Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934… Read Full Bio ↴Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. He was knighted at Buckingham Palace on 5 July 1904 and appointed Master of the King's Music in 1924.
Edward Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Anne (née Greening). He was the fourth of seven children. His mother, Anne, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic.
Elgar was an early riser, and would often turn to reading Voltaire, Drayton, historical classics, Longfellow and other works encouraged by his mother. By the age of eight, he was taking piano and violin lessons, and would often listen to his father playing organ at St. George's church, and soon took it up also. His prime interest, however, was the violin, and his first written music was for that instrument.
Surrounded by sheet music, instruments, and music textbooks in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music theory. On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature. As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require."
At the age of 15, Elgar had hoped to go to Leipzig, Germany to study music, but lacking the funds, he instead left school and began working for a local solicitor. Around this time he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. After a few months, he left the solicitor and embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons, and working occasionally in his father's shop. Elgar was an active member of the Worcester Glee Club, along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played violin, composed and arranged works, and even conducted for the first time. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester, a progressive institution which believed in the recuperative powers of music. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996.
In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 6 and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton. As part of a wind quintet and for his musical friends, he arranged dozens of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and other masters, honing his arranging and compositional skills, and applying them to his earliest pieces. Although somewhat solitary and introspective by nature, Elgar thrived in Worcester's musical circles.
In his first trips abroad in 1880-2, Elgar visited Paris and Leipzig, attended concerts by first rate orchestras, and was exposed to Wagnerism, then the rage. Returning to his more provincial milieu increased his desire for a wider fame. He often went to London in an attempt to get his works published, but this period in his life found him frequently despondent and low on money. He wrote to a friend in April 1884, "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever...I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability...I have no money--not a cent."
At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Henry Roberts and a published author of verse and prose fiction. Eight years older than Elgar, she became his wife three years later against the wishes of her family. Her faith in him and her courage in marrying 'beneath her class' were strongly supportive to his career. She dealt with his mood swings and was a generous musical critic. Alice was also his business manager and social secretary. She did her best to gain him the attention of influential society, though with limited success. In time he would learn to accept the honours given him, realizing that they mattered more to her and her social class. She also gave up some of her personal aspirations to further his career. In her diary she later admitted, "The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman." As an engagement present, Elgar presented her with the short violin and piano piece Salut d'amour. With Alice's encouragement, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching and conducting local musical ensembles. Though disappointed at the London episode, the return to the country proved better for Elgar's health and as a base of musical inspiration, bringing him closer to nature and to his friends.
During the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands. The Black Knight and King Olaf (1896), both inspired by Longfellow, The Light of Life and Caractacus were all modestly successful and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company. He also generously recommended the young composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to the Three Choirs Festival for a concert piece, which helped establish the younger man's career. Elgar was catching the eyes of the prominent critics, although their reviews were still lukewarm, and he was in demand as a festival composer, but he was just getting by financially and not feeling appreciated the way he wanted to be. In 1898, he continued to be "very sick at heart over music" and hoped to find a way to succeed with a larger work. His friend Jaeger tried to lift his spirits, "A day's attack of the blues...will not drive away your desire, your necessity, which is to exercise those creative faculties which a kind providence has given you. Your time of universal recognition will come."
In 1899, that prediction suddenly came true. At the age of 42, Elgar's produced his first major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, which was premièred in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. In Elgar's own words, "I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme. The Variations have amused me because I've labelled them with the nicknames of my particular friends...that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent the mood of the 'party' (the person)... and have written what I think they would have written--if they were asses enough to compose". Elgar dedicated the work "To my friends pictured within".
The large-scale work was received with general acclaim, heralded for its originality, charm, and fine craftsmanship, and it established Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. It is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six measures of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the "original theme", the 'enigma' theme, which Elgar said 'runs through and over the whole set' is never heard. Many later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss. Indeed, the Enigma Variations were well-received in Germany, and persist to this day as a world-wide concert favourite.
The following year saw the production at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of his choral setting of Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius. Despite a disastrous first performance due to poorly-prepared performers, the German première was much better received and the work was established within a few years as one of Elgar's greatest. It is now regarded as one of the finest examples of English choral music from any era.
