Edoo

Edward Elgar was a funny bloke.

He was born into a lower middle-class family who were in 'trade' (his father owned a shop). He was also a Catholic. This meant he was very much infra-dig as far as the Edwardian establishment were concerned. Unacceptably outside the Pale. But he went a head and married an Indian Army general's daughter (Alice Roberts) and forced his way into 'respectability' by dint of popularity, hard work, and a love of medals and honours. But he couldn't have done it (i.e. become England's greatest composer) without Alice, who did all the donkey-work of making contacts, copying his MSS, taking parcels to the post-office for him, and generally being the powerhouse of his career. Behind every great man, there is an even greater woman.

He put England back on the musical map in around 1900 via the famous Enigma Variations. Thereafter, he became stoutly symbolic of a kind of 'official' Englishness, that goes hand in hand with flag and patriotism. He was never political. But, like I said, he was never one to turn down an honour.

When Alice died his career fell apart. He composed little of any greatness after the Cello Concerto (all about his grief).

Compare him to Ralph Vaughan Williams, who paradoxically, was from very establishment families (he was related to both the Wedgwoods and the Darwins), but led a very quasi-socialist life. It's not where you start, but where you end up that matters.

By Bea Groved-McDaniel