The music of composer Edward Elgar, born 150 years ago, remains as popular as ever. The Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstances Marches and Land of Hope and Glory are still heard today. In 1955, Diana McVeagh wrote Edward Elgar: His Life & Music but now she’s published Elgar the Music Maker to coincide with the anniversary of his birth.
What sort of legacy has Elgar left?
DM - He left half-a-dozen absolute masterpieces, worthy to rank with his predecessors and contemporaries in the UK and abroad. He also raised the status of the composer. He was the only composer of his time to refuse on principle to do another job to earn money. He accepted state honours: after him, the Order of Merit was bestowed on Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. He fought to retain the post of Master of the King's Music. His 'Land of Hope and Glory' has become a second national anthem.
What impact did Elgar's work have outside Britain?
DM - During his lifetime his music was played in Germany and USA. The foreign conductors Nikisch, Steinbach, Walter, and Weingartner took up his work in Europe, Theodore Thomas and Walter Damrosch in USA. The 1914-18 war changed all that.
At his peak, what status did Elgar have? Was he a turn-of-the-century celebrity?
DM - Not so much turn-of-the-century-celebrity (though the Enigma Variations of 1899 brought him instant fame) as fame during the first decade of the last century. His First Symphony (1908) was probably his peak.
What aspect of his work most fascinates you?
DM - Its ambivalence. Under the Edwardian opulence and assurance, there is always his personal doubt and melancholy. Succeeding generations who listen to his music hear and emphasize different qualities and emotions in it, which makes him endlessly fascinating.
How did Elgar relate nature into this work?
DM - He seemed to need nature and quietude to nourish his roots. He acknowledged several special places where he found inspiration: Severn-side, the Teme river, Mordiford Bridge, Longdon Marsh. But he also celebrated London in Cockaigne and he loved pageantry and ceremonial.
Did the invention of recording technology influence his career?
DM - He actually composed 'Carissima' for recording in December 1913, and the first performance of the Nursery Suite was in the recording studio. But the main importance is that he was among the first composers to recognise the importance of recording for posterity: in his later years he recorded most of his major works, now re-issued on CD. So recording influenced his legacy rather than his career during his life.
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