Like countless people around the world, I recently settled in to watch at least part of the coronation of Charles III and Queen Camilla. This ceremony has great tradition and theatricality, from the arrival of the golden carriage to the

One October evening in 1898, having returned home after a long day teaching, Edward Elgar lit a cigar and began to improvise at the piano. Elgar recalls, “I began to play, and suddenly my wife interrupted by saying: ‘Edward, that’s

Born in the small village of Lower Broadheath near Worcester on 2 June 1857, Edward Elgar was the fourth of seven children born to William Henry Elgar and Ann Greening. William Elgar hailed from Dover and had been working as

The next Covid-19 mutation is starting to rear its ugly spike. Depressingly, Omicron comes at a time when we thought that things were finally starting to look up. Every time I am looking forward to a little holiday under a

A contemporary newspaper reported, “No soldiers paraded, no trumpets blared, no drums rolled out an elegy. But throughout the Western World last week a mighty marching tune reverberated. Sir Edward Elgar, 76, was dead on 23 February 1934.” During an

George V, alongside Queen Mary, was crowned King of the United Kingdom, the British Dominions, and Emperor of India at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911. It had already been announced that the royal couple would travel to India to

The First World War was not merely a global military conflict; it also had far reaching implications for civilian life. It called upon women to become a fundamental part of the war effort, carrying out domestic labor, waged industrial labor,

It’s always been fashionable to emphasizing artistic greatness at the expense of some more down-to earth-human qualities. Mozart wrote exceptional music but he also wrote scatological letters to his cousin. Wagner gave us the Artwork of the Future and a