The decade between Edward Elgar’s marriage in 1889 and the publication of his famous Nimrod Variations in 1899 was possibly the happiest period of his life: he was comfortably settled into family life, but theburdens of national fame had not yet begun to take their toll.

His beautiful and haunting composition The Snow dates from this time: as a relatively unknown composer he was free to work on what he liked,and the growing popularity of competitive c...