Gossip Girl

I really enjoyed reading this week's article by Sophie Fuller, "Elgar and the Salons: The Significance of a Private Musical World." As I said in class, it read like a gossip column. I loved that reflecting back on the Victorians and through primary documents such as letters and diary entries. As I was reading the article, I kept checking in on how I felt about Elgar and my opinion of him kept changing. As I was reading about his relationships with the "women of the salon" I felt myself wanting to judge him and his behavior. Then when she discussed the relationship with Schuster I found myself again drawing new conclusions about who I though Elgar actually was. In class though I think Lindsay said it well. Maybe because of his severe insecurities he constantly needed to surround himself with people to stroke his ego and make him feel better about himself. As I was reading the article I was thinking, "Wow, he was a womanizer." or "Wow, I guess he was a homosexual." But it really makes much more sense that in a lot of a ways I don't even think that Elgar knew what he was. He seemed to only want to define himself through societal approval and status. Or maybe he really was too "weak" in his own character to really be able to have an opinion for himself. I also really enjoyed that from the beginning of the article she was tackling the concept of the masculine versus the feminine. Even in the bank note, with the appearance of St. Cecelia it was already softening and confusing who Elgar actually was. I think it was interesting that there was so much pressure on men in society to be "manly" and that music was associated with the feminine. It seemed that for Elgar, he learned to keep up appearances such as the manly and masculine appearance of his dress and mustache or the scolding of Schuster's behavior. But maybe through his private relationships with all of these women it allowed him to indulge in more effeminate behavior. Either way, I think that Elgar is a very interesting character. It would be interesting to be able to take a peek into his psyche. I think Fuller's attempt at understanding him through the "gossip" of the time definitely was able to capture him in another light.