Elgar the music maker

The music of Edward Elgar, born 150 years ago, is played, recorded, loved, and written about as much today as ever.

In 1955 Diana McVeagh published the acclaimed "Edward Elgar: His Life & Music", a pioneering study by one who got to know the great composer solely through his work, without personal acquaintance with the man.

In "Elgar the Music Maker" she harvests five decades of thoughts about his music, scrutinizing the biographical details that have since been discovered but using them only insofar as they affect the compositions.

Each of Elgar's works is discussed, balancing information and appraisal, from his juvenilia to his unfinished Third Symphony.

Writing about Elgar's style and his relationship to his contemporaries, she provides a compelling and accessible companion to the music of one of England's greatest composers.

His complex personality still fascinates us despite the changes in our world since his day.Diana McVeagh is the author of the highly acclaimed "Gerald Finzi: His Life and Music" (2005); of the entries on Elgar and Finzi for "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" (1980, 2001); and of the Finzi entry in "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" (2004).