Edward Elgar - Quick facts

 

 

 

Sir Edward William Elgar was an English composer.

In 1885 he succeeded his father as organist of St. George's Church, Worcester.

Elgar was also a violinist, bassoonist, arranger, and conductor. Imperial March, composed in 1897 for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, brought him recognition.

Elgar loved wordplay: His Enigma Variations contained clues as to the people who inspired each of the pieces: His daughter was called Carice, using part of each of his wife's forenames Car(oline Al)ice: His house in Malvern was called Craeg Lea, an anagram of C(arice), A(lice) and E(dward) Elgar.

Elgar liked sport: he played golf (you can see his clubs in the Elgar Birthplace Museum), and in later years was interested in horse racing.

Elgar had a locomotive named after him. The Sir Edward Elgar was a Bulldog class loco., number 3414, and it was built in 1906 and withdrawn from service in 1938.

There are 65 roads named after Elgar in the UK, including six in the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Elgar wrote cantatas, oratorios, song cycles, patriotic music, symphony, choral and orchestral pieces, chamber music, also music for a children's play (The Starlight Express, 1915) and a ballet (The Sanguine Fan, 1917).

In 1904, an Edward Elgar festival was held in Covent Garden. Elgar was also knighted by King Edward VII that same year. He became Knight Commander of the Victorian Order in 1928.

The "Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands" is a collection of poems written by Elgar's wife which he set to music.

Edward Elgar - Notable Works

 

 

Falstaff (1913)

Variations on an Original Theme (1899)

The Dream of Gerontius

Symphony No. 1 in A flat

King Olaf (1896)

Caractacus (1898)

Froissart (1890)

Imperial March (1897)

Sea Pictures (1899)

The Apostles (1903)

The Kingdom (1906)

Violin Concerto in B minor (1910)

Cockaigne

Pomp and Circumstance Marches

In the South

The Spirit of England

Symphony No. 2 in E flat

Violin Sonata in E minor

String Quartet in E minor

Piano Quintet in A minor

Cello Concerto in E minor