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Image:Edward_Elgar.jpg|right|frame|Sir Edward
Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, Order of
Merit|OM, Royal Victorian Order|GCVO (2 June
1857 – 23 February 1934) was an
England|English composer, born in the small
village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester,
Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner
and music dealer, and his wife Ann.


==Biography==
Surrounded by sheet music and instruments in his
father's shop in Worcester, England|Worcester's
High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in
music. On warm summer days, he would take
manuscripts into the countryside to study them.
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."

Having left school at the age of 15, he began work
for a local solicitor, but after a year embarked
on a musical career, conducting piano and violin
lessons. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster
at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in
Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester. 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
Antonin Dvorak's Sixth Symphony and 'Stabat Mater'
under the composer's baton. Elgar was thrilled by
Dvorak's orchestration and this remained an
influence on his own style for more than a decade.

At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline)
Alice Roberts, a Major-General's daughter (shades
of Gilbert and Sullivan) and an author of verse
and prose fiction. He married her three years
later against the wishes of her family, giving her
as an engagement present the short violin and
piano piece Salut d'amour. 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.

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, King Olaf (1896), The Light of Life and
Caractacus were all modestly successful and he
obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and
Company.

Image:Edward Elgar statue.png|200px|thumb|left|The
statue of Edward Elgar at the end of Worcester
High StreetIn 1899, at the age of 42, his first
major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, was
premiered in London under the baton of the eminent
German conductor Hans Richter (conductor)|Hans
Richter. It was received with general acclaim,
establishing Elgar as the pre-eminent British
composer of his generation.  This work is formally
titled Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma). 
The enigma is that although there are thirteen
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.

The 1900|following year saw the production in
Birmingham of his choral setting of John Henry
Newman|Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of
Gerontius. Despite a disastrous first performance,
the work was established within a few years as one
of Elgar's greatest, and it is now regarded as one
of the finest examples of English choral music
from any era.

Elgar is probably best known for the Pomp and
Circumstance Marches (1901).  Shortly after their
composition, Elgar was asked to set the first
march to words by A C Benson as a Coronation Ode
to mark the coronation of Edward VII of the United
Kingdom|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.

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".  His Symphony No.
1 (Elgar)|Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one
hundred performances in its first year, and in
1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony
No. 2 (Elgar)|Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of
Merit bestowed upon him.  However, with the advent
of World War I, his music fell out of fashion, and
after the death of his wife in 1920 he wrote
little of importance. Shortly before her death he
composed the elegiac Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello
Concerto.  This suggests that Alice Elgar was the
main influence behind his successes, achieving her
own ambition through the man of her choice.  A
biography of her has been written by Percy M.
Young.

Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey,
England|Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which
time he was made Master of the King's Musick.

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 its completion but the
sketches have since been elaborated into a
successful symphony in the style of Elgar by the
composer Anthony Payne. 

Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral,
but he did write for soloists and groups of other
instruments. 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. It is occasionally performed in
its arrangement by 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
frequently-performed part of the English Romantic
organ repertoire.

The house in Lower Broadheath where he was born is
now a museum devoted to him. There is a statue of
him at the end of Worcester High Street, facing
the cathedral, only yards from where his father's
shop once stood.

A portrait of Sir Edward Elgar can be found on the
British banknotes|British twenty pound note. In
addition to the statue in Worcester, illustrated
in this article, another statue of the composer
stands at the top of Church Street in Malvern,
within two miles of his home, 'Marlbank', in that
town. The statue leans upon a railing overlooking
the town, thus giving visitors an opportunity to
stand next to the composer in the shadow of the
Hills which he so often regarded.

Elgar is also remembered as a passionate and
adventurous early cyclist.

==Quotes==

"Elgar's music is wonderful in its heroic
melancholy."

William Butler Yeats on the incidental music for
"Grania and Diarmid".


==Honours and Awards==
* 1904 - Elgar was made a knight bachelor.  This
entitled him to the title 'Sir Edward Elgar', but
no post-nominal letters.
* 1911 - he was admitted to the Order of Merit. 
He was now 'Sir Edward Elgar OM'.
* 1924 - he was made Master of the King's Musick
* 1928 - Elgar was created a Royal Victorian
Order|Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian
Order, becoming 'Sir Edward Elgar OM KCVO'. 
* 1931 - he was made a baronet, becoming 'Sir
Edward Elgar Bt OM KCVO'.  A baronetcy is an
hereditary knighthood, but is passed on only
through the male line.  As Elgar had only a
daughter, the baronetcy became extinct on his
death.
* 1933 - Elgar was promoted within the Royal
Victorian Order to  Royal Victorian Order|Knight
Grand Cross.  He was now 'Sir Edward Elgar Bt OM
GCVO'.

==Works==

===Orchestral Works===

*Froissart, Overture for orchestra op. 19	(1890)
*Serenade for string orchestra op. 20 (revised
version of Three Pieces for string orchestra,
1888/ 1892)	
*Enigma Variations|Variations on an original Theme
Enigma for orchestra op.36 (1899)
*Sea Pictures, Song Cycle for contralto and
orchestra op. 37 (1897-99)
*Cockaigne (In London Town), Overture for
orchestra op. 40	(1900/01)
*Pomp and Circumstance Marches|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
by William Butler 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 Marches|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 Marches|Pomp and
Circumstance, March No.4 for orchestra (1907)
*The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 1 for orchestra op.
1a (1867-71/1907)	
*The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 2 for orchestra op.
1b (1867-71/1908)	
*Symphony No. 1 (Elgar)|Symphony No.1 for
orchestra op.55 (1907/08)
*Elegy for string orchestra op. 58 (1909)
*Romance for bassoon and orchestra op. 62 (1909)
*Violin Concerto (Elgar)|Concerto for Violin and
Orchestra  op. 61 (1909/10)
*Symphony No. 2 (Elgar)|Symphony No.2 for
orchestra op.63 (1909-1911)
*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 inicidental music to
the play by Algernon Blackwood, 1915/1916)	
*The Sanguine Fan for orchestra op.81 (1917)
*Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Concerto for Cello and
Orchestra  op.85  (1918/1919)
*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
(1928/1929)
*Pomp and Circumstance Marches|Pomp and
Circumstance, March No.5 for orchestra (1930)
*Nursery Suite for orchestra (1931)	
*Severn Suite for orchestra, op. 87a (1930/1932)
*Mina for chamber orchestra (1933)		
*Symphony No.3 for orchestra op.88 (sketches,
1932-34, elaborated by Anthony Payne 1972-1997)

===Works for chorus and orchestra (Cantatas,
Oratorios etc.)===
*The Black Knight, Symphony/Cantata for chorus and
orchestra op. 25  (1889-92)	
*From the Bavarian Highlands for chorus and
orchestra op.27 (1895/1896)
*The Light of Life (Lux Christi), Oratorio for
soloists, chorus and orchestra op.29  (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)

===Chamber Music===
*Sonata for violin and piano op. 82	 (1918)
*String Quartet op.83 (1918)
*Piano Quintet op.84  (1918/19)
*Soliloquy for solo oboe (1930)


==See also==
* :