Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations - Nimrod | Leonard Bernstein
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- Опубликовано: 10 мар 2016
- IX Nimrod (Adagio) | Enigma Variations, Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra Op. 36, "Enigma", Sir Edward Elgar, 1899.
Complete Enigma Variations (live recording) • Video
Other Videos:
1. Variation IX. "Nimrod" piano transcription • Video
2. Variation IX. "Nimrod" piano transcription • Edward Elgar "Enigma V...
3. Enigma Variations transcription on Piano • Edward Elgar "Enigma V...
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It was Elgar's Enigma Variations that made his name as a composer, at the age of forty-two. Today, Enigma is widely seen as the first real musical masterpiece to emerge in Britain since the dead of Henry Purcell two centuries earlier. In the manuscript score the word "Enigma" is written over the original theme, with its contrasted strains of major and minor. Elgar later said that this theme represented "the loneliness of the creative artist", and one may assume that it therefore represents Elgar himself. He also said there was "another and larger theme" which "goes" through and over the whole set but is not played. Whether this second theme is a popular melody or a symbolic idea such as friendship has never been established and probably never will be.
Elgar dedicated the Variations "to my friends pictured within," and they form an irresistible sequence of character studies, culminating in the composer's rousing, assured self-portrait - as though he were telling those friends, "See what you have made of me.". But Elgar also confessed that the music contained a "dark saving", adding that the theme itself expressed his enduring sense of the "loneliness of the artist". So like many of Elgar's finest works, Enigma reveals two very different personae: the robust, brimming confidence of the self-made English gentleman and the restless, melancholic introspection of the outsider. That Elgar gentleman and the restless, melancholic introspections of the outsider. That Elgar was truly both is one of the aspects of his music that makes him fascinating. That is not the whole story: Enigma is also about warmth of feeling, tunefulness, and lively humor, and even - an unfashionable word today - Nobility.
At the end of an overlong day laden with teaching and other duties, Edward Elgar lit a cigar, sat at his piano and began idling over the keys. To amuse his wife, the composer began to improvise a tune and played it several times, turning each reprise into a caricature of the way one of their friends might have played it or of their personal characteristics. "I believe that you are doing something which has never been done before," exclaimed Mrs. Elgar. Thus was born one of music's great works of original conception, and Elgar's greatest large-scale "hit": the Enigma Variations. The enigma is twofold: each of the 14 variations refers to a friend of Elgar's, who is depicted by the nature of the music, or by sonic imitation of laughs, vocal inflections, or quirks, or by more abstract allusions. The other enigma is the presence of a larger "unheard" theme which is never stated but which according to the composer is very well known. The identity of the phantom tune left the world with the composer, and guesses have ranged from "God Save the King" to a simple major scale.
This apparatus aside, the variations contain some of the most charming and deeply felt music Elgar ever penned, more than redeeming the work from the status of mere gimmickry. The main theme is hesitating, lean and haunting, and is reprised with the passionate first variation that represents Caroline, the composer's wife, a constant source of encouragement and inspiration.
IX. Nimrod - The most beautiful and famous of the variations, this music describes a nighttime walk and encouragement to composer, recalling Beethoven's determination in adversity. Nimrod was a biblical hunter.
First performed in London in June 1899 and conducted by Hans Richter, the work was soon taken up Steinbach, Nikisch, Weingartner, Koussevitzky, Toscanini, Rachmaninov and, in his last New York season, Mahler.
Elgar's "Enigma Variations" were played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a controversial reading by Leonard Bernstein, London Including Bernstein's notoriously slow version of "Nimrod". 
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This is the most beautiful version of Nimrod I've ever heard. I taught my son to conduct this piece when he was a young child. I lost him at age 23 and ever time I hear this, I cry. I don't mind crying for a longer period of time. Lenny's version reflects the emotion that we all should feel when this Variation is performed. Bless you, LB, my childhood hero.
That's rough. My experience isn't as sad as your's, but while rehearsing this piece, we had to come up with a time when we had severe hard emotions, so my mind immediatly jumped to my dog dying in my own lap. I am also brought to tears. We all have our stories with this piece and they need to be shared.
