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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:
IsadoraQuagmire · 28/05/2023 21:17

Phos · 28/05/2023 19:50

I know exactly who he is, and ok admittedly I’m a classical music fan but I’m absolutely appalled how many people have “never heard of him” It’s almost like those people who gaily declare they’ve never read a book.

Me too, it's bizarre. He's my favourite composer (I'm in my mid twenties)

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 28/05/2023 21:18

Yes I do know who he is, but I have no idea where he was from in the UK or even that he house is an NT property.

SwedishEdith · 28/05/2023 21:19

I'm shocked people have "never heard of him". That's like saying "I never listen to anything or read about anything". You might know nothing about him or who he was but to have"never heard of him" is unexpected (assuming brought up in the UK).

CoreyTaylorsSoggyTshirt · 28/05/2023 21:19

Aposterhasnoname · 28/05/2023 21:13

Are music lessons not a thing anymore unless you’re learning an instrument? In my day we all did music lessons up to 14, learnt to read music, learnt about classical music and the composers, and we were all taught the recorder. I’m gobsmacked someone wouldn’t know who Edward Elgar is.

I'm mid 40s and we only vaguely learned about a couple of composers in music lessons at school.

We were taught the recorder and keyboard and to read music and sang a bit, but that was it for the 3 years I took music in secondary school.

Buddythecat1 · 28/05/2023 21:20

Never heard of him. Nor has my mum who is in her late 50s

7eleven · 28/05/2023 21:20

I’ve heard of him and if in the area would love to visit the house.

Galadali · 28/05/2023 21:21

I'm lucky enough to live a 10 minute cycle ride away from The Firs. Obviously everyone knows Elgar around here, but I'd definitely heard of him before I moved here. Surely he's Britain's most famous and most popular composer?

IIRC the birthplace was only taken over temporarily by the NT in any case. It's not going anywhere and we'll all still be able to visit whether the NT are involved or not.

Original poster
jeffhasgoodhair · 28/05/2023 21:21

Myfavouritepenguin · 28/05/2023 21:13

Everyone in Worcester has heard of him. “Meet you by the Elgar statue” is a very standard phrase here…

Start your ghost tour at Elgar Statue...
Meet for dinner at Elgar Statue.
Blind date at Elgar Statue 😂

OP posts:
martinisforeveryone · 28/05/2023 21:21

Massive coincidence that as I read this, there's an advert for Spitting Image The Musical on TV and it has Pomp and Circumstance March One playing behind it.
Surely people will know that? or Nimrod? at the very least, no?

SwedishEdith · 28/05/2023 21:22

He is/was on the back of the £20 note and he's animated to raise an eyebrow at the start of Homes Under the Hammer.

33goingon64 · 28/05/2023 21:22

I definitely know who he is and his music but couldn't have told you where he was from and wouldn't go out of my way to visit his birthplace. Might visit if I was already in the area but would be far more likely to visit somewhere near to me or where I'm staying whether I'd heard of the previous occupant or not.

RampantIvy · 28/05/2023 21:23

Wow! I'm shocked that so many people have never heard of the composer who wrote Land of Hope and Glory Shock

MyEyesHurt · 28/05/2023 21:23

Yes I've definitely heard of him, but wasn't aware you could visit his birthplace.

RampantIvy · 28/05/2023 21:23

And I'm not musical and not a music afficionado.

HeadNorth · 28/05/2023 21:25

I’ve heard of Elgar & knew he wrote the Enigma variations & Pomp & Circumstance. I’ve checked with DH & he knew he was a classical composer but couldn’t name anything he’d written.

MrsRinaDecker · 28/05/2023 21:26

I think he comes up as a crossword clue occasionally lol!
Not sure my dc (late teens / early twenties) would have heard of him.

MrsRinaDecker · 28/05/2023 21:28

I also didn’t know until reading this thread that land of hope and glory / pomp and circumstance were the same piece of music! (Although I’d heard of ‘both’).

UsingChangeofName · 28/05/2023 21:29

Yes, I know who he is.

I suspect a huge number of people who couldn't name anything he has written, and even those who say they haven't heard of him would recognise a lot of his most famous music if they heard it. They just wouldn't know that it was him that wrote it.

All that said, I'm not so interested in him that I would go somewhere because it were his birthplace. I mean, I might pop into a free museum if I stumbled across it when I had an hour to kill or it was raining .

JorisBonson · 28/05/2023 21:29

I haven't RTFT but hoping other Peep Show fans will see this

Most people will have heard of...
itstheleavingthatshard · 28/05/2023 21:31

I only know him because he’s mentioned in an episode of Peep Show …

ColdHandsHotHead · 28/05/2023 21:33

devildeepbluesea · 28/05/2023 19:23

Yeah I think you probably are a bit biased. I’m quite musical so know who he is. Gotta be honest though, I’m not really interested in where he was from!

I know who he is and I'm deaf. Tell people he's the guy who composed the music for 'Land of hope and glory'.

AdaProgrammer · 28/05/2023 21:33

I have heard of him. But then my ancestor was the coachman who drove Alice, the future Mrs Elgar, to her piano lessons with him.

Original poster
jeffhasgoodhair · 28/05/2023 21:36

AdaProgrammer · 28/05/2023 21:33

I have heard of him. But then my ancestor was the coachman who drove Alice, the future Mrs Elgar, to her piano lessons with him.

That sounds like a story I'd like to have heard from your relative directly x

OP posts:
AdaProgrammer · 28/05/2023 21:39

According to family folklore he said, "There be more to it than music lessons." I think there was a letter, where he had been asked about it, in the museum at one time, but it wasn't there when I last went.

ichundich · 28/05/2023 21:39

I hadn't heard of him until I moved to the UK and went to a concert where one his works was played. I don't think he is massively known like other 19th century composers such as Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Tschaikovsky, etc.

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