Edward Elgar

Cello Concerto in E Minor, op. 85

            It would surely be no presumption that perhaps the most common image of Sir Edward Elgar is the walrus-mustachioed, imperious figure who—like the similar picture of Lord Kitchener on the WW I recruiting posters—represents all that is Edwardian England.  In the popular imagination he might be the embodiment of Imperial Britain, the empire on which the sun never set, and more specifically, the most “English” of English composers.  This picture is indelibly enhanced by every American’s encounter, at any graduation worth the name, with Elgar’s most famous composition, Pomp and Circumstance (actually, the trio of the first of five marches by that name).  Well, it’s simply not true—or at least, a gross exaggeration.  While Elgar was Britain’s most influential composer dur

Introduction and Allegro, op. 47

            It would surely be no presumption that perhaps the most common image of Sir Edward Elgar is the walrus-mustachioed, imperious figure who—like the similar picture of Lord Kitchener on the WW I recruiting posters—represents all that is Edwardian England.  In the popular imagination he might be the embodiment of Imperial Britain, the empire on which the sun never set, and more specifically, the most “English” of English composers.  This picture is indelibly enhanced by every American’s encounter, at any graduation worth the name, with Elgar’s most famous composition, Pomp and Circumstance (actually, the trio of the first of five marches by that name).  Well, it’s simply not true—or at least, a gross exaggeration.  While Elgar was Britain’s most influential composer dur