Edward Elgar

Sir EDWARD WILLIAM ELGAR, the most celebrated English composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, began his career as a versatile performer as a violinist, pianist, organist, composer and conductor. He gained extensive recognition with some of his first major works for orchestra, such as the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. He composed a vast body of work in all genres - cantatas and oratorios (including The Dream of Gerontius), chamber, piano and organ works, symphonies and various other orchestral works, vocal opuses, theatre music, and the cello and violin concertos still in repertoire today. Highly regarded by his contemporaries, Elgar was given the title of First Baronet of Broadheath (his birthplace), was made a Member of the Order of Merit, a Knight of the Grand Cross, and in 1924 was appointed Master of the Queen's Music. Eleven streets bear his name in various towns and cities in England, many monuments have been erected, his birthplace has been turned into a museum, the Elgar Society actively promotes his artistic legacy, the Bank of England printed his face on new banknotes from 1999 to 2007, several films have been made about him, and excerpts from his works are performed at the most solemn ceremonies in England and America.