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AIBU?

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Original poster

Most people will have heard of...

253 replies

jeffhasgoodhair · 28/05/2023 19:20

Edward Elgar.

DH on a long speakerphone conversation with his parents now talking about the potential closing of Elgar's Birthplace by the National Trust due to lack of footfall.

They think the problem is that no one 'these days' knows who he is.

Could I be biased as I live where he lived therefore know people who have lived in one of his properties, have been in venues he frequented, know roads named after him and see statues everywhere... therefore I think he's more significant than he is?

OP posts:
Oysterbabe · 29/05/2023 11:08

I've only heard of him because of Jeremy in Peepshow talking about him on a bank note.

Justcallmebebes · 29/05/2023 11:11

I've very much heard of him as I went to boarding school in his home town. I think one of my boarding houses was his old prep school or something similar

Rotterdammer · 29/05/2023 11:17

Yes, I have heard of him and his music must be familiar to most of the British population, even if they can’t name him. It’s just one of those general cultural things like knowing about Turner or Wordsworth and being vaguely familiar with some of their work.

I think I have seen a TV programme or articles about him in the past.

I don’t think I would ever be interested enough to visit his former house though.

MamaDollyorJesus · 29/05/2023 11:30

@KimberleyClark I'm aware of this as my brother is a fan of classical music thankfully he just accepts that it all gives me a sore head & switches it off if I'm around rather than try to tell me I'm wrong & force it on me until I find something I like in the classical genre.

KimberleyClark · 29/05/2023 11:57

I don’t get how Gymnopedie No 1 by Satie, or Neptune from the Planets, or Clair de Lune by Debussy could give anyone a headache. They are all soft medidative pieces of music. It takes all sorts though.

KimberleyClark · 29/05/2023 11:57

Meditative that should have been.

ReceptionTA · 29/05/2023 12:06

I know of Elgar, but then I grew up in a house with parents listening to classical music, and listen to Classic FM myself.

I work with several young teachers who seem to have very little general knowledge, and probably wouldn't have a clue about Elgar.

But I wouldn't go to his birthplace unless I happened to be nearby anyway. I'm mean Edgar's famous, but he's not Mozart or Elvis Grin

QueenMabby · 29/05/2023 12:33

I'm going to his birthplace later this week!
There's a whole Elgar Festival on if anyone's interested?

elgarfestival.org

I don't live there now but I grew up near Worcester and went to his birthplace multiple times on school trips. Love his music.

Mars27 · 29/05/2023 13:15

MamaDollyorJesus · 29/05/2023 11:03

@Mars27 my preference is country music (I know I'm not doing anything to dispel the uneducated heathen theory here 🙈😂) but I can listen to anything other than classical or heavy metal as both give me a sore head, as does listening to anyone playing the bagpipes which as a Scottish person living in Scotland makes weddings a nightmare!

Thank you for replying :)

I'm not a fan of country myself but there are some classic tunes that I enjoy. I need to investigate Kacey Musgraves (sp?) further, I really liked her set on Glastonbury.

Also, classical and heavy metal are closely related, most of the classic (no pun intended) heavy metal musicians were trained in classical music and were influenced by it, particularly the most melodic kind of heavy metal, think 70s/80s. That's probably why you don't enjoy either as they're more connected than you think.

And if you don't like, you don't like it, period. People have different tastes and that's it.

rebld · 29/05/2023 19:57

I'm so surprised by all the people who haven't heard of him! The King and Queen left the Coronation to a piece by Elgar. Also, as others have said Pomp and Circumstance and the Enigma Variations (especially Nimrod) are so famous.

Admittedly I am perhaps not your typical person in their early 30s because my radio station of choice is BBC Radio 3 and I have a music degree...

Vitriolinsanity · 29/05/2023 20:09

I'm no music expert, but come on! If you don't know who composed Pomp and Circumstance (Land Of Hope and Glory) you must have heard it. It has to be said me of the most familiar pieces of music ever.

Welshwabbit · 29/05/2023 20:19

Yes, I know who he is, but to be fair I play the piano (and at one point learned to play one of his pieces).

Welshwabbit · 29/05/2023 20:19

I suppose that should have read I know who he was!