Mr Fenster, we played this at my big brother’s funeral. He was a great musician, had conducted this with tears rolling down his face, he felt every note. I miss him so much, but can’t imagine how much more losing a child would be. And it’ll be played at my funeral, when the time comes.
My condolences to you.
Nimrod is my favorite also.
May your son rest in peace..
I saw Lenny conduct this with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in '82. By the end of the movement he was literally on his knees coaxing, begging for more passion from the orchestra. Not a dry eye in the house. I miss him so much. His Young People's Concerts hooked me on classical music. I'm a 72 year old man with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Yes James Taylor you and me both......
Thanks a lot for this story.. I love so much Bernstein !
"Oh, you've seen fire and you've seen rain..."
Yes. I'm 52 and this is one of the most beautiful and emotional moments in all of classical music. Extraordinary!
So beautiful - I wish I could have witnessed that. Thank you for sharing
Bernstein conducts this piece like a flower opening petal by petal...just beautiful.
Beautiful interpretation, Rebekah. Kind regards, Bill.
You comment was just beautiful... thank god there are people such as yourself that can express adequately what this music means..did you hear Maestro Bernstein humming along to parts of this?!.thank-you Rebekah Holder.
@@SarahJones-wy5us Toscanini often sang along while conducting, so Lenny was in *very* good company!!
beautiful metaphor!
Just kiss me man
Leonard Bernstein; you are still a 'master musician'. Growing up as a young African American male in a New York City housing development, project, I was blessed to attend rehearsals of the NY Philharmonic. For a small fee as a student attending The High School Of Music & Art in the 1960's, I was blessed to witness your 'magnificent genius'. At times, you would stop the orchestra and engage in some historical perspectives concerning the work that they were performing.. You are a, 'gift' to the world. Beautiful performance!!
Me too! Saturday "Young Peoples' Concerts" with Lenny - I knew at the time I was lucky, but not how amazing lucky, to have that in my backyard. What a blessing.
rob dougan clubbed to death the matrix yoo
As I am in the winter of my life I am drawn to the English. Elgar, Vaughan Williams etc. I can smell their air, feel their soil and be on their land. Why? I don’t know. But this I do know. As an American I love England and her music!!!!
I don’t care if it’s considered too slow. Bernstein brings out all the emotion of the piece. I find this version the most beautiful and moving of all.
Me too.
I think, in retrospect, Elgar would agree!
All the versions of Sir Edward Elgar’s masterpiece Nimrod IX, is great, some are more extraordinary than the other. But I love this slower version as well!
rob dougan clubbed to death the matrix ;d
The adagio is written by Elgar in 3/4 at quarter = 52. That is very close to the way Bernstein conducted it.
This was the last piece conducted by my youth orchestra's conductor. We later found out that it was in fact very near to his heart; that it had been taught to him by his own very old mentor and friend who had passed away some years before, and that it was in fact the last piece that he had performed with his teacher as well; a kind of musical legacy. On the day of the performance, this was the last piece. As he conducted it, he began to weep, and by the end of it every single person in the orchestra was crying as well.
I’m listening to this piece after a long time. I played it in orchestra and wind ensemble. Each time I hear it it’s a new experience. No need to rush through grief when it happens to us. Let the tears flow. After the storm ⛈ a sunny ☀️ morning.
Whenever I hear this piece, and I've heard it hundreds if not thousands of times, I stop and listen and think - it really doesn't get any better than this. Perfection.
One of the most moving, inspiring and beautiful pieces of music ever.
It never fails to drive me to tears. Of the versions I know, this one is moving me the most by far. Music to be played at the end of time, no more words.
I know. This must be the most beautiful piece of music in all of history. It expresses the true human spirit. I imagine this song was most popular right after WW2.
On hearing this the first time I thought it was just too slow. On repeated hearings I hear it differently. Because one is used to hearing faster interpretations of this movement one's body clock gets accustomed to a faster tempo. Bernstein asks us to open our ears, our hearts and our minds to embrace this profound music in a new way.
And some years after this recording Sir Colin Davis recorded this variation a mere 20 seconds faster than Bernstein...really in the same ball park. Bernstein took 4 minutes 55 seconds and Davis took 4 minutes and 35 seconds.
