Edward Elgar (Shire Library)

Forever linked to the Last Night of the Proms, the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester cathedrals, and his evocative 'Enigma Variations', Edward Elgar's music is a joy to chorcal societies and orchestras worldwide. The son of a piano tuner, born in a tiny cottage in Worcestershire, brought up as a Roman Catholic in Protestant England, withut university education or formal musical training, Elgar overcame these disadvantages to become the most famous British composer of his generation.