Editing Edward Elgar (section)

===Last years===
[[File:Elgar-by-Rothenstein.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=drawing of an ageing man in left profile; he has receding white hair and a large moustache|Elgar in 1919, by [[William Rothenstein]]]]Although in the 1920s Elgar's music was no longer in fashion,<ref name=dnb/> his admirers continued to present his works when possible. Reed singles out a performance of the Second Symphony in March 1920 conducted by "a young man almost unknown to the public", Adrian Boult, for bringing "the grandeur and nobility of the work" to a wider public. Also in 1920, Landon Ronald presented an all-Elgar concert at the [[Queen's Hall]].<ref>Reed, p. 130</ref> Alice Elgar wrote with enthusiasm about the reception of the symphony, but this was one of the last times she heard Elgar's music played in public.<ref>Reed, p. 13</ref> After a short illness, she died of lung cancer on 7 April 1920, at the age of seventy-two.<ref>Moore (1984), pp. 750–51</ref>

Elgar was devastated by the loss of his wife.<ref name="Reed, p. 131"/> With no public demand for new works, and deprived of Alice's constant support and inspiration, he allowed himself to be deflected from composition. His daughter later wrote that Elgar inherited from his father a reluctance to "settle down to work on hand but could cheerfully spend hours over some perfectly unnecessary and entirely unremunerative undertaking", a trait that became stronger after Alice's death.<ref>Moore (1984), p. 17</ref> For much of the rest of his life, Elgar indulged himself in his several hobbies.<ref name=dnb/> Throughout his life he was a keen [[amateur chemist]], sometimes using a laboratory in his back garden.<ref>[http://www.classicfm.co.uk/music/musical-map-britain/plas-gwyn-hereford/ "Plas Gwyn, Hereford"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319060534/https://www.classicfm.com/ |date=19 March 2021 }}, Classic FM. Retrieved 25 October 2010.</ref> He even patented the "Elgar Sulphuretted Hydrogen Apparatus" in 1908.<ref>[http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2010/July/ColumnThecrucible.asp Royal Society of Chemistry]. Retrieved 18 October 2014</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/symphonylistener00stei/page/155 <!-- quote=elgar sulphuretted hydrogen apparatus. --> Michael Sternberg, ''The Symphony: A Listener's Guide'', p. 155]. Retrieved 18 October 2014</ref><ref>[http://faculty.cua.edu/may/elgar.pdf faculty.cua.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003105702/http://faculty.cua.edu/may/Elgar.pdf |date=3 October 2008 }}. Retrieved 18 October 2014</ref> He enjoyed [[Association football|football]], supporting [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.]], for whom he composed an anthem,<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11411360 BBC News, 25 September 2010, Elgar's Wolverhampton Wanderers striker anthem sung] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319060536/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-11411360 |date=19 March 2021 }}. Retrieved 13 July 2018</ref> ''"He Banged the Leather for Goal"'',<ref>Alleyne, Richard, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8026215/Sir-Edward-Elgar-wrote-football-chant-along-with-his-classical-music.html "Sir Edward Elgar wrote football chant along with his classical music"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319060534/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8026215/Sir-Edward-Elgar-wrote-football-chant-along-with-his-classical-music.html |date=19 March 2021 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 26 September 2010</ref> and in his later years he frequently attended horseraces. His protégés, the conductor [[Malcolm Sargent]] and violinist [[Yehudi Menuhin]], both recalled rehearsals with Elgar at which he swiftly satisfied himself that all was well and then went off to the races.<ref>"Malcolm Sargent", BBC LP RE10 1967 (includes recording of Sargent talking about Elgar)</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/menuhiny1.shtml "Yehudi Menuhin".] BBC Four. Retrieved 1 May 2010</ref> In his younger days, Elgar had been an enthusiastic cyclist, buying [[Sunbeam Cycles|Royal Sunbeam bicycles]] for himself and his wife in 1903 (he named his "Mr. [[Phoebus]]").<ref>Moore (1984), p. 323</ref> As an elderly widower, he enjoyed being driven about the countryside by his chauffeur.<ref name=dnb/> In November and December 1923, he took a voyage to Brazil, journeying up the [[Amazon River|Amazon]] to [[Manaus]], where he was impressed by its opera house, the [[Amazon Theatre|Teatro Amazonas]]. Almost nothing is recorded about Elgar's activities or the events that he encountered during the trip, which gave the novelist [[James Hamilton-Paterson]] considerable latitude when writing ''Gerontius'', a fictional account of the journey.<ref name=service>Service, Tom, [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/25/elgar-brazil-amazon-gerontius "Beyond the Malverns: Elgar in the Amazon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319060601/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/25/elgar-brazil-amazon-gerontius |date=19 March 2021 }}, ''The Guardian'', 25 March 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010</ref>

After Alice's death, Elgar sold the Hampstead house, and after living for a short time in a flat in [[St James's]] in the heart of London, he moved back to Worcestershire, to the village of [[Kempsey, Worcestershire|Kempsey]], where he lived from 1923 to 1927.<ref>Reed, p. 134</ref> He did not wholly abandon composition in these years. He made large-scale symphonic arrangements of works by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] and [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] and wrote his ''Empire March'' and eight songs ''[[Pageant of Empire (Elgar)|Pageant of Empire]]'' for the 1924 [[British Empire Exhibition]].<ref>Reed, pp. 207–09</ref> Shortly after these were published, he was appointed [[Master of the Queen's Music|Master of the King's Musick]] on 13 May 1924, following the death of [[Walter Parratt|Sir Walter Parratt]].<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32935/pages/3841 ''The London Gazette''], no. 32935, p. 3841, 13 May 1924. Retrieved 27 October 2010.</ref>

