Edward Elgar

Books about Edward Elgar and his music

Diana McVeagh Elgar the Music Maker Boydell Press, 2007-06-21; ISBN 184383295X; 240 pages 'The new Diana McVeagh book on Elgar is first-rate,' wrote Gerald Finzi of her earlier study of the composer, published in 1955. In the completely new Elgar the Music Maker she harvests five decades of thoughts about his music, scrutinizing the biographical details that have since been discovered and using them to assess the ways in which they affect the compositions. Diana McVeagh explores Elgar's complex personality and his compositional methods, his style and his relationship to his contemporaries, yet it is the music - still played, recorded, loved and discussed as much as ever- that remains her prime focus. Each of Elgar's works is discussed, balancing information and appraisal, from his juvenilia to his unfinished Third Symphony. Diana McVeagh provides a compelling and accessible companion to the music of one of England's greatest composers. Musicians, scholars and CD collectors alike will find much to enjoy in Elgar the Music Maker. Price indication: $ 25.94

Byron Adams Edward Elgar and His World (The Bard Music Festival) Princeton University Press, 2007-07-30; ISBN 0691134464; 448 pages Edward Elgar (1857-1934) is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating, important, and influential figures in the history of British music. He rose from humble beginnings and achieved fame with music that to this day is beloved by audiences in England, and his work has secured an enduring legacy worldwide. Leading scholars examine the composer's life in Edward Elgar and His World , presenting a comprehensive portrait of both the man and the age in which he lived. Elgar's achievement is remarkably varied and wide-ranging, from immensely popular works like the famous Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1--a standard feature of American graduations--to sweeping masterpieces like his great oratorio The Dream of Gerontius . The contributors explore Elgar's Catholicism, which put him at odds with the prejudices of Protestant Britain; his glorification of British colonialism; his populist tendencies; his inner life as an inspired autodidact; the aristocratic London drawing rooms where his reputation was made; the class prejudice with which he contended throughout his career; and his anguished reaction to World War I. Published in conjunction with the 2007 Bard Music Festival and the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth, this elegant and thought-provoking volume illuminates the greatness of this accomplished English composer and brings vividly to life the rich panorama of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The contributors are Byron Adams, Leon Botstein, Rachel Cowgill, Sophie Fuller, Daniel M. Grimley, Nalini Ghuman Gwynne, Deborah Heckert, Charles Edward McGuire, Matthew Riley, Alison I. Shiel, and Aidan J. Thomson. Price indication: $ 22.95

Julian Rushton Elgar: Enigma Variations (Cambridge Music Handbooks) Cambridge University Press, 1999; ISBN 052163637X; 128 pages Elgar's Variations for Orchestra, commonly known as the 'Enigma' Variations, marked an epoch both in his career, and in the renaissance of English music at the turn of the century. The first extended study of the work, this Cambridge Music Handbook contains historical information concerning the conception and writing of the work, an extended musical discussion requiring only a little technical knowledge of music, and a fascinating survey of the "solutions" to the mystery implied by the title of Elgar's most famous work. Price indication: $ 21.99

Michael Kennedy The Life of Elgar (Musical Lives) Cambridge University Press, 2004; ISBN 0521009073; 238 pages This new biography of Elgar draws on letters and documents which have become available over the last twenty-five years. Michael Kennedy, a leading scholar of British music as well as a distinguished musical biographer, uses the new material (including Elgar's vast personal correspondence) to analyze the composer's complex personality. Elgar's letters reveal his unpredictable swings of mood, from gaiety and a fondness for puns to morose self-pity and a feeling that he was "not wanted." Price indication: $ 22.99

Daniel M. Grimley and Julian Rushton and Jonathan Cross The Cambridge Companion to Elgar (Cambridge Companions to Music) Cambridge University Press, 2005; ISBN 0521533635; 276 pages Divided into three sections, this Companion explores Edward Elgar's early career, his major musical achievements, and the reception, performance and interpretation of his work. Placed in this wider perspective, Elgar emerges as a pivotal figure in the British cultural imagination at a defining historical moment for England's musical identity. Price indication: $ 25.99

Simon Mundy Elgar (Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers Series) Omnibus Press, 2001; ISBN 0711989214; 224 pages This series of biographies presents the great composers against the background of their times. Each draws on personal letters and recollections, engravings, paintings and, when they exist, photographs, to present a complete picture of the composer s life. Price indication: $ 15.72

J. P. E. Harper-Scott ELGAR: AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE. Associated Board of the Royal School of Music, 2007-01-01; ISBN 1860967701; 160 pages Price indication: $ 25.38