Elgar is probably best known for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, composed between 1901 and 1930. Shortly after he composed the first march, Elgar set the trio melody to words by A. C. Benson as a Coronation Ode to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The suggestion had already been made (allegedly by the future King himself) that words should be fitted to the broad tune which formed the trio section of this march. Against the advice of his friends, Elgar suggested that Benson furnish further words to allow him to include it in the new work. The result was Land of Hope and Glory, which formed the finale of the ode and was also issued (with slightly different words) as a separate song. The work was immensely popular and became a second national anthem. At last, he had made the leap from accomplished back-country musician to England's foremost composer. It also gained Elgar the highest recognition he could have dreamed of--honorary degrees, a knighthood, special royal audiences, and a triumphal three-day festival of his music at Covent Garden attended by the King and Queen.
Between 1902 and 1914 Elgar enjoyed phenomenal success, made four visits to the USA including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music. Between 1905 and 1908 Elgar held the post of Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. His lectures there caused controversy owing to remarks he made about other English composers and English music in general; he was quoted as saying "English music is white - it evades everything". The University of Birmingham's Special Collections contain an archive of letters written by Elgar. His new life as a celebrity was a mixed blessing as it often provoked ill-health from his high-strung nature and interrupted his privacy. He complained to Jaeger in 1903, "My life is one continual giving up of little things which I love."
Elgar's Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one hundred performances in its first year, the violin concerto (1910) was commissioned by the world-renowned violinist Fritz Kreisler, and in 1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him. In 1912, he moved back to London, again to be closer to musical society but to the detriment of his love of the countryside and to his general mood.
Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral and choral, but he did write for soloists and smaller instrumental groups. His one work for brass band, The Severn Suite (later arranged by the composer for orchestra), remains an important part of the brass band repertoire. This work was dedicated to his friend George Bernard Shaw. It is occasionally performed in its arrangement by Sir Ivor Atkins for organ as the composer's second Organ Sonata; Elgar's first, much earlier (1895) Organ Sonata was written specifically for the instrument in a highly orchestral style, and remains a cornerstone of the English Romantic organ repertoire.
During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. The war was overturning his world and his time. He himself grew to hate his 'Pomp and Circumstance' March No.1 with its popular 'Land of Hope and Glory' tune, which he felt had been made into a jingoistic song, not in keeping with the tragic loss of life in the war. This was captured in the film Elgar by Ken Russell. After the death of his wife in 1920, loneliness and declining interest in his art fostered little in the way of new works of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto, often described as his last masterpiece.
Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick.
He was the first composer to make extensive recordings of his own compositions. HMV (His Master's Voice) recorded much of his music acoustically from 1914 onwards and then began a series of electrical recordings in 1926 that continued until 1933, including his "Enigma Variations," "Falstaff," the first and second symphonies, his cello and violin concertos, all of the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and other orchestral works. Part of a 1927 rehearsal of the second symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was also recorded and later issued.
Elgar's recordings of his violin concerto and the Enigma Variations have been reissued on CD by EMIIn November 1931, Elgar was filmed by Pathe for a newsreel depicting a recording session of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 at the opening of the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. It is believed to be the only surviving sound film of Elgar, who makes a brief remark before conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, asking the musicians to "play this like you've never played it before." Silent films of the composer have also survived.[citation needed]
In the 1932 recording of the violin concerto, the ageing composer worked with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who was then only 16 years old; they worked well together and Menuhin warmly recalled his association with the composer years later, when he performed the concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Menuhin later conducted an award-winning recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and much of the major orchestral music.
Elgar's recordings usually featured such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra (which reverted in 1928 to its earlier name, New Symphony Orchestra) and, in 1933, the newly-founded London Philharmonic Orchestra. Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor. In later years, EMI reissued the recordings on LP and CD.
In his later years, Elgar befriended young conductors such as Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent who championed his music when it was out of fashion.
At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion.
He died on 23 February 1934 and is buried at St. Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead.
