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Now that yarn sounds like something from one of those 1940\u2019s lives-of-the-composers movies. But though it sounds suspiciously theatrical, the story comes from Elgar himself, so we might as well go along with it. First Part of the Enigma The Variations <\/em>begin with a theme that is in two sections, the most important being the first four measures in G Minor. That consists of four four-note units separated by rests. Between the two statements of the minor key portion of the theme, there is a brief major key segment. Elgar called the theme \u201cEnigma,\u201d and later on the entire work acquired its popular name, The Enigma Variations.<\/em> Despite Mrs. Elgar\u2019s enthusiasm, the theme seems unimpressive. Elgar himself said it was \u201cnothing much, but something might be made of it.\u201d In fact, the theme was perfect for Elgar\u2019s purposes. He made imaginative use of the units as building blocks to be varied and recombined. The task Elgar set for himself was to create musical impressions of members of his circle of friends\u2014fourteen people\u2014and one dog. Each variation was to present a general portrait of a person and a reference to a specific characteristic or event associated with him or her. Examples of the latter are the \u2018cello solo in Variation XII, which portrays Basil George Nevinson, an amateur \u2018cellist who often played with Edward, and the repeated woodwind notes in Variation X imitating the stutter of that variation\u2019s namesake, Dora Penny. The titles of most of the variations include the initials of the individual sketched in the music. After the theme is presented, the variations proceed with minimal breaks. The composition is anchored by three variations corresponding to the most important people in Elgar\u2019s life. The first of these is, of course, his beloved wife and muse, Caroline. For the greater part of this variation, Edward presents the Enigma as a warm and winsome melody with minimal ornamentation, but the music briefly rises to a passionate crescendo midway through. The second anchor is Variation IX entitled \u201cNimrod.\u201d It occurs two-thirds of the way through the Variations <\/em>and Theme of the \u201cNimrod\u201d Variation In Nimrod<\/em> the Enigma is presented intact for the first time since the first variation. But now it is slowed down, compressed from 4\/4 to 3\/4 time by removing the rests, and transposed to a major key. These changes give the variation a quiet nobility. Hearing it, one can imagine the decorous conversation of a pair of Victorian gentlemen enjoying each other\u2019s company over cigars and brandy. The subject of the last anchor, the Finale, is\u2014surprise!\u2014Elgar himself. The title E.D.U. is Caroline\u2019s nickname for him, Edu. It comes from the first three letters of \u201cEduard,\u201d the Germanized version of \u201cEdward.\u201d The Finale is brilliant with lots of brass and percussion. The units of Enigma get a workout, and the entire theme is presented in the Caroline Elgar and Nimrod<\/em> versions. But what about the enigma? You might think the \u201cenigma\u201d of the Variations <\/em>would be identifying the people associated with each movement. But that puzzle was easy and was solved right away. It wouldn\u2019t have risen to the level of a true enigma, defined as \u201ca perplexing, baffling, or seemingly inexplicable matter, person, etc.\u201d Elgar said the real enigma had to do not with the theme of the variations but with an additional melody that \u201c\u2018goes\u2019 but is not played.\u201d That was vague enough to keep musicologists busy for the next hundred years or so. In that time various melodies have been proposed as the solution to the enigma, ranging from Rule Britannia <\/em>to Bach\u2019s Art of the Fugue. <\/em>But none has been generally accepted. The futile search for the true enigma is a suitably theatrical coda to the Enigma Variations<\/em> story. By the way, the dog in the variations is a bulldog whose woofing and grumbling are depicted by the bassoon at the beginning Variation XI. The dog\u2019s name was Dan. Our bassoonist\u2019s name is also Dan. So Dan plays Dan. Catherine and Edu would have been quite amused. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 William F. Long, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1898, after a hard day of teaching fiddle, Edward Elgar, a young musician from the English Midlands, relaxed by improvising melodies on the piano for the entertainment of his wife, Caroline. She was so intrigued by one of the themes that Edward improvised a number of variations on it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stlco-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/del>portrays Elgar\u2019s best friend, Augustus J. Jaeger. The title is a bilingual pun. In German \u201cJaeger\u201d means \u201chunter\u201d while \u201cNimrod\u201d is the name of a great hunter in the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/izkW7QCfSur_BFSSZEHIlb9pQtZ65hi1DKCigC7efkU8a0sXSGzDGsNnTAHbktgeut_D0Ut-vkgSvtH8GrXwP0ErXoE9uqMeR5qE_ovb1PiczEkx4qTYdG2kQsiXD4k4YHug81Z1VX4u14zHpg\")
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