David Nice Edward Elgar: An Essential Guide to His Life and Works (Classic FM Lifelines Series) Pavilion Books, 1997-05; ISBN 1857939778; 112 pages Written with energy and accessible prose, Cl assic FM''s Lifelines series presents biographies of the worl d''s most famous composers, chosen from a Classic FM survey. ' Price indication: $ 69.00

Michael Kennedy Portrait of Elgar (Clarendon Paperbacks) Oxford University Press, USA, 1993; ISBN 0198163657; 408 pages The public image of Elgar as patriotic country squire was established in his lifetime, but, in reality, it concealed a highly complex, sometimes baffling, private individual. Although acquaintances found him a man of endless curiosity and good humour, his family and close friends knew him to be rather different: a prey to despair, neurotically mistrustful both of himself and of those who loved him and so damaged by the condescension and neglect of his early years that emotionally he never recovered. This is a reissue of the third edition of Michael Kenedy's portrait of this complexman - not an analytical survey of the music but a faithful likeness of the composer, recognizable, but at the same time a thoroughly individual interpretation of the subject. Price indication: $ 64.00

Michael Messenger Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) Shire Publications, 2006; ISBN 0747806217; 56 pages Forever linked to the Last Night of the Proms, the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester cathedrals, and his evocative 'Enigma Variations', Edward Elgar's music is a joy to chorcal societies and orchestras worldwide. The son of a piano tuner, born in a tiny cottage in Worcestershire, brought up as a Roman Catholic in Protestant England, withut university education or formal musical training, Elgar overcame these disadvantages to become the most famous British composer of his generation. Price indication: $ 10.40

Norman Del Mar and Jonathan Del Mar Conducting Elgar Oxford University Press, 1999; ISBN 019816551X; 288 pages This is the final book in the series on orchestral conducting that Norman Del Mar had been writing until his death in February 1994. As with the previous books, each chapter is devoted to a specific work, and once again all the major orchestral works of this important composer are covered. The book culminates in an important study of The Dream of Gerontius completed by his son Jonathan, himself a conductor. Norman Del Mar was renowned in his generation as an interpreter of English music and in particular for his understanding of Elgar's music. His explanations of the subtleties of guiding an orchestra through these magnificent scores are an invaluable help to all those who seek to clarify this elusive music. Elgar's own recordings are frequently consulted but not always accepted. Price indication: $ 100.00

Daniel M. Grimley and Julian Rushton The Cambridge Companion to Elgar (Cambridge Companions to Music) Cambridge University Press, 2005; ISBN 0521826233; 276 pages Divided into three sections, this Companion explores Edward Elgar's early career, his major musical achievements, and the reception, performance and interpretation of his work. Placed in this wider perspective, Elgar emerges as a pivotal figure in the British cultural imagination at a defining historical moment for England's musical identity. Price indication: $ 75.00

Jerrold Northrop Moore Edward Elgar: A creative life (Oxford lives) Oxford University Press, 1990; ISBN 0192840142; 858 pages Drawing on a vast amount of source material, much of it previously unpublished, Moore here presents Sir Edward Elgar's life and works as inseparable parts of a single creative whole. Price indication: $ 115.00

Ian. Parrott Elgar. (The Master musicians series) J M Dent & Sons Ltd, 1977; ISBN 0460031090; 154 pages Price indication: $ 17.95

Jerrold Northrop Moore Elgar : A Life in Photographs Oxford University Press, USA, 1988; ISBN 0193154250; 112 pages This pictorial record of the life of Sir Edward Elgar contains contemporary postcards, family photographs, and newspaper illustrations that combine to form an illuminating and moving portrait of the great composer. Price indication: $ 4.99

Michael De-La-Noy Elgar : The Man Viking Adult, 1984; ISBN 0713915323; 256 pages Elgar deliberately made a mystery of his private life, so that only his most perceptive friends ever really knew Elgar the Man. Born in 1857, the son of a piano-tuner and a farmer's daughter, Elgar spent his first forty years showing little sign that life had anything more to offer than his job as bandmaster in the Worcester Lunatic Asylum and a niche in the provincial music circuit. Then, in 1899, the success of his Enigma Variations made him a national celebrity. He crammed his whole life's work into the next twenty years, ending in 1919 with his Cello Concerto. He had fifteen years left to live, years spent in bitter disillusionment in which he felt his life had been a failure. In this penetrating and moving biography Michael De-la-Noy reveals for the first time the depth and complexity of a man whom, he believes, struggled against exceptional emotional difficulties to produce some of the finest music ever written. Price indication: $ 5.69

John Fielder Porte Sir Edward Elgar, Kennikat Press, 1970; ISBN 080460763X; 214 pages Publisher: London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner Price indication: $ 11.00

