The work calls for only three soloists, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass, besides chorus and unusually large orchestra, the latter being augmented by double bassoon, organ, gong and glockenspiel. The string section is often divided into many parts, sometimes fifteen and even twenty. Elgar employs many leading motives, characteristic of the verbal ideas with which they are associated, the orchestral prelude alone giving out ten important ones that foreshadow the scheme of the work. In the work itself, as in all of Elgar’s later choral works, all traces of the classical oratorio disappear and solo, choral and orchestral parts follow each other without pause and with utmost freedom of movement within clearly defined scenes or parts. His part-writing is beautifully contrapuntal, but it rarely even approaches fugal writing. The first part reveals Gerontius (tenor) on his death-bed. As the prelude closes, he sings ‘Jesu Maria, I am near to death,’ after which a semi-chorus chants the _Kyrie eleison_. Gerontius is again heard in the words ‘Rouse thee, my fainting soul,’ when a second chorus responds in tender strains, ‘Be merciful.’ The holy man then sings with deep feeling a longer solo, _Sanctus fortis_, and after an effective orchestral interlude resumes with the words, ‘I can no more,’ in which he expresses fear and horror at his own hallucinations. This is followed by a short chorus, ‘Rescue him, O Lord,’ sung by the attendant priests. Gerontius then sings his dying song, _Novissima hora est_, and the following full chorus, ‘Go forth upon thy journey,’ brings the first part to a close. The prelude to the second part pictures the soul’s journey. Gerontius’ first utterance is in a dreamy solo, ‘I went to sleep and now I am refreshed,’ after which the Guardian Angel sings a lovely melody called the ‘Alleluia’--‘My work is done, my task is o’er.’ After a dialogue between the Angel and the Soul, their flight amid howling demons of darkness to the throne of God is pictured in a vividly dramatic scene. The two again engage in dialogue, followed by an impressive chorus of the Angelicals. The Angel then sings ‘We have now passed the gate,’ and after further dialogue the chorus is heard in ‘Glory to Him.’ Further passages between the Soul and the chorus ensue, when the Angelicals join in an exultant chorus, ‘Praise to the Holiest in the height.’ In the silence following, the Soul hears the distant voices of men on earth. The Angel’s explanation of this is interrupted by a virile bass solo sung by the Angel of Agony, ‘Jesu, by that shuddering dread.’ The Angel then repeats the ‘Alleluia’ given in Part I and continues, amid the choruses of Angelicals and souls in purgatory, in a beautiful melody, ‘Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul,’ after which the work closes with the diminishing strains of the chorus of the Angelicals, ‘Praise to the Holiest in the height.’ II