Born:
2 June 1857, Broadheath, England Died: 23 February 1934, Worcester, England
Elgar, Edward
One of the most significant English
composers in the late Romantic period. As a son of a father who owned a
music shop with musical scores, he learned the principles of composition
by himself. He earned his living as an violinist,
organist
and teacher, until he was able to move to London
as a composer. But his success came years later, after returning to the
West of England.
Being an auto-didact (a self-learned
person) he suffered a lack of confidence all his life,
due to his being musically uneducated, yet gained vast success as a composer,
especially his "Enigma Variation",
in which the riddle is the source of the theme on which the variations
are based. The popularity he enjoyed with the variations led to a wave
of interest in his earlier works, including the Pomp
and Circumstance Marches.
Another popular and famous piece
he wrote, is the poignant Cello Concerto,
his last important work. Many years after Elgar's death, the concerto will
become most popular under the proficient technique and powerful interpretation
of the English cellist Jacqueline Du Pré.
Elgar Cello Concerto 1st mov. by Jacqueline Du Pre and Daniel Barenboim as conductor