Born: June 2, 1857; Broadheath, England
Died: February 23, 1934; Worcestershire,
England
Nationality: English
Occupation: Composer
Edward Elgar was an English composer born on June 2, 1857 and died on February 23, 1934. Many of his works are included in the British and international classical concert repertoire.
 |
| Elgar's birthplace, Broadheath |
His most famous works are orchestral works, including the
Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and
cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream
of Gerontius, and was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.
 |
| Elgar's parents |
In general, Elgar is considered as a typical English composer, but most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself as an outsider socially as well as musically, and was a self-taught composer.
In Protestant Britain, he believed in Roman Catholicism, and in many
places they looked at him with suspicion. In addition, in the class-conscious
society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was extremely sensitive about
his humble origins even after he was recognized, but nevertheless married the
daughter of a senior British Army officer.
 |
| Edward and his wife Alice Elgar (c.1891) |
His
wife inspired Elgar both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve
success, and when he reached his 40s, his Enigma Variations, became popular in
Britain and overseas. The Dream of Gerontius, his choral work following the
Enigma Variations, has become a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere.
 |
| Edward Elgar (1917) |
In his fifties, Elgar composed a symphony and a violin concerto that were greatly successful. However, his second symphony and cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity and took many years to achieve a regular place in the concert repertoire of British orchestras.
 |
| Edward Elgar, William Rothenstein (1919) |
Elgar's music appealed mainly to
British audiences in his later years, and for a generation after his death, it
was undervalued. But in the 1960s, with the help by new recordings of his
works, it began to revive again. Some of his works are played around the world,
but his music is played much more in Britain than elsewhere.
 |
| Elgar and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Queen's Hall |
Elgar has been described as the first composer to take the gramophone seriously, and between 1914 and 1925 he conducted a series of acoustic recordings of his works.
 |
| Edward Elgar, Percival Hedley (1905) |
When the introduction of the moving-coil microphone was made in 1923, much more accurate sound reproduction was possible, and Elgar made new recordings of most of his major orchestral works and excerpts from The Dream of Gerontius.
 |
| Elgar family grave at St Wulstan's R.C. Church, Little Malvern |
Thank
you.
No comments:
Post a Comment