Join My Elgar Rescue Party

Not every country has someone who can meaningfully be described as the national composer. Italy clearly has one. So does Finland, Norway and the Czech Republic. Many others do not - Austria, Germany, France, Russia and the US are examples. England, however, indisputably has a national composer, and his name is Edward Elgar.

Elgar was born 150 years ago on Saturday. The occasion is being richly observed in our musical world, as one would expect. However, conspicuously, the anniversary has also triggered celebrations in the conservative press. The Spectator has hosted a series of Elgar concerts in its offices, while the Daily Telegraph has run a sumptuous series of articles in praise of the composer.

Elgar's anniversary has not been overlooked by the liberal press. In the Guardian we made Elgar the cover story in last Friday's Film & Music supplement. But it is idle to pretend that the birthday has not been noted in a more minor key here.

In some respects this is no great surprise. The conservative appeal of Elgar is very obvious. The composer was a nostalgic, a melancholic, a country man, a Catholic, an imperialist and a political Conservative. His most famous music may not have been written for flag-waving and patriotic occasions, but much of it has long been appropriated for those purposes. It would be strange indeed if Elgar did not have a following of fogeys.

While not pretending that Elgar was one of the world's natural Guardian readers, we need to rescue him from the grip of the conservatives. He should not be theirs to define. Elgar is not the national composer because the conservative establishment has decreed it but because we, the whole people, have accorded him that role. Elgar belongs to all of us, not just to the conservatives.

This is not some quirky new thought. When Elgar died in 1934, a Manchester Guardian leader dubbed him "the laureate of English music" and observed: "No worthier tribute could be offered ... than to say that his death will be discussed in this country by the public at large." Some musical snobs may still deny it, but Elgar's musical achievements are unrivaled in our island's history. He was as close to a self-taught and instinctive genius as England has ever produced.

To those who seek a less trampled path to Elgar's soul, listen to the sublime sadness of the slow movement of the String Quartet, finished in the year the first world war ended. Troubled, emotional and restless music of this kind belongs to all of us, now as always.