Works
Orchestral:
Froissart, Overture for orchestra, Op.19 (1890)
Serenade for string orchestra, Op.20 (revised version of Three Pieces for string orchestra, 1888-92)
Sursum corda for brass, organ and strings, Op.11 (1894)
Three Bavarian Dances for orchestra, Op.27 (1897)
Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) for orchestra, Op.36 (1899)
Sea Pictures, Song cycle for contralto and orchestra, Op.37 (1897-99)
Chanson de Matin and Chanson de Nuit, for small orchestra (arrangement of the salon pieces for violin and piano), Op.15 (1899)
Cockaigne (In London Town), Overture for orchestra, Op.40 (1900-01)
Pomp and Circumstance, Marches No.1 and 2 for orchestra, Op.39 (1901)
Funeral March from Grania and Diarmid for orchestra, Op.42 (1902, from the incidental music to the play by W.B. Yeats)
Dream Children, Two pieces for chamber orchestra, Op.43 (1902)
In the South (Alassio), Concert Overture for orchestra, Op.50 (1903-04)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.3 for orchestra (1904)
Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra, Op.47 (1904-05)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.4 for orchestra (1907)
The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 1 for orchestra, Op.1a (1867-71, rev. 1907)
The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 2 for orchestra, Op.1b (1867-71, rev. 1908)
Symphony No.1 in A flat for orchestra, Op.55 (1907-08)
Elegy for string orchestra, Op.58 (1909)
Romance for bassoon and orchestra, Op.62 (1909)
Concerto for violin and orchestra in B minor, Op.61 (1909-10)
Symphony No.2 in E flat for orchestra, Op.63 (1909-11)
Coronation March for orchestra, Op.65 (1911)
The Crown of India, Suite for orchestra, Op.66 (1911-12)
Falstaff, Symphonic Study for orchestra, Op.68 (1913)
Sospiri for string orchestra and harp, Op.70 (1914)
Polonia, Symphonic Prelude for orchestra, Op.76 (1915)
The Starlight Express, Suite for vocal soloists and orchestra, Op.78 (from the incidental music to the play by Algernon Blackwood, 1915-16)
The Sanguine Fan for orchestra, Op.81 (1917)
Concerto for cello and orchestra in E minor, Op.85 (1918-19)
Empire March for orchestra (1924)
Suite from Arthur for chamber orchestra (from the incidental music to Laurence Binyon's Arthur, 1924)
Minuet from Beau Brummel for orchestra (1928-29)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.5 for orchestra (1930)
Nursery Suite for orchestra (1931)
Severn Suite, Op. 87, for brass band (1930) or orchestra (1932)
Mina for chamber orchestra (1933)
Symphony No 3 for orchestra, Op.88 (sketches, 1932-34, elaborated by Anthony Payne 1972-97)
Piano Concerto, Op.90 (sketches, 1909-25, elaborated by Robert Walker)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.6 for orchestra
Cantatas and oratorios:
The Black Knight, Symphony/Cantata for chorus and orchestra, Op.25 (1889-92)
From the Bavarian Highlands for chorus and orchestra, Op.27 (1895-96)
The Light of Life (Lux Christi), Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.29 (1896)
Scenes From The Saga Of King Olaf, Cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op. 30 (1896)
The Banner of St George, Ballad for chorus and orchestra, Op.33 (1897)
Te Deum & Benedictus for chorus and orchestra, Op.34 (1897)
Caractacus, Cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.35 (1897-98)
The Dream of Gerontius, Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.38 (1899-1900)
Coronation Ode for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.44 (1901-02, rev. 1911)
The Apostles, Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.49 (1902-03)
The Kingdom, Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.51 (1901-06)
The Crown of India, Imperial Masque for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.66 (1911-12)
The Music Makers, Ode for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.69 (1912)
The Spirit of England for soprano/tenor, chorus and orchestra, Op.80 (1915-17)
The Smoking Cantata for baritone soloist and orchestra. Written in 1919, this piece was probably never intended to be performed and was given the absurd opus number of 1001. Its duration is less than a minute.
