The Early Days to 1900

This was a period when a struggling, relatively unknown composer began his association with a major music publisher. It is informative of the market for music in those times and of the way in which a music publisher reacted to a composer's increasing reputation. The copyrights earned by Elgar over this period have already been researched, but the Royalty and Copyright Records throw an entirely new light on Elgar's success, or otherwise, in also earning royalties from his works. How much did Elgar earn in total from Novello over this period? On the face of it, the sum was £393 6s 3d as per Source Material 1(1). The net cash received was, however, only £293 6s 3d, which, in 2011 pounds, was worth around £32,000.

The first work to be accepted by Novello was the part-song My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land. Elgar was in no position to negotiate any sort of payment, although he did receive one hundred free copies according to the terms set out in a letter.