The Kingdom (Elgar) The Kingdom (Elgar) The Kingdom, Op. 51, is an English-language oratorio composed in 1906 by Edward Elgar. It was first performed at the Birmingham Music Festival on 3 October 1906, with the orchestra conducted by the composer, and soloists Agnes Nicholls, Muriel Foster, John Coates and William Higley. The dedication is ""A. M. D. G."" Elgar wrote "The Kingdom" for choral and instrumental forces. Following "The Dream of Gerontius" and "The Apostles", the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival commissioned Elgar to produce another large oratorio for the 1906 festival. This was "The Kingdom", which continues the narrative of the lives of
Dispersion of the Apostles 3 of the Church History of Eusebius: Arthur Cushman McGiffert comments: Baronius considered that the occasion for this dispersion of the Apostles was the killing of James, son of Zebedee and the departure of Peter "to another place", a view rejected by Friedrich Spanheim. The first vestige of the liturgical feast of the Dispersion of the Apostles appears in the undoubtedly authentic sequence composed for it by a certain Godescalc (d. 1098) while a monk of Limburg on the Haardt; he also introduced this feast at Aachen, when provost of the Church of Our Lady. Godescalc was a follower of