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Edward Elgar

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Born / died

1857-1934

Movement

Romantic

Location

Born in Lower Broadheath

Friends / contemporaries

Anton Webern, Bedrich Smetana, Charles-Valentin Alkan +3 more

Edward Elgar, one of the pre-eminent musical figures of his time, bridged the 19th and 20th centuries as the finest English composer since the days of Handel and Purcell.Spotify

His compositions have been recorded countless times, and many have become mainstays in the classical repertoire throughout the world. Elgar was born in Broadheath, England, on June 2, 1857.Spotify

His father owned a music shop and was a church organist who taught his son piano, organ, and violin; apart from this instruction, Elgar was practically self-taught as a musician. At the age of 16, the composer became a freelance musician, and for the remainder of his life, he never took a permanent job. He conducted locally, performed, taught, and composed, scraping by until his marriage to Caroline Alice Roberts, a published novelist of some wealth, in 1889.Spotify

Elgar had by this time achieved only limited recognition. He and his wife moved to London, where he scarcely fared better in advancing his career. The couple eventually retreated to Worcester, Elgar suffering from bitter self-doubt and depression.Spotify

Alice stood by him the entire time, her unfailing confidence restoring his spirits. He was further buoyed by the success of his Imperial March, Op. 32, which earned him a publisher and a vital friendship with August Jaeger, his editor and confidant.Spotify

In 1899, Elgar composed one of his best-known works, the "Enigma" Variations, Op. 36, which catapulted him to fame. The work is a cryptic tribute to Alice and to the many friends who stood behind the composer in the shaky early days of his career.Spotify

Conductor Hans Richter proclaimed it a masterpiece, and his performances of the work in Britain and Germany established the composer's lasting success. Elgar's most fruitful period was the first decade of the 20th century, during which he wrote some of his noblest, most expressive music, including the Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op.Spotify

55 (1907-1908), and the Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 (1909-1910). His best-known works from this period, however, are the first four of his Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901-1907); the first of these, subtitled "Land of Hope and Glory," became an unofficial second national anthem for the British Empire.Spotify

Elgar suffered a blow when Jaeger (the "Nimrod" of the "Enigma" Variations) died in 1909. The composer's productivity dropped, and the horrors of World War I deepened his melancholy outlook. His music became more intimate, even anguished.Spotify

Still, he wrote some of his best chamber music during this period, as well as the masterly Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (1919), whose deep feeling of sadness and impending loss surely relates to the final illness of his faithful Alice, who died in 1920. For some time after her death, Elgar wrote little of significance, but he made a historical foray into the recording studios when new electrical recording processes were developed.Spotify

The fortunate result was a number of masterly interpretations of his orchestral music that have survived for posterity. In the early 1930s, Elgar set to work on a third symphony, left unfinished at his death in Worcester on February 23, 1934. The work was brought to a generally well-received realization by Anthony Payne in the late 1990s and was subsequently recorded.Spotify

~ Rovi Staff, Rovi

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role: unknown · 20%era: Romanticmovement: Romantic1857–1934

Movement

Romantic

How this movement sounds

rubatochromatic harmonybig climaxesricher timbrelong lyrical linesnarrative feel

Romantic listening cues: heightened emotion, longer lyrical melodies, and more freedom with rubato (flexible timing) in performance.

Harmony is often more chromatic, with colorful chords and side-steps that create tension and release over longer spans. You may hear more delayed resolutions and more 'yearning' harmonic motion.

Dynamics and texture often expand: thicker sonorities, bigger climaxes, and a strong sense of narrative or character (even in purely instrumental music).

In piano music, listen for the use of pedaling and resonance to create a halo around harmony; in orchestral music, listen for richer timbre and denser voicing (inner lines matter).

A useful trick: follow the bass line. In Romantic music it often shapes the drama, pulling the harmony through longer arcs rather than short phrase punctuation.

How Edward Elgar sounds

rubatorich harmonylong melodybig dynamicscoloristic pedal

Romantic music tends to foreground emotion and color: long singing melodies, flexible tempo (rubato), and harmony that stretches and sighs.

You often hear thicker textures, wider dynamic range, and a more "orchestral" use of the piano with deep bass and resonant pedaling.

Look for heightened contrast and personal voice: the same musical gesture can feel intimate one moment and heroic the next.

Wikipedia

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet ( ; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire.Wikipedia

Among his best-known compositions 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, chamber music and songs.Wikipedia

He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially.Wikipedia

In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British Army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas.Wikipedia

He followed the Variations with a choral…Wikipedia

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