Edward Elgar and the nostalgic imagination
Elgar is today arguably the most popular British classical composer. During his lifetime, and since his death, Elgar's work has become closely associated with nostalgia of various forms. A controversial topic in contemporary Britain, nostalgia has been condemned as escapist, but here Riley offers a cautious defence of Elgarian nostalgia.
Musical Score, Undefined, 2007
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007
x, 243 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm
9780521863612, 0521863619
1115087896
1. Nostalgia; 2. Memory: thematic reminiscence in Elgar; Hauntings; Epiphanies; Autumnal harmonies; 3. Nobility: the ideal in the present; Negative nobility; Faith and ruin; 4. Nature: the rural Pan; The wind among the pines; Aeolian visitations; Nature and form; 5. Childhood: the Romantic child; Moore's 'Better Land'; Starlight and recollection; The Elgarian child transformed; 6. Identity: the feminine element inside; Imperialist nostalgia; A demon for counterpoint; 7. Waters: A flowing-awayness; Penal waters; Severn and Amazon; Bibliography.