Elgar and Shaw

Abstract

Edward Elgar, who would become the major British composer of his time, had read Shaw's "Corno di Bassetto" music columns in the London press in 1888-89, before Shaw had heard a note of Elgar's early music. "He was a musical critic and a good one," said Elgar later. After Shaw's critic days were over, in 1900, he heard the " Enigma Variations" (1897) and the new "Dream of Gerontius." He would become a friend, enthusiast and patron of Elgar, spurring on his creativity - an essential task, as Elgar was diffident and self-critical to the point of tearing up much of what he composed. Shaw opened him up with wit and praise and entrée to a new cultural landscape, Elgar began a lifetime of going to Shaw's plays, which were therapy for him. The relationship was good, too, for Shaw, as Elgar, a social and political conservative, helped make Shaw less extreme. This paper proves that the relationship evoked the best in both men's works.