From 1926 onwards, Elgar made a series of recordings of his own works. Described by the music writer Robert Philip as "the first composer to take the gramophone seriously",<ref name=philip>Philip, Robert, "The recordings of Edward Elgar (1857–1934): Authenticity and Performance Practice", ''Early Music'', November 1984, pp. 481–89</ref> he had already recorded much of his music by the early acoustic-recording process for [[Gramophone Company|His Master's Voice (HMV)]] from 1914 onwards, but the introduction of electrical microphones in 1925 transformed the gramophone from a novelty into a realistic medium for reproducing orchestral and choral music.<ref name=philip/> Elgar was the first composer to take full advantage of this technological advance.<ref name=philip/> [[Fred Gaisberg]] of HMV, who produced Elgar's recordings, set up a series of sessions to capture on disc the composer's interpretations of his major orchestral works, including the ''Enigma Variations'', ''Falstaff'', the first and second symphonies, and the cello and violin concertos. For most of these, the orchestra was the LSO, but the ''Variations'' were played by the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra. Later in the series of recordings, Elgar also conducted two newly founded orchestras, Boult's [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] and [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]]'s [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]].

Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]]. After World War II, the 1932 recording of the Violin Concerto with the teenage Menuhin as soloist remained available on 78 and later on [[LP record|LP]], but the other recordings were out of the catalogues for some years. When they were reissued by EMI on LP in the 1970s, they caused surprise to many by their fast tempi, in contrast to the slower speeds adopted by many conductors in the years since Elgar's death.<ref name=philip/> The recordings were reissued on CD in the 1990s.<ref>"Elgar Edition", ''Gramophone'', June 1992; February 1993; and August 1993</ref>

{{listen|type=music|filename=Pomp and circumstances No. 1.ogg |title=Trio of ''Pomp and Circumstance Marches'' No. 1|description=Conducted by Elgar in 1931 at the opening of [[EMI]]'s studios}}
In November 1931, Elgar was filmed by [[Pathé]] for a newsreel depicting a recording session of ''Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1'' at the opening of EMI's [[Abbey Road Studios]] in London. It is believed to be the only surviving sound film of Elgar, who makes a brief remark before conducting the LSO, asking the musicians to "play this tune as though you've never heard it before."<ref>{{YouTube|kgBjUv_50kY}}. Retrieved 18 February 2023</ref> A memorial plaque to Elgar at Abbey Road was unveiled on 24 June 1993.<ref>[http://transact.westminster.gov.uk/greenplaques/displaybyname.cfm "Green plaques scheme"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203015135/http://transact.westminster.gov.uk/greenplaques/displaybyname.cfm |date=3 December 2013 }}, City of Westminster. Retrieved 15 March 2014</ref>

A late piece of Elgar's, the ''[[Nursery Suite]]'', was an early example of a studio premiere: its first performance was in the Abbey Road studios. For this work, dedicated to the wife and daughters of the [[George VI of the United Kingdom|Duke of York]], Elgar once again drew on his youthful sketch-books.<ref name=grove/>{{refn|The elder daughter was Princess Elizabeth of York (later [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]]).| group= n}}

[[File:Elgar's grave, Little Malvern.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=photograph of grave in churchyard|Elgar family grave at [[St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church]], [[Little Malvern]]]]
In his final years, Elgar experienced a musical revival. The BBC organised a festival of his works to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday, in 1932.<ref>Reed, p. 142</ref> He flew to Paris in 1933 to conduct the Violin Concerto for Menuhin. While in France, he visited his fellow composer [[Frederick Delius]] at his house at [[Grez-sur-Loing]].<ref name=maine/> He was sought out by younger musicians such as Adrian Boult, Malcolm Sargent and [[John Barbirolli]], who championed his music when it was out of fashion.<ref>Moore (1979), pp. 42–47, 56–59, 96–98</ref><ref>Aldous, p. 124</ref> He began work on an opera, ''The Spanish Lady'', and accepted a commission from the [[BBC]] to compose a [[Symphony No. 3 (Elgar/Payne)|Third Symphony]]. His final illness prevented their completion. He fretted about the unfinished works. He asked Reed to ensure that nobody would "tinker" with the sketches and attempt a completion of the symphony,<ref>Reed, p. 145</ref> but at other times he said, "If I can't complete the Third Symphony, somebody will complete it – or write a better one."<ref name=payne>Payne, Anthony (1998), Liner notes to NMC compact disc D053</ref> After Elgar's death, [[Percy M. Young]], in co-operation with the BBC and Elgar's daughter Carice, produced a version of ''The Spanish Lady'',<ref>[http://www.elgar.org/3splady.htm ''The Spanish Lady''], The Elgar Society. Retrieved 2 June 2010.</ref> which was issued on CD. The Third Symphony sketches were elaborated by the composer [[Anthony Payne]] into a complete score in 1997.<ref name=payne/>

Inoperable [[colorectal cancer]] was discovered during an operation on 8 October 1933. He told his consulting doctor, [[Arthur Thomson (physician)|Arthur Thomson]], that he had no faith in an [[afterlife]]: "I believe there is nothing but complete oblivion."<ref>Moore (1984) p. 818</ref> Elgar died on 23 February 1934 at the age of seventy-six and was buried next to his wife at [[St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church]] in [[Little Malvern]].<ref>Young (1973), p. 246</ref> <!--NO KENNEDY 1968 IN THE SOURCES at the funeral there were no flowers, no visible signs of mourning and no music: only the song of the birds.<ref>Kennedy (1968) p. 269</ref>-->