No. LXXXI.—DR. EDWARD ELGAR.
By Rudolph de Cordova.
From a Photo. by] DR. EDWARD ELGAR. [George Newnes, Ltd.
F ever this votary of the muse of song looked from the hills of his present home at Malvern, from the cradle of English poetry, the scene of the vision of Piers Plowman, and from the British camp, with its legendary memories of his own 'Caractacus,' and in the light of the rising sun sees the towers of Tewkesbury and Gloucester and Worcester, he might recall in that view the earlier stages of his career, and confess with modest pride, like the bard in the 'Odyssey':—
Self-taught I sing; 'tis Heaven, and Heaven alone,
Inspires my song with music all its own."
From a Photo. by] DR. ELGAR'S HOUSE AT MALVERN. [George Newnes, Ltd.
It was in November, 1900, that these words were spoken by the Orator when the University of Cambridge honoured itself by conferring the honorary degree of Doctor of Music on Dr. Elgar, whom one of the most distinguished German writers on music declared to be "the most brilliant champion of the National School of Composition which is beginning to bloom in England."