Customer Reviews

The Life of Elgar (Musical Lives)

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I have had a longtime interest in the music of Sir Edward Elgar but I never knew very much about the composer or a great deal about his music, for that matter, other than his main works. With the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth I thought it was time to learn more about his, and this book by Michael Kennedy was everything that I wanted.

Mr. Kennedy's biography is well-written and nicely illustrated. He does not go into a lot of technical detail about Elgar's music which is appropriate in a general life and I can get additional detail, if I want it, from the internet. The author provides an excellent portrait of Elgar with all of his subject's complexities. The general view of Edward Elgar is that he was a proper Englishman and his music reflected the glory of empire and the so-called Edwardian period. Nothing could be more false. Elgar enjoyed and was influenced more by German music than anything else and he was very insecure about his stature as a composer, probably because he came to composition without much formal training. He often threatened to give up music altogether as a way of gaining sympathy and he would have bouts of psychosomatic illnesses, such as problems with his eyes and throat.

Mr. Kennedy's book provided me with an excellent introduction to all of Elgar's music and led me to investigate other works such as The Black Knight, the String Quartet and Quintet. He also relates events in Elgar's life but does not push the reader to any critical point-of-view or speculation. I came to some of my own conclusions: it seemed to me that Elgar's daughter Carice was rather neglected by her parents (for example, they did not attend her confirmation) in favor of her father's moods and temperament. One could also speculate about Elgar's relationship with Alice Wortly (his Windflower who was the Muse for his Violin Concerto and Second Symphony) and his late-in-life affection for Vera Hockman. I enjoyed reading about the recording of the Violin Concerto with the 16-year-old Yehudi Menuhin and with how much regard Elgar held this recording.

This is a very appealing and highly readable book that is an excellent introduction to Edward Elgar's life. After reading the book, I have pursued further reading - a more in-depth study of the Enigma Variations and the Cello Concerto - but this is a great volume to have and keep as a reference.