Edgar elgar biography

Elgar was born on 2nd June 1857 at Broadheath, a village some three miles from the small city of Worcester in the English West Midlands. His father had a music shop in Worcester and tuned pianos.

The Elgar shop in the centre of Worcester

The young Elgar, therefore, had the great advantage of growing up in a thoroughly practical musical atmosphere.

He studied the music available in his father's shop and taught himself to play a wide variety of instruments.

Edgar elgar biography wikipedia

It is a remarkable fact that Elgar was very largely self-taught as a composer - evidence of the strong determination behind his original and unique genius. His long struggle to establish himself as a pre-eminent composer of international repute was hard and often bitter.

For many years he had to contend with apathy, with the prejudices of the entrenched musical establishment, with religious bigotry (he was a member of the Roman Catholic minority in a Protestant majority En