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Book Review
May. 6th, 2012 12:22 amThe Life of Elgar
by Michael Kennedy
I don't find Elgar's music terribly interesting - inoffensive and pleasant, but not interesting - but I read this biography anyway to see if it would illuminate anything for me. Unfortunately, while this book is well written and covers Elgar's life and music pretty well in a couple of hundred pages, it didn't reveal anything that changed my mind. Elgar was a fairly conventional person and composer for his time, neither his struggles nor his triumphs being particularly remarkable. Also, his tendency to self-pity and negativity when he was feeling low could be kind of irritating - even at the height of his career and popularity, Elgar, in the midst of depression, would lament about how the public did not love or appreciate him properly and how no one had ever done anything for him. At least Kennedy is completely frank about Elgar's bad and good qualities, and describes his music very well.
by Michael Kennedy
I don't find Elgar's music terribly interesting - inoffensive and pleasant, but not interesting - but I read this biography anyway to see if it would illuminate anything for me. Unfortunately, while this book is well written and covers Elgar's life and music pretty well in a couple of hundred pages, it didn't reveal anything that changed my mind. Elgar was a fairly conventional person and composer for his time, neither his struggles nor his triumphs being particularly remarkable. Also, his tendency to self-pity and negativity when he was feeling low could be kind of irritating - even at the height of his career and popularity, Elgar, in the midst of depression, would lament about how the public did not love or appreciate him properly and how no one had ever done anything for him. At least Kennedy is completely frank about Elgar's bad and good qualities, and describes his music very well.
