Elgar (Edward)

Autograph letter card signed ('Ed. Elgar') to G. Robertson Sinclair, exhorting him to bring Dan [Sinclair's bulldog] to a rehearsal to hear his tune, one page, postmarked 24 September 1898; with anonymous explanatory note saying that Elgar took inspiration from Sinclair's bulldog Dan, described by him as 'a well-known character'. Elgar wrote little themes in Dr Sinclair's visitors book each time he stayed with him, descriptive of various 'Moods of Dan'. Many of these were subsequently made use of as motifs in Elgar's Oratorios..."Dan meditative on issuing of Puzzling Order" became the Prayer Theme in Gerontius. (2)