ Grinder, the Sweep who sweeps worries away, the Dustman with the stardust of sympathy, the Lamplighter who lights up hope (and the stars), the Head Gardener who makes things grow, the Tramp with instinctive simplicity, and the 'Laugher' who sings troubles into joy. The Woman-of-the-Haystack is the mother of them all, borne on the winds.

Song

4. The Laugher: "I'm everywhere"

Song

5. The Organ Grinder: "Come Little Winds"

Interlude

The "Sun Dance" and "Moths and Butterflies" music from the "Wand of Youth"

Scene 2

Prelude

The prelude includes a quotation from the "Fairy Pipers" of "The Wand of Youth". The Sprites enter the cave and scatter stardust on the sleeping villagers. The Dustman scatters the finest dust on the ancient Miss Waghorn, who rests from the search for her brother. The Lamplighter exits to tend "the fires that are going out round the world."

Scene 3

The Introduction while the curtain rises includes "Moths and Butterflies" from "The Wand of Youth".

Song

6. The Laugher: "Tears and Laughter"

Song

7. Soprano (Jane Anne's song): "Dawn Song"

The curtain falls at the end of the scene.

Act III

After a short prelude which includes part of the "March" from "The Wand of Youth", The Organ Grinder sings "My Old Tunes".

Song

8. The Organ Grinder: "My Old Tunes"

Scene 1

The curtain rises on Jane Anne.

Song

9. Jane Anne: "Dandelions, daffodils"

The curtain closes for the Entr’acte which is the "Blue-Eyes Fairy" Waltz, and this is followed by the "Dance of the Pleiades".

Scene 2

The final scene is the Pine forest by night, before the Star Cave.

Madame Jequier rejoices because Cousin Henry has secretly paid all the debts of her pension. Daddy enters, speaking through the "Starlight" music:

Song

10. The Laugher: "Laugh a little ev'ry day"

Song

11. Organ Grinder: "The Dawn"

Incidental music, including the "Dance of the Pleides" and "Fairy Pipers" from "The Wand of Youth".

Song

12. Jane Anne: "Oh, think Beauty"

Finale

The stone is rolled away from the Star-cave. The scene is brightened by the entrance of the Sprites, and the humans enter. The ghost of Miss Waghorn enters 'clothed in light'.

Song

13. Jane Anne and Cousin Henry (Organ Grinder):

Jane Anne (Laugher):

Duet

Jane Anne and Cousin Henry (Organ Grinder):

The Star of Bethlehem rises while the melody of the Christmas carol "The First Nowell" merges into the music.

Contemporary Review

Review from the weekly magazine "Punch", 5 January 1916. The reviewer, the drama critic Joseph Thorp, used to sign himself "T".

Curiously, Clytie Hine, 'The Laugher', gets no mention. The Musical Times thought well of her.

The Starlight Express

Daddy .............. O. B. Clarence

Mother ............. Ruth Maitland

Grannie ............ Una O'Connor

Jimbo ............... Ronald Hammond

Monkey ............ Elsie Hall

Jane Anne ........ Mercia Cameron

Cousin Henry .... Owen Roughwood

Mme Jequier ..... Juliette Mylo

Miss Waghorn ... Mary Barton

Tramp ............... Charles Mott

Legacy

The Starlight Express was not the only collaboration of Blackwood and Pearn. Note

Karma: A Re-Incarnation Play in Prologue, Epilogue & Three Acts. London: Macmillan, 1918 and New York: E.P. Dutton, 1918. "A love story re-enacted through four existences." Through The Crack (an adaptation of The Education of Uncle Paul by Blackwood). London and New York: Samuel French. Produced at Christmas 1920, then in 1925.

On 22 May 1918, Lance Corporal Charles James Mott, the successful singer in that first production of The Starlight Express was in the London Regiment (Artists' Rifles) when he was mortally wounded by a German shell-burst. He was 37. Elgar, writing to a friend, said "It is difficult to believe that Charles Mott is dead; dead of wounds in France. I am overwhelmed: a simple, honest GOOD soul."

