Sir Edward Elgar was an English composer of the Romantic era. Elgar was practically a self-taught violinist and spent most of his time learning music in his father's music shop. At the age of 16, he worked as a local violinist, bassoonist, conductor, and lecturer. His first choral works, including The Black Knight, King Olaf, The Light of Life, and Caractus, earned him a name. He then wrote The Dream of Geronitus and The Enigma Variations, making him widely known in the international scene. He also became famous for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, produced between 1901 and 1930. The Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, by Edward Elgar, is a staple of the solo cello repertoire. It was written during the First World War, when Elgar's music had already fallen out of favor with the concert-going public. The Cello Concerto is more contemplative and elegiac, in comparison to Elgar's earlier Violin Concerto, which is lyrical and passionate.