Stewart R. Craggs Edward Elgar: A Source Book Scolar Pr, 1995; ISBN 0859679209; 250 pages This volume provides reference sources to Elgar's life and music, a catalogue of works and first performances, a listing of recorded works conducted by Elgar, a location list of important collections, a select bibliography, and a chronology of Elgar's life. Price indication: $ 124.95

Maxwell F. Kennedy and Michael Kennedy Portrait of Elgar 2/E Oxford University Press, 1997; ISBN 0193154498; 392 pages Price indication: $ 10.40

Jerrold Northrop Moore Spirit of England: Edward Elgar in His World Beaufort Books, Inc., 1984; ISBN 0434475416; 200 pages Price indication: $ 1.17

Sheet music, libretti, etc.

Cello Concerto in E Minor in Full Score - Dover Publications
A tour de force for any cellist, Elgar's magnificent Cello Concerto is performed more frequently than any other except that of Dvorak. Regarded as an elegy for a lost world, the Cello Concerto was written after the composer's lengthy creative stagnation during World War I. Melodic and evocative, it exhibits a remarkable scope, ranging from tragic passion to buoyant optimism. Cellists and other music lovers will delight in this full score of Elgar's last major work, reproduced from an authoritative source.<br>

Edward Elgar: Six Very Easy Pieces For Violin Op.22 (Music Sales America) - Music Sales America
Edward Elgar's Six Very Easy Pieces Op.22 in the first position, for Violin with Piano accompaniment. Suitable for Violinists of Grade 2-3 standard.

Elgar Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in E minor Op. 85 (Eulenburg Audio+Score Series) - Eulenburg
The Eulenburg Audio+Score Series covers more than 200 years of the world's favorite classical music. Each of the 50 volumes consists of a clearly-presented and authoritative musical score, an informative preface detailing the biographical and creative background, and a Naxos CD containing the work in full length. Eulenburg Audio+Score is the new way to hear, read, and understand music for everyone from the casual music lover to the expert enthusiast. Each volume includes a study score of the music with an informative article and a CD with a complete recording of the featured piece.

Elgar: Organ Album, Book 1 - Novello
Contents include: Cantique, Carillon, Imperial March, Adagio, from the Violoncello Concerto; and Solemn Prelude In Memoriam, from For The Fallen.

Elgar: Organ Album, Book 2 - Novello
Contents include: Nimrod, from Enigma Variations; Triumphal March, from Caractacus; Funeral March, from Grania And Diarmid; and Prelude And AngelÂ’s Farewell, from The Dream Of Gerontius.

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance (The Concert Performer Series) - Amsco Music
Now the greatest piano pieces of all time are available as individual sheets with a matching CD.

Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance Marches in Full Score - Dover Publications
Authoritative British editions of the 14 Variations, rich with melody and vibrant rhythms, each revealing a facet of a central theme never fully expressed and each depicting an unnamed friend of the composer. Four of the five stirring Pomp and Circumstance Marches are included here as well. Filled with a distinctively English grandeur, they are popular everywhere and have been frequently recorded.<br>

Enigma Variations: Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 - Dover Publications
The 1899 debut of the Enigma Variations won Edward Elgar renown throughout the British Isles and abroad, and the work remains one of the most widely performed of the popular composer's works. Reprinted here from an authoritative English edition, the 14 variations teem with rich melodies and vibrant rhythms. Each portrays the personality of one of the Elgar's friends, with an underlying mysterious central theme that is never fully revealed. Filled with a distinctively English grandeur, the Enigma Variations are beloved everywhere and have been frequently recorded. Unabridged republication of the edition first published by Novello & Co., London, in 1899.<br>

Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 (Schott) - Eulenburg

Pomp and Circumstance Marches: Military Marches Nos. 1 - 5 for Orchestra Study Score - Eulenburg

Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 in Full Score - Dover Publications
Two of the much-loved English composer’s best and most powerful works includes Symphony No. 1 in A-flat Major (Op. 55), which created a sensation at its premiere and was performed more than 100 times in the year of its debut; and Symphony No. 2 in E-flat Major (Op. 63), which achieves an even greater degree of clarity and directness of expression. Reproduced from authoritative scores in a practical, high-quality volume.<br>

Works for String Orchestra - Dover Publications
The eminent English composer’s masterly technique is amply evident in this edition of four frequently performed and recorded works, including Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 20; Introduction and Allegro for Strings (Quartet and Orchestra), Op. 47; Elegy for Strings, Op. 58; and Sospiri: Adagio for String Orchestra with Harp (or Piano) and Harmonium (or Organ) ad lib., Op. 70. Reproduced from authoritative scores.<br>