In 1933 the conductor Joseph Lewis constructed from the score a 40-minute selection from The Starlight Express which he conducted in several BBC radio broadcasts. But his score and other valuable BBC material was destroyed in an air-raid in 1940.

In September 1940 the Kingsway Theatre was damaged by fire in an air raid. All The Starlight Express stage props and music (conductor's score and orchestra parts) was destroyed. However, Elgar had left his manuscript full score of the music with the publishers, Messrs Elkin & Co., and apart from memories and reviews, this became the only surviving remnant. Fortunately this score also contained many of his own written notes on the performance. The score is signed "Edward Elgar, Finis, A.E. December 1915" – A. E. was his wife's initials, and Elgar, typically doubled the pun with the inscription "AE 15" (abbreviated Latin "AETATIS 15", English "Age 15"): he was a child again!

In 1984 Richard Adams provided a 'performing narrative' to accompany a performance of Elgar's score in the Netherlands. The narrator for the occasion was composer Michael Berkeley.

Recordings

On 18–19 February 1916, a selection of the songs and music were given an acoustic recording at the HMV Studios, Hayes, by The Gramophone Company. The singers were Charles Mott and Agnes Nicholls, and Elgar conducted the "Symphony Orchestra". There were four 12-inch records (D455-8): (1) To the Children and The Blue-Eyes Fairy (Mott); (2) My Old Tunes and Curfew Song (Mott); (3) Come Little Winds (Mott), Wind Dance (orchestra), Tears and Laughter and Sunrise Song (Nicholls); (4) The Laugher's Song (Nicholls) and Finale – Hearts must be soft-shiny dressed (Nicholls and Mott).

In December 1935, four of the songs were recorded at the HMV Studios, Hayes, by The Gramophone Company. The singers were Stuart Robertson and his wife Alice Moxon. It is not known who conducted the orchestra. The songs were To the Children, The Laugher's Song, The Blue-Eyes Fairy and My Old Tunes.

On 26 September 1946, two of the Organ Grinder's songs (My old tunes and To the Children) were recorded at Decca Studios in London. The singer was Henry Cummings, with an orchestra conducted by Charles Groves (in his first recording session).

In 1964 EMI/HMV released The Miniature Elgar inspired by the BBC-TV Monitor film. It included the songs My old Tunes and To the Children, performed by Frederick Harvey with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lawrance Collingwood.

In 1973, Chandos Records recorded some of the songs, performed by John Lawrenson and Cynthia Glover, with Michael Austin (organ) and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta conducted by George Hurst. The songs were To the Children, The Blue-Eyes Fairy, The Laugher's Song, Tears and Laughter, The Dawn Song, My Old Tunes, Jane Anne's song and Finale.

In 1974–1975, a complete recording was made by EMI/HMV on 28/29 November 1974, 20/22 December 1974 and 22 October 1975. This was at Abbey Road Studios, London. The singers were Derek Hammond-Stroud and Valerie Masterson, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley.

In December 1990 some of the songs were recorded by Decca Records at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. The singers were Bryn Terfel and Alison Hagley, with the Welsh National Opera Chorus and Welsh National Opera Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. The songs were To the Children, The Blue-Eyes Fairy, The Laugher's Song, Come Little Winds, Tears and Laughter, The Dawn Song, My Old Tunes, Jane Anne's song and Finale.

A 1992 Koss Classics release of lesser-known works by Elgar, performed by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Raymond Leppard, included the orchestral Overture and Finale.

In 1997, the 1990 Decca recording of 'The Starlight Express' was remastered.

The Starlight Express London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vernon Handley, with Valerie Masterson (soprano) and Derek Hammond-Stroud (baritone)

The Starlight Express Suite Cynthia Glover (Soprano), John Lawrenson (Baritone), Bournemouth Sinfonietta conducted by George Hurst. Tracks: To the Children, The Blue-Eyes Fairy, The Laugher's Song, O stars shine brightly, The Dawn Song, My Old Tunes, Jane Anne's song and Finale. Chandos CHAN6582