The Life of Elgar [Paperback]

An important 2004 biography of Elgar, drawing on letters and documents which became available in the preceding twenty-five years.This important new biography of Elgar draws on letters and documents which have become available in the last twenty-five years. Michael Kennedy, a leading scholar of British music and a distinguished musical biographer, uses this new material, which includes Elgar's own vast correspondence, in an attempt to get to the centre of 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'.This important new biography of Elgar draws on letters and documents which have become available in the last twenty-five years. Michael Kennedy, a leading scholar of British music and a distinguished musical biographer, uses this new material, which includes Elgar's own vast correspondence, in an attempt to get to the centre of 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'.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. 1. 'Boyhood's Daze'; 2. Helen; 3. Alice; 4. Caractacus; 5. Enigma; 6. 'The best of me'; 7. Darkness at noon; 8. The last oratorio; 9. Symphony; 10. Windflower; 11. Second Symphony; 12. For the Fallen; 13. Brinkwells; 14. Post mortem; 15. Vera.'The author & writes with a great sympathy for his subject, as well as a love for his music & [his] widlC.