This collection of essays offers a new insight into the composer's life. With chapters written by Yehudi Menuhin, Christopher Kent, Dame Janet Baker and Nicholas Kenyon, it is a must for Elgar enthusiasts.Edward Elgar was a man of many contradictions. He was born an outsider, into a family of lower-middle class, Catholic, origins. Yet his fame, and ability to write music that struck a chord in the national consciousness, led him to adopt a sycophantic attitude towards the Royal Family and high society, even though he always felt ill at ease with them. Elgar was a depressive with a problematic marriage, who craved recognition, but in many ways he regretted the piece of music which made him famous. 'Pomp and Circumstance' made him the leading English composer of his age, but also contributed to the jingoism which he so disliked during the First World War.Yet, unquestionably, he was the greatest musical genius that England had produced in centuries. This Portrait, by some of the scholars and musicians that understand him best, offers new light on a wide range of aspects of Edward Elgar's life and work.

Author Biography

Nicholas Kenyon was Director of the Proms from 1996--2007. He was formerly head of Radio 3 and music critic for the Observer and the New Yorker. He is currently Managing Director of The Barbican in London.