He helped out in the family music shop in Worcester High Street, picked up performing fees throughout Worcestershire as a violinist and took on whatever odd-job musical appointments he could find. One of the more eccentric was as bandmaster at what was then called the Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Powick, a village half way between Worcester and Malvern. He travelled to Powick once a week and trained the staff in instrumental playing, moulding them in to a band to perform for the patients, an early form of music therapy. The band was also supplemented by local musicians to give public concerts in the hospital ballroom, concerts for which Elgar wrote much music.
Edward Elgar teacher
Much of Elgar’s income at this time was derived from teaching. He visited local schools to give violin and piano lessons, and he also took private pupils, hiring a studio in Malvern for the purpose. But teaching was something he came to hate, describing it as “like turning a grindstone with a dislocated shoulder.” In 1885 he succeeded his father as organist of St George’s Roman Catholic Church in Worcester. He composed anthems for the choir and started writing larger scale choral and orchestral music for music festivals throughout the midlands.
Edward Elgar composer
Very slowly his reputation as a composer was starting to spread, but he was still essentially a “local musician”. The breakthrough came in 1899 when he composed the Enigma Variations. This was the work which spread his fame, and over the next twenty years he composed all of the music for which he is remembered – symphonies, concertos, songs, oratorios cantatas and much ceremonial and occasional music. Honours and awards came his way.