Elgar
Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was an English composer whose orchestral works, particularly the Enigma Variations, established a distinctively English symphonic tradition.
In Depth
Elgar was largely self-taught and rose from modest circumstances in Worcester to become the leading English composer of his generation. The Enigma Variations (1899) and the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900) brought him international fame. His two symphonies, Cello Concerto, and Violin Concerto are pillars of the English orchestral repertoire.
His Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, with its "Land of Hope and Glory" trio, became an unofficial second national anthem. Yet beneath the public grandeur lay a deeply sensitive, often melancholic personality. The Cello Concerto, written after World War I, is suffused with autumnal sadness. After his wife Alice died in 1920, his creative output virtually ceased.
Each variation in Elgar's Enigma Variations portrays a friend — but the overarching "enigma" theme that supposedly runs through the whole work has never been definitively identified.