Songs:
"Is she not passing fair?" Text by Charles, Duke of Orleans; translated by Louis Stuart Costello. (1908) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Chamber music:
Salut d'Amour (Liebesgruss) for violin and piano, Op.12 (1888)
Sonata for violin and piano, Op.82 (1918)
String Quartet in E minor, Op.83 (1918)
Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84 (1918-19)
Soliloquy for solo oboe (1930)
Solo piano:
Concert Allegro (1901)
Skizze (1903)
In Smyrna (1905)
Adieu (pub. 1932)
Organ
Sonata in G Major, Op. 28
"Second Organ Sonata", Op. 87a (an arrangement by Ivor Atkins of the Severn Suite)
Edward Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Anne (née Greening). He was the fourth of seven children. His mother, Anne, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic.
Elgar was an early riser, and would often turn to reading Voltaire, Drayton, historical classics, Longfellow and other works encouraged by his mother. By the age of eight, he was taking piano and violin lessons, and would often listen to his father playing organ at St. George's church, and soon took it up also. His prime interest, however, was the violin, and his first written music was for that instrument.
Surrounded by sheet music, instruments, and music textbooks in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music theory. On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature. As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require."
At the age of 15, Elgar had hoped to go to Leipzig, Germany to study music, but lacking the funds, he instead left school and began working for a local solicitor. Around this time he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. After a few months, he left the solicitor and embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons, and working occasionally in his father's shop. Elgar was an active member of the Worcester Glee Club, along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played violin, composed and arranged works, and even conducted for the first time. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester, a progressive institution which believed in the recuperative powers of music. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996.
In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 6 and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton. As part of a wind quintet and for his musical friends, he arranged dozens of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and other masters, honing his arranging and compositional skills, and applying them to his earliest pieces. Although somewhat solitary and introspective by nature, Elgar thrived in Worcester's musical circles.
In his first trips abroad in 1880-2, Elgar visited Paris and Leipzig, attended concerts by first rate orchestras, and was exposed to Wagnerism, then the rage. Returning to his more provincial milieu increased his desire for a wider fame. He often went to London in an attempt to get his works published, but this period in his life found him frequently despondent and low on money. He wrote to a friend in April 1884, "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever...I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability...I have no money--not a cent."
At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Henry Roberts and a published author of verse and prose fiction. Eight years older than Elgar, she became his wife three years later against the wishes of her family. Her faith in him and her courage in marrying 'beneath her class' were strongly supportive to his career. She dealt with his mood swings and was a generous musical critic. Alice was also his business manager and social secretary. She did her best to gain him the attention of influential society, though with limited success. In time he would learn to accept the honours given him, realizing that they mattered more to her and her social class. She also gave up some of her personal aspirations to further his career. In her diary she later admitted, "The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman." As an engagement present, Elgar presented her with the short violin and piano piece Salut d'amour. With Alice's encouragement, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching and conducting local musical ensembles. Though disappointed at the London episode, the return to the country proved better for Elgar's health and as a base of musical inspiration, bringing him closer to nature and to his friends.
During the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands. The Black Knight and King Olaf (1896), both inspired by Longfellow, The Light of Life and Caractacus were all modestly successful and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company. He also generously recommended the young composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to the Three Choirs Festival for a concert piece, which helped establish the younger man's career. Elgar was catching the eyes of the prominent critics, although their reviews were still lukewarm, and he was in demand as a festival composer, but he was just getting by financially and not feeling appreciated the way he wanted to be. In 1898, he continued to be "very sick at heart over music" and hoped to find a way to succeed with a larger work. His friend Jaeger tried to lift his spirits, "A day's attack of the blues...will not drive away your desire, your necessity, which is to exercise those creative faculties which a kind providence has given you. Your time of universal recognition will come."
In 1899, that prediction suddenly came true. At the age of 42, Elgar's produced his first major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, which was premièred in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. In Elgar's own words, "I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme. The Variations have amused me because I've labelled them with the nicknames of my particular friends...that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent the mood of the 'party' (the person)... and have written what I think they would have written--if they were asses enough to compose". Elgar dedicated the work "To my friends pictured within".
The large-scale work was received with general acclaim, heralded for its originality, charm, and fine craftsmanship, and it established Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. It is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six measures of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the "original theme", the 'enigma' theme, which Elgar said 'runs through and over the whole set' is never heard. Many later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss. Indeed, the Enigma Variations were well-received in Germany, and persist to this day as a world-wide concert favourite.
