June 2 - Edward Elgar (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for June 2nd are found here: Edward Elgar (2019) and (2020)

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Edward Elgar (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) is arguably the most important British composer between Purcell and Britten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pomp (The View from Mid-Century)

“Boastful self-confidence, emotional vulgarity, material extravagance, a ruthless philistinism expressed in tasteless architecture and every kind of expensive yet hideous accessory: such features of a late phase of Imperial England are faithfully reflected in Elgar's larger works and are apt to prove indigestible today.”‘ --- The Record Guide (1955) as qtd in Wikipedia..

While Elgar had never been dodgy,

Or reckless, or lax, or hodgy-podgy,

It was time in the swamp

Of Edwardian pomp

That left him inflated and stodgy.

 

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And Circumstance (The View from 2020)

"Elgar was the most significant composer Britain has produced since Henry Purcell, and his finest music – the symphonies and concertos – easily stands comparison with that of his late-romantic contemporaries Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler." -- Andrew Clements, in The Guardian, 28 Aug 2020

How quickly opinion has shifted,

As if plugs in our ears had been lifted;

The man who before

Was a pompous old bore,

Now ranks with the blessedly gifted.

 

 

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