The Apostles (Elgar) many delays, Elgar finally started formal composition of the music in mid-December 1902. Composition of the work in vocal-score format was complete by the end of June 1903, with scoring complete on 17 August. "The Apostles "is a narrative work, dealing with the calling of the Apostles and their experiences of Jesus' preaching, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. "The Kingdom" would carry the story onward. Elgar was more interested in human motivations than philosophical underpinnings, and two of the most prominent characters in the work are the two sinners Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot. Elgar's conception outgrew the confines of
Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becoming the church's president. In 1976, church president Spencer W. Kimball announced that the calling of Assistant to the Twelve would be discontinued, and that the 22 men then serving in that calling would be ordained to the priesthood office of seventy and assigned to the First Quorum of the Seventy, which had been organized in 1975. The following individuals held the calling of Assistant to Twelve: Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, commonly shortened to Assistant to the Twelve or Assistant to the Twelve Apostles, was a priesthood calling