A MAJOR new book about Sir Edward Elgar has been launched during a reception at the composer's Birthplace Museum in Lower Broadheath, just outside Worcester.

The biography by Simon Mundy is officially described as "a revised edition" of a publication first issued 20 years ago, in the series The Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers.

"It is so different, to all intents and purposes it's a new book," said Mr Mundy. "While the original only had 128 pages, this one has 224 and runs to 80,000 words. It took two years to research and write."

The work explores Elgar's life from his background in a Worcester music shop to his final years as Master of the King's Music and the first composer to make recordings of all his major works.

Mr Mundy added: "There has been a great surge of interest in Elgar in recent years and now he is regarded as England's greatest late romantic composer.

"It was felt the time was right for a new look at him."

The launch of the book, which costs £12.95, coincided with the opening of a special exhibition at the Birthplace Museum to mark the centenary of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches Number 1 and 2.

The highlight of the exhibition is the original manuscript of Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 - more widely-recognised as The Last Night of the Proms' finale Land of Hope and Glory - which has been loaned by The British Library and has to be kept under specially-controlled conditions of temperature, humidity and light.

P9: Elgar fan buys composer's signature.