Why Elgar is not an 'English' composer

It seems to have become one of our unspoken cultural assumptions that Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) was a quintessentially English composer in a way that his contemporary Frederick Delius, with his rather lush late Romantic/quasi-Debussyan compositions, was definitely not. The evidence for this assertion is rather slender. It is founded on his 'Pomp and Circumstance' marches, which embarassed Elgar, in the same way that Tchaikovsky and Sibelius regarded the '1812 Overture' and 'Finlandia', respectively, as tiresome musical millstones. Yet this assumption is remarkably durable, as is shown by this oft-cited quotation from T. S. Eliot's 'Notes Towards the Definition of Culture' (1948) : '[Culture] includes all the characteristic activities and interests of a people: Derby Day, Henley Regatta, Cowes, the twelfth of August, a cup final, the dog races, the pin table, the dart board, Wensleydale cheese, boiled cabbage cut into sections, beetroot in vinegar, nineteenth-century Gothic churches, and the music of Elgar. The reader can make his own list.' Fortunately, Elgar's music has survived the comparison with boiled cabbage and dog races.

The 'Nimrod' variation of the 'Enigma Variations' is often cited in this context. However, as the name 'Nimrod' indicates, this was a tribute to Elgar's friend, the German music publisher A. J. Jaeger ('Jaeger'' being the German for hunter, hence Nimrod). It had nothing to do with nationalism or imperialism. Elgar's musical inspirations, like Sir Hubert Parry's (of 'I was glad' and 'Jerusalem' fame) were overwhelmingly German. He admired Brahms' 3rd symphony (which is my favourite piece of music) and one can also hear the influence of Richard Strauss in his music. In his 'lighter' music, one can hear the influence of French composers such as Faure, Saint-Saens, and Delibes. Composers such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who also pioneered the so-called 'English musical renaissance', were overtly inspired by English musical models (among many others : both GH and RVW were eclectic in their sources of inspiration), whether English folk music or Tudor church music. Elgar's sources of inspiration were derived almost entirely from Continental composers.

In his politics, Elgar supported the Conservative and Unionist Party. He was a socially insecure person who craved honours and titles ; and, in his social attitudes he was reactionary, as is shown by his supporting the expulsion of the first Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald, from the Athenaeum on the grounds that he was illegitimate. As the historian David Cannadine points out in his perceptive essay on Elgar, this insecurity stemmed largely from his marginal position as a Roman Catholic, his lower-middle class origins, and his lack of connections to the musical establishment. However, it is entirely possible to separate composers' personalities from their music. We do not let knowledge of Beethoven's deplorable personal hygiene inhibit us from enjoying his music ; or disapproval of consumption of illicit drugs prevent us from listening to Berlioz's compositions.

In his greatest works - the Violin Concerto, the Symphony No. 2, and the choral work (based on Cardinal Newman's poem) 'The Dream of Gerontius' - considerations of nationalism are entirely absent. In the symphony, Elgar confronts and explores his grief over the death of his (German) friend A. J. Jaeger. The entire work is exceptionally moving ; the central slow movement is searing in its emotional intensity. 'Gerontius' is an even more direct confrontation with death. These are universal human experiences ; and Elgar's music speaks to them as well as the work of any other major composer. We do him - and music - an immense disservice by constricting him in a ridiculous patriotic box. He is a great composer of international stature. The abuse of his work and reputation for political purposes, one of the many dubious uses of the notion of 'Englishness', should not overshadow this fact.