The following year saw the production at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of his choral setting of Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius. Despite a disastrous first performance due to poorly-prepared performers, the German première was much better received and the work was established within a few years as one of Elgar's greatest. It is now regarded as one of the finest examples of English choral music from any era.
Elgar is probably best known for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, composed between 1901 and 1930. Shortly after he composed the first march, Elgar set the trio melody to words by A. C. Benson as a Coronation Ode to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The suggestion had already been made (allegedly by the future King himself) that words should be fitted to the broad tune which formed the trio section of this march. Against the advice of his friends, Elgar suggested that Benson furnish further words to allow him to include it in the new work. The result was Land of Hope and Glory, which formed the finale of the ode and was also issued (with slightly different words) as a separate song. The work was immensely popular and became a second national anthem. At last, he had made the leap from accomplished back-country musician to England's foremost composer. It also gained Elgar the highest recognition he could have dreamed of--honorary degrees, a knighthood, special royal audiences, and a triumphal three-day festival of his music at Covent Garden attended by the King and Queen.
Between 1902 and 1914 Elgar enjoyed phenomenal success, made four visits to the USA including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music. Between 1905 and 1908 Elgar held the post of Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. His lectures there caused controversy owing to remarks he made about other English composers and English music in general; he was quoted as saying "English music is white - it evades everything". The University of Birmingham's Special Collections contain an archive of letters written by Elgar. His new life as a celebrity was a mixed blessing as it often provoked ill-health from his high-strung nature and interrupted his privacy. He complained to Jaeger in 1903, "My life is one continual giving up of little things which I love."
Elgar's Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one hundred performances in its first year, the violin concerto (1910) was commissioned by the world-renowned violinist Fritz Kreisler, and in 1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him. In 1912, he moved back to London, again to be closer to musical society but to the detriment of his love of the countryside and to his general mood.
Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral and choral, but he did write for soloists and smaller instrumental groups. His one work for brass band, The Severn Suite (later arranged by the composer for orchestra), remains an important part of the brass band repertoire. This work was dedicated to his friend George Bernard Shaw. It is occasionally performed in its arrangement by Sir Ivor Atkins for organ as the composer's second Organ Sonata; Elgar's first, much earlier (1895) Organ Sonata was written specifically for the instrument in a highly orchestral style, and remains a cornerstone of the English Romantic organ repertoire.
During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. The war was overturning his world and his time. He himself grew to hate his 'Pomp and Circumstance' March No.1 with its popular 'Land of Hope and Glory' tune, which he felt had been made into a jingoistic song, not in keeping with the tragic loss of life in the war. This was captured in the film Elgar by Ken Russell. After the death of his wife in 1920, loneliness and declining interest in his art fostered little in the way of new works of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto, often described as his last masterpiece.
Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick.
He was the first composer to make extensive recordings of his own compositions. HMV (His Master's Voice) recorded much of his music acoustically from 1914 onwards and then began a series of electrical recordings in 1926 that continued until 1933, including his "Enigma Variations," "Falstaff," the first and second symphonies, his cello and violin concertos, all of the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and other orchestral works. Part of a 1927 rehearsal of the second symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was also recorded and later issued.
Elgar's recordings of his violin concerto and the Enigma Variations have been reissued on CD by EMIIn November 1931, Elgar was filmed by Pathe for a newsreel depicting a recording session of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 at the opening of the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. It is believed to be the only surviving sound film of Elgar, who makes a brief remark before conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, asking the musicians to "play this like you've never played it before." Silent films of the composer have also survived.[citation needed]
In the 1932 recording of the violin concerto, the ageing composer worked with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who was then only 16 years old; they worked well together and Menuhin warmly recalled his association with the composer years later, when he performed the concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Menuhin later conducted an award-winning recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and much of the major orchestral music.
Elgar's recordings usually featured such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra (which reverted in 1928 to its earlier name, New Symphony Orchestra) and, in 1933, the newly-founded London Philharmonic Orchestra. Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor. In later years, EMI reissued the recordings on LP and CD.
In his later years, Elgar befriended young conductors such as Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent who championed his music when it was out of fashion.
At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion.
