Edward Elgar

Elgar was one of Britain's greatest composers, but it is not always realised how great a struggle he had to achieve the fame and recognition that he eventually received. Through one tune, Land of Hope and Glory, for years a regular feature of the Last Night of the Proms, Elgar is irrevocably linked with old-fashioned concepts of 'Empire' and narrow nationalism, but there is far more to the man than that. He become the most famous British composer of his generation, receiving many of the highest honours that the nation could bestow upon him. His first great success was in 1899 with the Enigma Variations, and for the next twenty years he wrote a stream of oratorios, symphonies, concertos, smaller orchestral pieces and chamber works musical masterpieces that are still heard and widely enjoyed today. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michael Messenger is a director of the Elgar Foundation and Chairman of the Elgar Birthplace Management Committee.