"Salut D'Amour" for flute and piano, Op. 12

Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was the first English composer of international stature since Henry Purcell, effectively ending the "land without music" era of British history.
Born in Broadheath, near Worcester, in a family of a professional violinist and a piano tuner who owned a music shop. This "trade" background placed Elgar in a lower social class than many of his contemporary composers, a fact that fueled his lifelong sense of insecurity and "outsider" status. Elgar received very little formal conservatory training. Instead, his "university" was his father’s shop, where he spent his youth browsing scores and teaching himself theory, harmony, and orchestration. He also served as the assistant organist to his father at St. George’s Roman Catholic Church.
Elgar originally hoped to become a concert violinist and traveled to London in 1877 to study with Adolf Pollitzer. However, he realized he lacked the "grand style" for a solo career and returned to Worcester to work as a local teacher and conductor.
For nearly twenty years, Elgar remained a provincial figure, conducting local asylum bands and choral societies. His breakthrough did not occur until he was 42 years old with the premiere of the Enigma Variations (1899). His marriage to Alice Roberts in 1889 was the defining event of his career. She acted as his manager, secretary, and moral support, famously "lining" his manuscript paper and pushing him to move beyond salon pieces like Salut d’Amour.
His legacy is defined by his two Symphonies, the Cello Concerto (a poignant response to the tragedy of World War I), and the oratorio "The Dream of Gerontius". Elgar was one of the first major composers to embrace the gramophone, leaving behind a vast archive of recordings of his own works conducted between 1914 and 1933.