Sir Edward Elgar

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) was born in Worcestershire and taught himself to play the piano and the violin in his father’s music shop. His innate talent saw him devote his life to music ~ as a violin teacher, orchestral musician, conductor and prolific composer. His works are regarded as quintessentially ‘English’. His most famous is ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, sung at the last night of The Proms and, to many, an unofficial national anthem.

He was knighted by King Edward VII in 1904, just a few years after his first big success with the ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ marches and the ‘Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma)’. He also wrote two symphonies and more than 150 other songs, choral pieces, concertos, sonatas and quartets.

A year before he died, he recorded his Violin Concerto with the 16-year-old Yehudi Menuhin with himself conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. This was in the very early days of vinyl records. Elgar’s music has featured in many royal occasions. This is ‘Nimrod’ being played for Remembrance Sunday:-

(Image of Elgar statue in Hereford: Oliver Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)