Idylle edward elgar biography

The years from 1899 (the year of the ‘Enigma’ Variations) to 1919 (that of the Cello Concerto) were the most creative and important of Edward Elgar’s life. Until then he had little national success: born in 1857 in Worcester, he was considered a provincial composer. More than that, he was virtually self-taught. But ‘Enigma’ proved the turning point. It was his first undoubted masterpiece, and on an international scale; within a few years Elgar found himself at the forefront of British music, highly regarded in Europe and America. The Dream of Gerontius(although the premiere in Germany was not a success), Cockaigneand other works cemented his growing stature, but, above all, the Pomp and Circumstancemarches reached the widest public and his music became known and loved from King to butcher’s boy.

The First Symphony of 1908 and Violin Concerto of 1910, composed for Hans Richter and Fritz Kreisler respectively, marked the epitome of Elgar’s fame, yet the public aspect was but one part of this enigmatic and very English artist. His Second

Biography

The picture often painted of Elgar is of the social outsider, a devout Catholic, snubbed by the English musical establishment but eventually, through the force of his music, reaching the pinnacle of British society and close friendship with royalty. As with all caricatures, there is some truth in this, but it is far from the whole picture.

Unlike his close contemporaries Parry and Stanford, Elgar’s was not a privileged background. He was born on 2nd June 1857 in the small Worcestershire village of Lower Broadheath, to a mother of farming stock and a father who was a piano tuner and proprietor of a music shop close to Worcester Cathedral. When recognition arrived, Parry and Stanford, at that time both composers of some esteem, were quick to speak out in support of him. And if their support seemed at times ambivalent, it should be remembered that Elgar, conscious of his lack of social standing, was acutely sensitive to any perceived hint of criticism.

After a number of abortive attempts to gain acknowledgment, first as a violinist and later as a composer, Elgar finall

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Biography of Sir Edward Elgar

Elgar, SirEdward William. Hon.Mus.D. (Cantab, 1900); knighted in 1904; order of merit, 1911. Studied violin with Pollitzer, 1877. Organist of St. George’s (R.C.), Worcester, 1885-89. Bandmaster at the County Lunatic Asylum, Worcester, 1879-84; conducted the Worcester Amateur Instrumental Society, 1882; professor of music at Birmingham University, 1905-06; master of the Kings Music, 1924; violinist. Composed symphonies, cantatas, military marches, overtures, concertos, orchestral, instrumental and choral music, songs, &c. Son of W. H. Elgarb. Broadheath, near Worcester, England, June 2nd, 1857; d. Worcester, Feb. 23rd, 1934.

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