The first full-length analytical study of Edward Elgar's music, this book argues that Elgar was a modernist composer, and that his music constitutes a pessimistic twentieth-century assessment of the nature of human being. Focusing on Elgar's music rather than his life, Harper-Scott blends the hermeneutic and existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger with music-analytical methods derived from Heinrich Schenker and James Hepokoski. In the course of engaging with debates centred on duotonality in musical structures, sonata deformations, meaning in music, the nature of tragedy, and the quest narrative, the book rejects poststructuralist and literary-theoretical interpretations of music, radically interprets Schenkerian theory, and tentatively outlines a new space - a Heideggerian 'clearing' - in which music of all periods can be understood to operate, be experienced and be understood. The book includes a detailed glossary which provides the reader with clear definitions of important and difficult terms.

Review of the hardback:'This very remarkable book will, I hope, be the beginning of a reassessment of Elgar and his position in the history of European music.'

Source: International Record Review

Review of the hardback:'…advances the discipline of Elgar studies in a significant way. … Edward Elgar, Modernist is an important publication and has many things to offer the reader who has an intelligent, enquiring mind.'

Source: Musical Times