So true!!!!!
I agree absolutely with your 'ears, hearts and minds' comment. I grew up with this music (I was born in Dec 1964) - I cry during every performance (including the wonderful sound of he Massed Bands of the Guards at the cenotaph each November).
The slow tempo is wonderful. You can hear the violin weeping at 45 seconds. You hear the fine details and accents missing in faster versions. Tea needs time to steep. So does Elgar.
Can only hope I can hear this through my coffin at my funeral. Perfection.
You may sit up and see everyone faint,lol!
Phnom Penh Trad
It's on my funeral list too...but I've even stipulated in my will, it must be THIS version and no others :)
A bit trying to cheat, aren’t you? But with good taste and very high standard
Surely The most beautiful piece of music ever created.
One of them!!
The Nimrod was written as a mourning piece for a dear friend. And this version says it all. The ache. The Disbelief. The wrenched heart, the gutted soul. The tears, the cries, the screams, the sighs. There is NOTHING in this world that says "grief" to me like the Nimrod.
Totally agree the grief is so loud to me as well
Deepens one's breath; takes one down into the complete sound, gives time to hear everything, time for every last detail and nuance, time for every level of passion and love and suffering and survival and endurance and triumph; and time to relax into the peace that follows. Long, slow, and perfect.
Yes, it is a bit slower but if ye ask me, it has reached another level with that approach -- one that guts me out every time I listen to it and can't help but cry a Mugfull! 😂 Mr. Bernstein must have been inspired by Elgar himself, in his dream, to conduct it this way, and I am happy and glad that I got a chance to listen to this and thus to hear God's anguish over why His kids aren't able to see eye to eye and live in perpetual peace and harmony!
Due to too slow tempo, tears can not stop flowing. I love this version. Thank you, Leorard.
It could be played even slower. But at this tempo ... SUPERCHARGED with emotion. Thanks to all.
For me toooo slow and by organ a little bit better...
Oh if we could just have Lenny back! Thank God and technology for these wonderful recordings and RUclips for providing such a great format for seeing and hearing these great works! Some too fast comments... not so, just right ! I say so !
I think this might be the best orchestration I have heard of this piece.
This extremely passionate piece of music is made even more heart breaking under the direction of super conductor Maestro Bernstein...... just lovely.
I have heard many performances of this work - live and recorded - and in this Englishman's
opinion there's certainly room for this slower version from a remarkable American conductor.
Bernstein always throwing down a challenge to future conductors... "hey... try to have the guts to take my tempo"
This was my dad's favourite, now mine. Like father, like son.
For the people saying it's too slow the whole point of Sir Edward Elgar's music was hanging onto the chords longer than was generally acceptable for composers of the time,he also beloved himself inferior to other composers for being born in Worcester (which has a stunning cathedral and is a beautiful city btw) as he wasn't from London,I'm from near Worcester myself but live in South-East Asia now as you can see! :-)
*believed!
Nitwit.
@@tommymcguiddan389 You're a bloody git!!
I took the children I was teaching t Worcester Cathedral beautiful and the river walk! I remember growing up watching an Omnibus show on BBC about Elgar it showed a little boy on a white pony galloping over the Malvern Hills-fabulous to is music.
There are many beautiful things in this world, this music is one of them......I wrap a blanket around me and immerse myself in this moving masterpiece......
The best version ever!
What a GREAT rendition of this piece of Elgar music! Too bad I cannot see Leonard Berstein conducting this as he was so very expressive. Thank you for the wonderful explanation of just how this was written by Mr. Elgar!!! How interesting! Thank you everyone. You Tube too!
HEAVENLY! Listen to this piece of music and be
calm, sweet and in Heaven! Love,
k
Slow NO this portrayal brings out the total emotion of the Elgar soul, just beautiful thank-you Maestro Bernstein for your instruction .
Moves me to tears - always does!
@@angelarowe5453 I can listen to this endlessly always tears in the eyes,and a few comments to follow ,plus the fact I cannot listen Comfortably to any other rendition of "The Enigma Variations" other than Maestro Bernsteins.Thank-you for replying Angela Rowe.
