Elgar, E Sir
COMMON NAME: Sir Edward Elgar
SORT-BY NAME: Elgar, Edward William
NICKNAME/ALIAS:
BIRTH: 2 June 1857; Broadheath near Worcester, English Midlands
DEATH: 23 February 1934; Worcester, England
DISCIPLINE: Arts
FIELD: Composer
ASSESSMENT: Arguably the leading English composer of his generation and a significant figure among late Romantic European musicians.
LANGUAGE: English
EDUCATION: Largely self-taught as a violinist, organist, and composer
ACHIEVEMENTS: Composer of symphonies, concertos, oratorios during the Romantic Era of European music [late Victorian, early part of 20th century]
MAJOR WORK/S: Enigma Variations/ Pomp and Circumstances Marches 1 & 4;
Elegy/Introduction & Allegra/Seranade; Cello Concerto; Violin Concerto/Cockaigne; Symphony No. 1/ Imperial March; Symphony No. 2; The Dream of Gerontius; many chamber works for violin, cello, and piano;
PARENTS:
SPOUSE: Caroline Alice Roberts, daughter of Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Roberts
SIBLINGS:
CHILDREN: none
LIFE AND TIMES/DETAILS:
Sir Edward Elgar was considered to be the leading English composer of his era; his works were played not only in England, but in Europe and America as well. His father tuned pianos and owned a music store, so he grew up exposed to a very practical musical environment. He taught himself to play a variety of instruments and earned his early living as an organist, a violinist, and a music teacher in his regional area.
Throughout the 1880’s and 90’s, he conducted and composed music for local music groups. Gradually, his early works [Froissart, Imperial March, King Olaf, and Caractacus] began to be noticed beyond the county of Worcestershire.
In 1889, in spite of opposition from her family, he married Caroline Alice Roberts, one of his pupils and daughter of a distinguished British General. Her faith in Elgar’s musical ability was a significant part in the growth of Elgar’s career. Alice worked with him to produce several early works, such as “Scenes for the Bavarian Highlands,” in which Elgar used his wife’s poems (written on vacations in Germany) as inspiration.
At the age of 42, his first major success was the “Variations on an Original Theme [Enigma]”, performed in London in 1899. His next major work was a religious oratorio, “The Dream of Gerontius” based on a poem Newman*. It was a study of a man dying and viewing his judgment and journey after death. The first performance in Birmingham in 1900 was a failure, due to inadequate rehearsal. Later, in 1901, it was successfully performed in Dusseldorf; Elgar was praised by Strauss* as the first English progressive musician.
In 1901, he also wrote the overture “Cockaigne [In London Town]” which had a great premier performance; in the same year, he also wrote the two “Pomp and Circumstance” marches; the second march is one to which American high school students march down the aisle to get their graduation diplomas. The second one, in D major, was later to become famous in England as “Land of Hope and Glory.” As Ian Lace states in his biography of Elgar: “Elgar appreciated its worth: he had prophesied: ‘I’ve got a tune that will knock ‘em – knock ‘em flat!…a tune that comes once in a lifetime…’” In 1905 he was made Professor of Music at Birmingham University in a post specially created for him.
By the time World War I began, Elgar was regarded as the most famous living English composer, with a series of choral and orchestra works to his credit. World War I depressed Elgar and he became more withdrawn. He produced some patriotic pieces, music for a children’s play “The Starlight Express” and music for a ballet “The Sanguine Fan”.
In 1919, he produced three chamber pieces: the “Violin Sonata”, the “String Quartet”, “Piano Quintet in A minor” and he also wrote “Cello Concerto in E minor”. Audiences and critics recognized this was not the “old” Elgar; this was someone more subdued, more contemplative, with less pomp than he exhibited earlier.
In 1920, his wife, Alice, died; with her death, and the loss of her encouragement, Elgar lost any spirit to compose. He virtually retired to Worcester, only occasionally traveling to London to do some conducting. In 1928 he was knighted.
In 1933, he went to Paris to conduct his “Violin Concerto in B minor”, with the young Yehudi Menuhin as soloist. Since he was in France, he decided to Delius*, a fellow English composer, who had taken residence there.
In October 1933, Elgar was diagnosed with a malignant tumor pressing on his sciatic nerve, which made work on compositions unbearable. He died a few months later.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS:
Music critic Shaw* championed and encouraged him.
He was succeeded at Birmingham University in 1908 by Bantock*
ONELINER: Sir Edward Elgar, composer of “Land of Hope and Glory”
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lace, Ian, Sir Edward Elgar, a short biography, The Edward Elgar Society;
www.naxos.com; www.guildmusic.com; www.stevenestrella.com; www.elgar.com.