Edward Elgar - Biography
Sir Edward Elgar the first great English composer since the death of Purcell two centuries prior was born in June 2nd 1857 in Broadheath near Worcester and died in Worcester on February 23rd 1934.Elgar’s father owned a music shop and was also organist at the Worcester Catholic Cathedral and as so often the case gave his son his first music lessons. As a young man he was the arranger and director for a Worcester Glee Club and at the same time had the singular job of the conductor of the local mental hospital that believed in the recuperative powers of music. Elgar was relatively a late bloomer and had many mundane provincial positions before he became an important composer. He took over his post as cathedral organist upon his father’s retirement in 1885. He married Alice Roberts a daughter of a Major General in 1889(she was eight years older than Elgar and her family were against her marrying a poor musician beneath her class). During these years Elgar wrote a lot of choral music for church service, while highly competent they were not reflective of Elgar’s future greatness. He moved with his wife to Malvern where they lived to 1904. His first piece that became popular was the salon piece Salut D ‘Amor. In 1890 he composed his first major piece the cantata The Black Knight Most of his income was derived at this time from various conducting duties at Malvern. Elgar attempted to become known in London with little success. Elgar who later on seemed to be a model of Edwardian confidence was in fact a man who susceptible to self doubt and depression and the dedication of his wife helped him to deal with these bouts
Elgar was to gain a reputation as a choral composer in choral festivals at Midlands. His first oratorios The Light of Life and Caractacus which had some measure of success and exposed his works to the London critics. In 1899 he was to write his first undisputed masterpiece the Enigma Variations a 30 minute piece for large orchestra; each variation represented a sketch of a friend (The Enigma was that they were given acronyms known only to Elgar). The premiere the following year was under the great Austrian Conductor Hans Richter was to launch his international career. The following year he was to write his great oratorio The Dream of Gerontius on a text by Cardinal Newman the famed English mystic. The premiere in Birmingham was not successful but ironically this very English work found success in Germany and eventually became a revered work in England. Around this time he wrote his first of five Pomp and Circumstance Marches that he was to integrate into a Coronation Ode for Edward the Seventh’s coronation in 1901and set to the words of Land of Hope and Glory. The result became a second British national anthem and a fixture at every school graduation in the English speaking world. Elgar also wrote in 1901 an overture Cockaigne an affectionate portrait of London and in 1904 In The South a portrait of Italy. He was to complete two more oratorios in the next few years the Apostles in 1903 and the Kingdom in 1906 sister works to Gerontius. In 1904 along with the well known Introduction and Allegro for strings and the charming sites from The Wand of Youth Elgar was knighted (he also toured America in this time frame where he was given honorary degrees and general acclaim). In 1905 he became a professor of music at the University of Birmingham which is remarkable considering his limited formal musical training.
In 1908 Elgar reached new heights of acclaim with his monumental First Symphony Introduced by Richter and quickly performed throughout the U.K. The famed Fritz Kreisler had the long and beautiful Violin Concerto written for him in 1910. That year Edward the Seventh died; this had a profound effect on Elgar who was a fervent patriot. The following year he was to write his noble Second Symphony with a deeply moving slow movement that is often felt to be an elegy for Edward and the period named for him that was soon to disappear. The Crown of India suite and of his great works the Shakespearian orchestral portrait Falstaff.
The First World War was to have an impact on Elgar as it did many contemporary composers. With Elgar the effect was social; the world of Victorian and Edwardian tranquility and order was to crumble. Rather unfairly Elgar’s music was viewed as jingoistic and as the war dragged on and the losses were overwhelming Elgar started going out of fashion among musicians and writers. He was a popular composer in Germany at the time and the war cut him from performances there. The most important piece from this period was The Incidental music to a play, The Starlight Express. His friendship with his great interpreter Hans Richter broke over the war (Richter was to die in 1916 at 73). Elgar’s wife had a long illness and died in 1920. They were very close and she kept his high strung personality in balance. Just prior to her death he wrote the ruminative Cello Concerto that is now always associated with the tragic figure of cellist Jacqueline Du Pre. After his wife’s death he moved to a small village near Worcestershire. He was in 1924 given the honor to become the Master of the Kings Music. During that year he composed an Imperial March and incidental music to a play, Arthur.
Elgar was an early convert to recorded music. In 1926 the HMV recording company contracted Elgar to record all his orchestral works. Elgar was a fine conductor and he series is exemplary (Elgar made the initial recording in Abbey Road Studios with his good friend George Bernard Shaw in attendance).In 1932 he recorded his Violin Concerto with a sixteen year old Yehudi Menuhin and the results are exemplary. Shortly after this recording Elgar developed terminal cancer and was to die on February 23rd 1934. There was one surprise to come more than a half century later, Elgar was secretly composing a Third Symphony it was completed by an English composer Anthony Payne from substantial sketches and has been successfully performed and recorded.
Elgar though a well known composer worldwide has a far greater reputation in the U.K... There is a specifically English quality to his music that does not travel well. The music can seem at first blush seem to be long winded and over earnest and since we don’t have a choral tradition like the English, his oratorios the heart of his work are hardly known outside of the U.K. There is a misconception of Elgar’s nature he was far from the jingoistic, imperialist figure that his patriotic music leads one to believe. He was a Catholic from the working classes which made him an outsider in the upper reaches of English Society. He was as we have noted a man who often was doubtful and melancholic. The recent popularity of the Cello Concerto and Violin Concerto in the USA has shown this gentle lyrical side and has made new fans for his music worldwide. When we turn to recordings the masterful interpretations of Sir Adrian Boult and Sir John Barbirolli have been the standard. And we should not overlook the work of the late Richard Hickox who made so many excellent recordings of Elgar’s lesser known works.