Editing Edward Elgar (section)

===Last major works===
[[File:Edward Elgar 1917.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=photograph of a man in late middle age, with a large Roman nose, a receding hairline, and a large moustache. He is shown in left profile|Elgar aged about 60]]
In June 1911, as part of the celebrations surrounding the [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronation]] of [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]], Elgar was appointed to the [[Order of Merit]],<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28505/supplements/4593 Supplement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107150433/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28505/supplements/4593 |date=7 November 2012 }}, ''[[The London Gazette]]'', no. 2769, p. 4448, 19 June 1911. Retrieved 27 October 2010.</ref> an honour limited to twenty-four holders at any time. The following year, the Elgars moved back to London, to a large house in [[Netherhall Gardens]], [[Hampstead]], designed by [[Richard Norman Shaw|Norman Shaw]]. There Elgar composed his last two large-scale works of the pre-war era, the choral ode, ''The Music Makers'' (for the Birmingham Festival, 1912) and the symphonic study ''[[Falstaff (Elgar)|Falstaff]]'' (for the Leeds Festival, 1913). Both were received politely but without enthusiasm. Even the dedicatee of ''Falstaff'', the conductor [[Landon Ronald]], confessed privately that he could not "make head or tail of the piece,"<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 82</ref> while the musical scholar [[Percy Scholes]] wrote of ''Falstaff'' that it was a "great work" but, "so far as public appreciation goes, a comparative failure."<ref>Scholes, Percy A., "Elgar's 'Falstaff' Reconsidered", ''The Musical Times'', 1 August 1929, p. 696</ref>

When World War I broke out, Elgar was horrified at the prospect of the carnage, but his patriotic feelings were nonetheless aroused.<ref>Reed, p. 115</ref> He composed "A Song for Soldiers", which he later withdrew. He signed up as a special constable in the local police and later joined the Hampstead Volunteer Reserve of the army.<ref>Reed, pp. 115 and 118</ref> He composed patriotic works, ''[[Carillon (Elgar)|Carillon]]'', a recitation for speaker and orchestra in honour of Belgium,<ref>Reed, pp. 115–16</ref> and ''[[Polonia (Elgar)|Polonia]]'', an orchestral piece in honour of Poland.<ref>Reed, pp. 117–18</ref> "Land of Hope and Glory", already popular, became still more so, and Elgar wished in vain to have new, less nationalistic, words sung to the tune.<ref name=grove/>

[[File:Binyon-kipling.jpg|thumb|left|alt=composite image of two photographs of two younger men, the first has a pencil moustache and is looking into the camera; the second has a large moustache and spectacles and is seen in semi-profile from his right|[[Laurence Binyon]] (top) and [[Rudyard Kipling]], whose verses Elgar set during World War I]]
Elgar's other compositions during the war included [[incidental music]] for a children's play, ''[[The Starlight Express]]'' (1915); a ballet, ''[[The Sanguine Fan]]'' (1917); and ''[[The Spirit of England]]'' (1915–17, to poems by [[Laurence Binyon]]), three choral settings very different in character from the romantic patriotism of his earlier years.<ref name=grove/> His last large-scale composition of the war years was ''[[The Fringes of the Fleet]]'', settings of verses by [[Rudyard Kipling]], performed with great popular success around the country, until Kipling for unexplained reasons objected to their performance in theatres.<ref>Reed, p. 121</ref> Elgar conducted a recording of the work for the [[Gramophone Company]].<ref>HMV discs 02734-7. See Rust, p. 45</ref>

Towards the end of the war, Elgar was in poor health. His wife thought it best for him to move to the countryside, and she rented "Brinkwells", a house near [[Fittleworth]] in Sussex, from the painter [[Rex Vicat Cole]]. There Elgar recovered his strength and, in 1918 and 1919, he produced four large-scale works. The first three of these were [[chamber music|chamber pieces]]: the [[Violin Sonata (Elgar)|Violin Sonata in E&nbsp;minor]], the [[Piano Quintet (Elgar)|Piano Quintet in A minor]], and the [[String Quartet (Elgar)|String Quartet in E minor]]. On hearing the work in progress, Alice Elgar wrote in her diary, "E. writing wonderful new music".<ref name=oliver>Oliver, Michael, Review, ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'', June 1986, p. 73</ref> All three works were well received. ''The Times'' wrote, "Elgar's sonata contains much that we have heard before in other forms, but as we do not at all want him to change and be somebody else, that is as it should be."<ref>"Sir E. Elgar's Violin Sonata", ''The Times'', 22 March 1919, p. 9</ref> The quartet and quintet were premiered at the [[Wigmore Hall]] on 21 May 1919. ''[[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]]'' wrote, "This quartet, with its tremendous climaxes, curious refinements of dance-rhythms, and its perfect symmetry, and the quintet, more lyrical and passionate, are as perfect examples of chamber music as the great oratorios were of their type."<ref>"Elgar's New Chamber Music", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 22 May 1919, p. 10</ref>

{{listen|type=music|filename=Edward Elgar - cello concerto in e minor, op. 85 - iv. allegro.ogg|title=Cello Concerto – IV. Allegro|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra.}}
By contrast, the remaining work, the [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello Concerto in E minor]], had a disastrous premiere, at the opening concert of the LSO's 1919–20 season in October 1919. Apart from the Elgar work, which the composer conducted, the rest of the programme was conducted by [[Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates]], who overran his rehearsal time at the expense of Elgar's. Lady Elgar wrote, "that brutal selfish ill-mannered bounder&nbsp;... that brute Coates went on rehearsing."<ref name=webber>Lloyd-Webber, Julian, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3665153/How-I-fell-in-love-with-E-Es-darling.html "How I fell in love with E E's darling"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016094341/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3665153/How-I-fell-in-love-with-E-Es-darling.html |date=16 October 2019 }}, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 17 May 2007.</ref> The critic of ''[[The Observer]]'', [[Ernest Newman]], wrote, "There have been rumours about during the week of inadequate rehearsal. Whatever the explanation, the sad fact remains that never, in all probability, has so great an orchestra made so lamentable an exhibition of itself.&nbsp;... The work itself is lovely stuff, very simple – that pregnant simplicity that has come upon Elgar's music in the last couple of years – but with a profound wisdom and beauty underlying its simplicity."<ref>Newman, Ernest, "Music of the Week", ''The Observer'', 2 November 1919</ref> Elgar attached no blame to his soloist, [[Felix Salmond]], who played the work for him again later.<ref name="Reed, p. 131">Reed, p. 131</ref> In contrast with the First Symphony and its hundred performances in just over a year, the Cello Concerto did not have a second performance in London for more than a year.<ref>"Elgar's Cello Concerto", ''The Observer'', 16 January 1921, p. 15</ref>