Elgar: The Master Musicians

by Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson has ranged through diaries, correspondene, and musical manuscripts to convery Elgar's complex personality, his constant need for reassurance, and his struggles to transform himslef from a gifted improvisor into a great composer. Anderson expertly traces the preoccupations that bind together Elgar's life and works. Elgar expressed a heartfelt religious faith in works such as the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, which describes a dying man's vision of a world behond death. Clearly more than a composer of merely English music, Elgar must nevertheless be understood in the light of his English background to appreciate his achievement. Robert Anderson's new biography evokes in lavish detain the society and the culture in which Edward Elgar lived and made his music.

493 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

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Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anderson does a nice job of presenting Elgar. He divides his biography into a large section of typical biography followed by a similar section on Elgar's music and ending with a short chapter summarizing some musical tendencies. The ordering works well but I would have preferred to have the biography, musical compositions, and themes together. I think this presentation makes it a bit difficult to place the compositions within history an therefore to fully appreciate the influences on Elgar's music as well as his musical responses. Anderson presents the compositions according to type which also makes it a bit difficult to follow Elgar's development as a composer. Regardless, overall the book is well written and offers insight into Elgar's musical works with a hint of the person.