Composer · Late Romantic
Edward Elgar
1857–1934 · British
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was the composer who, more than any other, restored England to the front rank of European music after two centuries in which it had produced no figure of international stature. Largely self-taught, the son of a Worcester music-shop owner and organist, he made his way slowly from the provinces to national and then world fame, achieving his breakthrough in 1899 with the Enigma Variations. A late Romantic to his core, steeped in Wagner, Brahms and Richard Strauss yet unmistakably English in his blend of nobility, warmth and wistful melancholy, he gave his country a body of great orchestral music: two symphonies, concertos for violin and cello, the Enigma Variations, the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius and the Pomp and Circumstance marches. Knighted and laden with honours, he became the very emblem of Edwardian Britain, though his finest music reaches far beyond pomp into a deep, often autumnal expressivity. His wife Alice’s death in 1920 effectively silenced him as a composer for his last years.
Works
- Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 3
- Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 1
- The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38 1
- Variations on an Original Theme, ‘Enigma’, Op. 36 3
Performed at
Upcoming
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Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Elgar · Tchaikovsky
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On Tour in Palm Desert: Maconchy, Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Maconchy · Elgar · Tchaikovsky
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On Tour in Ann Arbor: Maconchy, Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Ein Heldenleben Maconchy · Elgar · Strauss
Past guides
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Friends and Fate: Elgar’s Enigma and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Elgar · Tchaikovsky
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Pappano: Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Mahler’s Fifth Elgar · Mahler
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Bronfman’s ‘Emperor’, and Elgar’s Enigma Beethoven · Koide · Elgar
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Szeps-Znaider’s Beethoven and Elgar’s First Beethoven · Elgar
Sources 1
- Edward Elgar, Wikipedia