Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 –
23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of
his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma
Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted
with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music,
symphonies, instrumental concertos, and songs. He was appointed
Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Edward Elgar was born in
the small village of Lower Broadheath to William Elgar, a piano
tuner and music dealer, and his wife Anne (née Greening). The
fourth of seven children, Elgar's siblings were Henry John
(Harry) (15 October 1848– 5 May 1864), Lucy Ann (Loo) (born 29
May 1852), Susannah Mary (Pollie) (born 28 December 1854),
Frederick Joseph (Jo) (born 28 August 1859), Francis Thomas
(Frank) (born 1 October 1861), and Helen Agnes (Dott or Dot)
(born 1 January 1864). His mother, Anne, had converted to
Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was
baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic. Elgar was