Sir Edward Elgar, Bt
(1857-1934), Composer and conductorSitter in 19 portraits
Largely self-taught, Elgar came to prominence in the 1890s with high-profile commissions including the Imperial March for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee (1897). His international breakthrough came with the orchestral Enigma Variations, 1899, a series of musical portraits of his wife and friends. His reputation as a leading British composer was confirmed the following year with The Dream of Gerontius. Other works include the Pomp and Circumstance marches, 1901-7, the Violin Concerto, 1910, and the Cello Concerto, 1919, compositions which have won him renewed popularity and a vast audience in the twenty first century. He was knighted in 1904 and appointed Master of the King's Music in 1924.
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