Elgar's Statue by iwys
Edward Elgar (1857-1934), Britain's greatest classical composer, came from Worcester. There are several memorials to him, including this statue at the end of Worcester High Street, facing the cathedral, only yards from where his father's music store once stood. Elgar was an active member of the Worcester Glee Club, along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played violin, composed and arranged works, and conducted for the first time there. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester, a progressive institution which believed in the recuperative powers of music. He is one of my favourite composers and one of England's cultural heroes. From 1999 until early 2007, Bank of England twenty pound notes featured his portrait. His music as always played at the Last Night of the Proms. Possibly his most famous works are the Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance Marches from which came 'Land of Hope and Glory', which in my opinion should be the British national anthem, rather than that awful German dirge, 'God Save the Queen'. But, my personal favourite of his works is his beautiful, melancholy Cello Concerto
