Dr Jerrold Northrop Moore was moved to this investigation after meeting a group of young 'ruralist' painters who believed nature was at the heart of Elgar's inspiration.

In his talk he explained his thoughts on Elgar's inseparable and vital relationship with nature and landscape.

When Elgar lived in Worcestershire he became very familiar with the Malvern Hills and the surrounding country roads, similarly when he lived in Hereford, the Wye Valley became special.

Elgar took long walks and bicycle rides absorbing the scenery. Often he set a speed of 72 beats to the minute for performance of his works, approximately the rate of the human heartbeat - presumably determined on these outings.

Moore linked natural phenomena with patterns found in Elgar's music such as sequences of repetition seen in the hills, and in the rise and fall of repeated melody.

Elgar's Pastoral Vision, as Moore called it, was seen as on a journey until the time when Elgar was ready to write his first symphony. En-route for this, Moore demonstrated with the viola melody from In the South (also known as Allassio but which Moore suggested was more likely to be Welsh rather than Italian).

In greater detail Moore discussed Elgar's first sizeable orchestral work Introduction and Allegro for Strings, begun in 1901. Examples of Welsh 3rds occurred (prevalent in Welsh song), triplets derived similarly, and threads of Aeolian harp were woven into the orchestration.

Jill Hopkins