The work was composed for the Birmingham Music Festival of 1900 and the first performance took place on 3 October 1900, in Birmingham Town Hall. There were problems at the first performance: the chorus master died while the work was being learned. Some of the music sounded strange to the choir who found it very difficult. The soloists were not very good, and it was difficult for the conductor, Hans Richter (who was an excellent conductor) to stop the choir from singing out of tune. Richter had not had time to prepare the work properly: he was only given the full score on the day before the first rehearsal. The next year the work was performed in Germany where it was well received.