Edward Elgar (1857–1934)

Born in 1857 near Worcester, the son of a piano tuner who ran a music shop, Edward Elgar learned music almost entirely by himself. For a long time he earned his living as a violin teacher and provincial musician.

In 1889 he married Caroline Alice Roberts, his former pupil, who believed in his talent; he had given her Salut d’amour as an engagement present. Recognition came late, past the age of forty, with the Enigma Variations (1899), then the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900).

His Pomp and Circumstance marches, the first of which became Land of Hope and Glory, made him a national musician. Knighted in 1904, he went on to write two symphonies, a violin concerto and a cello concerto (1919).

After his wife’s death in 1920 he composed much less. He died in Worcester in 1934.