ABSTRACT
John Tosh has demonstrated that many men in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain felt immense pressure to conform to the prevalent codes of manliness in order to gain social and professional acceptance, and this appears to have had far reaching effects on their lives. These effects seem to have been even more pronounced in those men, such as musicians and artists, whose profession was considered in some way 'unmanly'. The chapter explores aspects of Edward Elgar's life in this context, focusing on his apparently consciously constructed public persona, adopted at an early stage in his career and the subject of much comment in biographies. It argues that applying a consideration of the impact of gender ideals on heterosexual men can offer a revised understanding of his sometimes perplexing and contradictory social behaviours and career choices. Masculinity has its own pecking order which is ultimately to do with upholding patriarchal power rather than a particular class order.
