Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar was largely self-taught and developed his career outside the established metropolitan conservatoire system. His rise from provincial musician to internationally recognised composer culminated in works including the Enigma Variations , the Pomp and Circumstance marches and The Dream of Gerontius .

Elgar’s music is closely associated with late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, yet its private melancholy often complicates its public ceremonial reputation. He conducted and recorded his own music and became Master of the King’s Musick in 1924. Elgar helped establish a modern international reputation for English concert music and shaped the sound of British public ceremony. Edward Elgar was born in Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, England and died in Worcester, England.