Edward Elgar was self-taught as a composer, working first as an orchestral musician and as a violin teacher in Worcestershire * Gained experience as an arranger and composer, establishing a reputation in the Midlands with a series of oratorios * Following success of Enigma Variations in 1899 his music was performed in London and throughout Europe * Between 1900 and 1920 regarded internationally as the leading British composer * Influenced by Romantic composers such as Wagner, Brahms, Schumann, Liszt and Franck * Music explores expressive potential of chromatic harmony and virtuoso orchestration * Originality lay largely in adoption of continental techniques, but he became viewed as a musical symbol of 'Englishness' and the Empire * The confident, ebullient manner of his ceremonial music is contrasted with a deeper and poetic vein, demonstrating the often painful insecurities of his period, class and religion
Britten's pacifist masterwork, combining war poetry by Wilfred Owen with the Latin Requiem Mass, is included in the Masterworks Library of full scores, ideal for conductors, students and music lovers.