He died on 23 February 1934 and is buried at St. Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead.
Works
Orchestral:
Froissart, Overture for orchestra, Op.19 (1890)
Serenade for string orchestra, Op.20 (revised version of Three Pieces for string orchestra, 1888-92)
Sursum corda for brass, organ and strings, Op.11 (1894)
Three Bavarian Dances for orchestra, Op.27 (1897)
Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) for orchestra, Op.36 (1899)
Sea Pictures, Song cycle for contralto and orchestra, Op.37 (1897-99)
Chanson de Matin and Chanson de Nuit, for small orchestra (arrangement of the salon pieces for violin and piano), Op.15 (1899)
Cockaigne (In London Town), Overture for orchestra, Op.40 (1900-01)
Pomp and Circumstance, Marches No.1 and 2 for orchestra, Op.39 (1901)
Funeral March from Grania and Diarmid for orchestra, Op.42 (1902, from the incidental music to the play by W.B. Yeats)
Dream Children, Two pieces for chamber orchestra, Op.43 (1902)
In the South (Alassio), Concert Overture for orchestra, Op.50 (1903-04)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.3 for orchestra (1904)
Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra, Op.47 (1904-05)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.4 for orchestra (1907)
The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 1 for orchestra, Op.1a (1867-71, rev. 1907)
The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 2 for orchestra, Op.1b (1867-71, rev. 1908)
Symphony No.1 in A flat for orchestra, Op.55 (1907-08)
Elegy for string orchestra, Op.58 (1909)
Romance for bassoon and orchestra, Op.62 (1909)
Concerto for violin and orchestra in B minor, Op.61 (1909-10)
Symphony No.2 in E flat for orchestra, Op.63 (1909-11)
Coronation March for orchestra, Op.65 (1911)
The Crown of India, Suite for orchestra, Op.66 (1911-12)
Falstaff, Symphonic Study for orchestra, Op.68 (1913)
Sospiri for string orchestra and harp, Op.70 (1914)
Polonia, Symphonic Prelude for orchestra, Op.76 (1915)
The Starlight Express, Suite for vocal soloists and orchestra, Op.78 (from the incidental music to the play by Algernon Blackwood, 1915-16)
The Sanguine Fan for orchestra, Op.81 (1917)
Concerto for cello and orchestra in E minor, Op.85 (1918-19)
Empire March for orchestra (1924)
Suite from Arthur for chamber orchestra (from the incidental music to Laurence Binyon's Arthur, 1924)
Minuet from Beau Brummel for orchestra (1928-29)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.5 for orchestra (1930)
Nursery Suite for orchestra (1931)
Severn Suite, Op. 87, for brass band (1930) or orchestra (1932)
Mina for chamber orchestra (1933)
Symphony No 3 for orchestra, Op.88 (sketches, 1932-34, elaborated by Anthony Payne 1972-97)
Piano Concerto, Op.90 (sketches, 1909-25, elaborated by Robert Walker)
Pomp and Circumstance, March No.6 for orchestra
Cantatas and oratorios:
The Black Knight, Symphony/Cantata for chorus and orchestra, Op.25 (1889-92)
From the Bavarian Highlands for chorus and orchestra, Op.27 (1895-96)
The Light of Life (Lux Christi), Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.29 (1896)
Scenes From The Saga Of King Olaf, Cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op. 30 (1896)
The Banner of St George, Ballad for chorus and orchestra, Op.33 (1897)
Te Deum & Benedictus for chorus and orchestra, Op.34 (1897)
Caractacus, Cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.35 (1897-98)
The Dream of Gerontius, Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.38 (1899-1900)
Coronation Ode for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.44 (1901-02, rev. 1911)
The Apostles, Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.49 (1902-03)
The Kingdom, Oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.51 (1901-06)
The Crown of India, Imperial Masque for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.66 (1911-12)
The Music Makers, Ode for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.69 (1912)
The Spirit of England for soprano/tenor, chorus and orchestra, Op.80 (1915-17)
The Smoking Cantata for baritone soloist and orchestra. Written in 1919, this piece was probably never intended to be performed and was given the absurd opus number of 1001. Its duration is less than a minute.
