Edward Elgar and His World

Published by Princeton University Press 2007

Edward Elgar and His World

Edited by: Byron Adams

Volume 18 in the series The Bard Music Festival

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400832101

Overview
Contents

About this book

Edward Elgar (1857-1934) is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating, important, and influential figures in the history of British music. He rose from humble beginnings and achieved fame with music that to this day is beloved by audiences in England, and his work has secured an enduring legacy worldwide. Leading scholars examine the composer's life in Edward Elgar and His World, presenting a comprehensive portrait of both the man and the age in which he lived.

Elgar's achievement is remarkably varied and wide-ranging, from immensely popular works like the famous Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1--a standard feature of American graduations--to sweeping masterpieces like his great oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. The contributors explore Elgar's Catholicism, which put him at odds with the prejudices of Protestant Britain; his glorification of British colonialism; his populist tendencies; his inner life as an inspired autodidact; the aristocratic London drawing rooms where his reputation was made; the class prejudice with which he contended throughout his career; and his anguished reaction to World War I. Published in conjunction with the 2007 Bard Music Festival and the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth, this elegant and thought-provoking volume illuminates the greatness of this accomplished English composer and brings vividly to life the rich panorama of Victorian and Edwardian Britain.

The contributors are Byron Adams, Leon Botstein, Rachel Cowgill, Sophie Fuller, Daniel M. Grimley, Nalini Ghuman Gwynne, Deborah Heckert, Charles Edward McGuire, Matthew Riley, Alison I. Shiel, and Aidan J. Thomson.

Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Author / Editor information

Byron Adams is professor of composition and musicology at the University of California, Riverside. He is the coeditor of Vaughan Williams Essays.

Reviews

This collection contains almost nothing that is unworthy, and several chapters that significantly advance the important recent realignments in Elgar scholarship (and, I hope, more widely). The old guard may grow their ulcers, but humanities scholarship should be grateful to Adams. Elgar's world has never been more illuminatingly painted.---J. P. E. Harper-Scott, Music and Letters

It is greatly to the credit of Byron Adams that, amid the plethora of Elgar material published in the last few years, Edward Elgar and His World is a vital contribution. . . . Here Adams challenges us with a rich contextual study not of Elgar's world, but of many conflicting and contradictory worlds in which the composer lived, battled, triumphed, failed, and died.---James Brooks Kuykendall, Notes

This fine and fascinating book includes welcome pieces by younger scholars working in the U.S. and England--recent PhDs who bring new perspectives, ideas, and methodologies to this tricky and provocative branch of socio/historical musicology. In addition to providing a clear, helpful introduction and a striking essay on the persistence of memory, Adams proves himself an inspired editor. The 13 essays--not a dud among them--look at societal, cultural, historical, and psychological aspects of Elgar's life and world.---W. Metcalfe, Choice

Byron Adams clearly loves Elgar and his music...[His] chapter on Elgar's self-education...is a fascinating exploration of how books read by the budding composer had an enduring influence on his music.---Daniel Jaffe, BBC Music Magazine

The essays in Edward Elgar and His World ambitiously and successfully delineate the complexity of Elgar's world and the composer's place in it. . . . All of the essays in . . . offer richly detailed, extensively documented, and fascinating explorations of different aspects of Elgar's world.---Dan Kline, Victorian Studies

[A] handsome volume of essays by a dozen scholars, who strive to assess Elgar¹s place in music history.---George B. Stauffer, Weekly Standard

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Permissions and Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Of Worcester and London: An Introduction Byron Adams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
PART I. WORCESTER
Measure of a Man: Catechizing Elgar’s Catholic Avatars Charles Edward Mcguire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Elgar the Escapist? Matthew Riley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Elgar and the Persistence of Memory Byron Adams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
“The Spirit-Stirring Drum”: Elgar and Populism Daniel M. Grimley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
PART II. DOCUMENTS
Early Reviews of The Apostles in British Periodicals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Charles Sanford Terry and Elgar’s Violin Concerto Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
PART III. LONDON
Elgar’s Critical Critics Aidan J. Thomson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Elgar and the Salons: The Significance of a Private Musical World Sophie Fuller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Elgar and the British Raj: Can the Mughals March? Nalini Ghuman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Working the Crowd: Elgar, Class, and Reformulations of Popular Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Deborah Heckert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
Elgar’s War Requiem Rachel Cowgill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
PART IV. SUMMATION
Transcending the Enigmas of Biography: The Cultural Context of Sir Edward Elgar’s Career Leon Botstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	407
Notes on the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	423

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