StoneofDestiny · 29/05/2023 20:35

I'm amazed people haven't heard of him. He's a very famous composer (though not on Mumsnet) and his music is played at many public ceremonies and important services.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 29/05/2023 20:39

I can’t ever remember being taught about him but I know who he is. I think it’s from spending hours trying to teach myself to play the piano using my sister’s old piano books. There was one called “classics for beginners” that simplified things so even 9 year old me with no formal training could bash out a very badly timed tune. I much preferred the one called “pub singalong classics” though, it was how I learned the words to Beer Glorious Beer.

Eleganz · 29/05/2023 20:43

It is hard for the musical among us but there will be lots and lots of people who will pass their entire lives on this earth without knowing who Edward Elgar is.

I suspect there are even people who don't know who Mozart is.

Many people are never exposed to western classical music at all.

I must admit I can take or leave Elgar (he can get a bit soppy for me), but very sad to hear about the Nat's decision.

Vitriolinsanity · 29/05/2023 20:53

Is there a piece of classical music that hasn't been used at some point in an advert?

Hamlet cigars: Bach
Lakme flower duet: British Airways
Dvorak: Hovis bread

And on...

ContinuousProcrastination · 29/05/2023 20:58

Of course ive heard of him. Elgar cello concerto... enigma variations (nimrod anyone?) But obviously POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE!!

SwedishEdith · 29/05/2023 22:09

He came up as a suggested answer on University Challenge tonight. I guess the crossover of those who've never heard of him and who watch University Challenge is possibly not big but he is a likely answer on other tv quizzes. Which is why I am very surprised at people who have never even heard of him.

5foot5 · 30/05/2023 00:03

KimberleyClark · 29/05/2023 11:57

I don’t get how Gymnopedie No 1 by Satie, or Neptune from the Planets, or Clair de Lune by Debussy could give anyone a headache. They are all soft medidative pieces of music. It takes all sorts though.

As is Salut d'Amour which is a lovely, gentle, sentimental little tune. And was composed by Elgar. I have been humming it all day as a result of this thread.

UnstablefromDunstable · 30/05/2023 00:24

For those who like sport, if you ever saw England win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games before 2010, I believe Land of Hope and Glory was the anthem played (it's now Jerusalem....thanks, Wikipedia). Older football fans might also remember the terrace favourite (except in parts of Nottingham, presumably) "We hate Nottingham Forest......" which I recall being sung at almost every match / ground in my youth. Not sure if this was the chant Elgar was said to have invented or whether he would have approved but it definitely brought his music to a lot of people!

Realfastfoodie · 30/05/2023 00:35

I would probably say that I know very few people in real life who don’t know who Elgar is. I would hope most people would recognise something he’d written (even if they couldn’t identify it) like pomp and circumstance, or the cello concerto.

Original poster
jeffhasgoodhair · 30/05/2023 06:44

I'm actually heartened so many love Elgar.

OP posts:
OMG12 · 31/05/2023 09:30

UnstablefromDunstable · 30/05/2023 00:24

For those who like sport, if you ever saw England win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games before 2010, I believe Land of Hope and Glory was the anthem played (it's now Jerusalem....thanks, Wikipedia). Older football fans might also remember the terrace favourite (except in parts of Nottingham, presumably) "We hate Nottingham Forest......" which I recall being sung at almost every match / ground in my youth. Not sure if this was the chant Elgar was said to have invented or whether he would have approved but it definitely brought his music to a lot of people!

Jerusalem….the words taken from the preface to Milton by Blake.

A call to rise up against the suppression of self, to create a new order to return the world to one of beauty, love and harmony, a world where we see beyond the material, beyond the 5 senses, to rise up against the war loving governments, industry and the church (probably now the media) in short a call for revolution of both self and society. For the poet within us to revolt against the shackles of the Enlightenment the re establishment of the Imagination within the body as the new Jerusalem.

But no, we now rather laughably see it as some kind of jingoistic anthem.

It would be great if people knew more about the works of these people which are woven into our culture, our education system should celebrate and explain these things. It should give space for discussion about the arts that have shaped society, that offer a different perspective on the world.

loislovesstewie · 31/05/2023 09:34

I'm shocked that so many people haven't heard of him.