Songs:
"Is she not passing fair?" Text by Charles, Duke of Orleans; translated by Louis Stuart Costello. (1908) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Chamber music:
Salut d'Amour (Liebesgruss) for violin and piano, Op.12 (1888)
Sonata for violin and piano, Op.82 (1918)
String Quartet in E minor, Op.83 (1918)
Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84 (1918-19)
Soliloquy for solo oboe (1930)
Solo piano:
Concert Allegro (1901)
Skizze (1903)
In Smyrna (1905)
Adieu (pub. 1932)
Organ
Sonata in G Major, Op. 28
"Second Organ Sonata", Op. 87a (an arrangement by Ivor Atkins of the Severn Suite)
Salut d'amour
Sir Edward Elgar Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Sir Edward Elgar:
The Snow O snow, which sinks so light, Brown earth is hid from…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@ratman3884
"After the performance, they take each other’s hands high in the air, and they swoop down for this over-the-top bow, just laughing at the drama of it all. And the audience cheers.
And Barry and Lup laugh, and they don’t let each other’s hands go.
And then they stop laughing
and they don’t let each other’s hands go.
And they keep not letting go."
@sorlakvader155
Here's my not-so-little story:
I met a girl in high school, we started to date some days after we graduated from school. About 5 months later we were a couple, as most couples, everything started just fine. We kept a good relationship for a while, but I started to have so many problems with everyone, she included. We decided to study in the same college, same classes. However at this point I started to screw everything with her, I wanted to be alone some times, and didn't know how to handle anything, a lack of communication while I was hurting her and she not telling me so. I knew I had to do something, I told her to brake up for a while. And then after one month, we were together again, I missed her so much in that time.
Even if I were not as an ass as before, I wasn't giving her the attention she deserved, I tried to improve but it was at a very slow pace. Almost a year later she was starting to confess her thoughts, and I realized man... I'm screwing it up again. I loved her, I did, I just was very stupid. Every morning before going to college I would listen to this song and think of her. Some time later the covid kicked in and the classes were online. Long story short, things started to work fine... But it was too late, she broke up with me. We kept chatting but... She was angry, all that suffering she went through had to come out, almost another year later we decided to stop talking because things were really bad. A month later I told her I missed her so much.. She just said... Still I don't want to talk
It's been 3 months now without talking ... There isn't a day I wish I could have done things better, and listening to this piece just... Makes me remeber everything
What I'm trying to say is
Please... If someone loves you, don't treat them wrong, I know it sound way too obvious but, try to be careful how you express or do things, you never know if you're hurting them. It's OK if you don't feel the same way, but be careful, you're dealing with the love of someone.
The name of the piece is in French
Salut d'amour
Which means "greeting of love" or "love greeting"
If someone is giving you one of these, please, treat them as they deserve, just think about it, someone thinks you're wonderful and an amazing person, be grateful or you might as well will regret it for years to come. I did all this wrong 3 years ago and I'm still so sorry
I know it's not the big deal, but if this story at least makes one person think about the way they treat their loved ones, then I'm more than satisfied
@user-oj3rm7pi9c
I was listening to another piece peacefully..
He approached me... we shared our favorite songs/piece and surprisingly found out it was the same song. It was a good time, many pieces were deeply listened and discussed. Then he opened this song, not showing the name and asked me how i felt after listened to it.
"It's hundred percent a love song, as if you' re totally in love."
Then, our eyes met. I felt my heart pounding faster and faster, the surrounding fell in silent, I was afraid if he could hear my heart ba-dum.
Not biased, but I really felt something-- in his gentle, and warm eyes.
I was not sure what was it, but as I could see,
one of it was the reflection of me.
It was the first time I admitted I fell in love.
One of the moment in my life I will never forget.
@normaltea5760
"I don’t know where you are now. I don’t know if you ever thought of me since we went our separate ways. I don’t remember the sound of your voice. I don’t remember your name. I don’t remember your eyes, your smile.
But I remember you.
I remember why I want to stay here.
I love you."
(I hope to god you know what I'm referencing.)
