The Crown of India, was a masque, an elaborate theatrical presentation, staged in 1912 to celebrate the visit the preceding December of King George V and Queen Mary to Delhi for their coronation as Emperor and Empress of India. For this masque, the English composer Sir Edward Elgar wrote the music as his Op. 66, with a libretto by Henry Hamilton. The masque consisted of two tableaux: "The Cities of Ind" and "Ave Imperator!".
3a Entrance of Calcutta. India: 'Welcome Calcutta!'
3b Entrance of Delhi. Delhi: 'Stop! That place is mine'
4a Introduction
4b March of the Mogul Emperors. India: 'Illustrious Emperors!'
5 – Entrance of John Company. Calcutta: 'Good John Company, reply'
5a Entrance of St. George. India: 'Calcutta, Delhi, give your quarrel pause'
6 – Song : 'The Rule of England'
7 – Interlude
Tableau II: Ave Imperator!
8a Introduction
8b Warriors' Dance
9 – The Cities of Ind. India: 'Hail Festal Hour from out the Ages drawn'
10 – March: 'The Crown of India'. India: 'Incessu patuit Imperator'
10a The Homage of Ind
11 – The Crowning of Delhi
12 – Ave Imperator!
First performance
The London Coliseum programme for the first week of the performance shows that The Crown of India masque was the most important of the eleven acts in the show. There were two Tableaux: "The Cities of Ind" and "Ave Imperator!". The programme listed the cast, who personified 'India' herself, England represented by 'St. George', and various Indian cities. There were also attendant performers, in elaborate costumes, personifying other roles. Elgar attended the daily rehearsals for two weeks, then conducted the hour-long show two performances a day for a further two weeks. The cast included:
Cities, Mogul Emperors, Princes, Guards, Executioners, Courtiers, Fan Bearers, Ladies Attendant Syce, Litter Bearers, Heralds, Trumpeters, etc.
Extracts
Elgar later extracted five of the pieces – 1, 2, 5, 8 and 4 – and added an intermezzo for solo violin to create The Crown of India Suite. The first performance was at the Hereford Festival on 11 September 1912, by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. The Suite gained immediate popularity: during Elgar's lifetime, there were 102 live performances of it on the BBC. The Crown of India March from the incidental music for the masque is also performed separately.
Complete score
The complete score for the Crown of India incidental music was only published in a piano-vocal version by Elgar's friend Hugh Blair. The remaining orchestral parts were destroyed in the 1960s. In 2007 the Elgar Society commissioned the composer Anthony Payne to complete the orchestration of the music for The Crown of India. Payne is to "complete the scoring of the piano-vocal version and combining this, where appropriate, with the orchestral suite and march."
