No work of music has a greater lock on a single ritual than Edward Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance March no. 1 does on American graduations. Cock an ear in the direction of high school and university ...

Adam Ackerman working in Guatemala, 2012 Credit: Courtesy of UVM Medical School What’s graduation without “Pomp and Circumstance,” Edward Elgar’s undisputed aisle-walking melody since, oh, about 1905?

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1923) is one of England’s greatest composers, best known for big works like his “Enigma Variations,” the violin and cello concertos, the oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius” and, ...