@NatetheNerdy
(Stolen from the SCP Wiki)
Another couple came to visit today. The man played a piece I’d never heard before, perhaps slow jazz; he wasn’t too much of a pianist, so I helped him out. He just needed to relax his wrists and get his posture right. He reminded me of myself, a little. The woman laughed, she reminded me of you. They embraced, they walked off.
Apparently I’m the talk of the town on certain days. Lots of visitors, lots of songs, lots of smiles and laughs and most of the time I need to rescue someone (don’t worry, I only help them out if they seem sincere) because their hands are shaking and a pianist wouldn’t want to mess up on a song they’re playing for the love of their life.
I don’t remember the first time someone visited me, out in the woods on the outskirts of town. Someone played a charming little love ballad, but their nervousness made the piece too forceful, so I stepped in to aid them. Their partner thought it was beautiful. The next week another couple visited, and somehow whispers of “a true love piano” started spreading.
Not that the piano itself is anything special, though. It’s just the old one that used to live in my basement before you convinced me to haul it out and keep it in the living room so we could play duets.
Do you remember when we met?
Once I was your music tutor. Your mentor was once my mentor. Your mother thought it would benefit both of us to play a few songs together a few times each month.
Do you remember the first concert we shared?
It was sometime in the very end of winter, when the first flowers of spring were starting to unfurl from the snowbanks on the hills. I wore a blue tie you nagged me to wear, you wore an azure (azure, not just blue, you assured me repeatedly) dress to match. You worried about skipping notes, I worried about my heart skipping beats.
Do you remember the first time you told me of your dreams?
We were working on a slow waltz. You sighed and told me you dreamt of leaving your quiet household and living in the cacophony of distant, foreign cities. You tired of the simple song of our hometown, you yearned for the intricate music of the wide world. I encouraged you. I supported you. It was your dream.
Do you remember the last song I played for you, the day you left for a plane that would take you across an ocean and away from me forever?
Edward Elgar’s Salut d’Amour. When you left, I couldn’t bring myself to play any other melodies. Maybe I needed the practice on that piece, maybe I wasn’t satisfied with my technique overall, maybe I wasn’t satisfied with the way I played that day—
Maybe I believed that if I had played beautifully enough, I could have convinced you not to leave. But then one day I woke up with the snow surrounding me, and I realized that I couldn’t leave that spot. I stayed with that piano you loved, because you loved it, and I believed you loved me, even though now I can no longer coax melodies from the keys.
Now, I am no more than an instrument of countless others’ affections, the impetus of a hundred charming romances that I wish I could have had with you.
Whispers in the town continue, couples still visit and both men and women confess their feelings and play songs for each other with my help. A middle-aged man who apparently lives nearby tunes my strings and sets up makeshift shelters for me in the winter. I saw him once with a group of other men in white coats, who looked at me a few moments, talked about moving me somewhere, and ultimately left and never returned. I don’t know why they let me stay here.
I don’t know where you are now. I don’t know if you ever thought of me since we went our separate ways. I don’t remember the sound of your voice. I don’t remember your name. I don’t remember your eyes, your smile.
But I remember you.
I remember why I want to stay here.
I love you.
@eririe1451
Imagine someone composing something like this for you, just imagine
@nazianafis
I can't 😭
@weirdface3838
I would just fall in love instantly...
@prettydumbyetwinning8115
I would literally die for that person.
@user-en1mj8uc5f
@Uraraka Ochaco reminds me of that meme
thank you, I will never forget this, I will fight for you
@alphathealpha
i'd melt
@Weeesnaw
“Our capacity for love increases with each person we cross paths with throughout our lives, and with each moment we spend with those people. But, too often we neglect that part of ourselves in favor of others. And by the time we realize just how important that is, we find ourselves with fewer folks around to practice with. But the seven of you have something that nobody else ever had: time. All the time in the world. Time enough to grow indescribably close. Time enough to learn how to care for each other, how to allow yourselves to be cared for. And, in the case of Barry and Lup... time enough to fall deeply, and truly, in love.”
@nini-ct9vi
Where's this from?
@Weeesnaw
Shanita Sungsuwan it’s from a podcast called The Adventure Zone! This song played during the little narration I quoted... still makes me tear up every time I hear it. :’)
@millie9063
mayannaise catch me crying in the club