Prince Philip funeral brought me here. A very moving interpretation of the move by one of the best maestro conductor ever lived.
The most Moving Classical score ever, Sir Edward Elgar, Leonard Bernstein, Berlin Philharmoniker, Perfection.
Leonard Bernstein
@@brookeggleston9314 Oh! My mistake' thank you.
Beautiful this piece touches a part of my soul deeper than anything everytime i hear it it brings me to tears . I feel its about endurance to carry on no matter what how it builds and lifts you up a sense of pride to be british and makes me reflect on those men who bravely walked into the den of evil and won at all costs this piece humbles me . Absolutley beautiful genius music . To those who made the ultimate sacrafice so we are free today
No me cansaría de escuchar y escuchar esta música que es un bálsamo para el espíritu de cualquier humano que la siente.
Every time l hear this l can’t stop crying , can’t help it .
Although this is Bernstein....Elgar is quite specific in his Metronome marking for this movement: quarter note = 52. Remember that this movement is a remembrance of a long evening discussion of the slow movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata that Elgar and his friend Jaeger (Nimrod) had....and if you listen closely you can catch a similar shape of line between this movement and the Pathetique.....so, not too slow~!!!!!!
💐🙏❤🦢🙌my mum loved this, sadly missed at peace, miss you mum xxx
Michael,
Thank you so much for posting this. I listen to it all the time when I want to relax.
it is breathtaking33
I absolutely adore Leonard Bernstein as a composer, he had such great emotion when he conducted !
Takes one to another level. Bravo Mr. Bernstein 👏🏻👏🏻
Absolutely amazing, my dad's favourite rip bless you 😘
雑音の中から聴きたい音楽が聴けるのが最高の幸せ。
ありがとう
バーンスタイン🎉
Achingly beautiful. Prince Philip died today and our nation is in mourning. I came here to listen to Nimrod again and found a masterpiece performance: stirring, uplifting, reflective.
It is fitting that it was also one of the songs played during his funeral service as well.
Indeed. By watching his funeral is how I got introduced to this music. I was touched
Kiathuang: Mourning the man who said in ‘88 he wanted to be downcycled into a deadly virus to reduce the human populace? Very strange.
I remember a film ( Young Winston'? ) that used this great emotional music. Set in the first world war, a family visiting a massive war cemetary, that stretched for miles. As the car moves slowly away, the camera is set to look out the rear side window , as the unending Grave crosses are seen ,passing the window, slowly speeding up, the music fades away, after about 5 minutes, as the screen slowly darkens and images disappear--unending graves !
Una musica che arriva dritta al cuore, la ascolti e davanti agli occhi ti passano davanti i ricordi di una vita, ripensi a chi hai amato e non c'è più, Un viaggio dolce amaro dentro noi stessi...
A music that comes straight to the heart, listening to it and in front of your eyes pass the memories of a life, rethinking to whom you loved and there is no more, a sweet journey bitter inside ourselves ...
I read some listeners say it's too slow but why would you want to rush perfection.
yep
It's not perfection, in fact Elgar conducted this work quite fast. Bernsteins ruins everything with his interpretation.
@@westernshipway3115 your comment is almost bitter and certanly most impolite and unkind.Grow up and respect each others preferations and tastes, without playing the self appointed judge....
Whenever I hear this, I think of England. I think of the thousands of years of history , the monarchy, the people, the armed forces, the culture, language and heritage of Old Blighty.
This IS England in musical form. I listen to this and feel homesick for a land that is not my home, and thanks to the pandemic and politics, I may never in this life see again.
Brilliant and Beautiful!!!!
Maravilloso, saudoso Berstein! 🎶❤🌹
Fantástico, extraordinario!!
Una musica che entra nell'anima.. sopratutto questa di Bernstein ! Grande Elgar !!
This piece cannot be played too slow but it can certainly be played too fast!
thunderc45 agreed
thunderc45
I don't agree with the first part of your comment. This is far too slow.
Try speeding it up to 1.25.
There are huge variations in the speed it can be played. A few examples: Elgar/LSO 2:53, Boult/LSO 3:54, Beecham/RPO 3:35, Bernstein/BBCSO 6:08.
Personally I prefer it faster than this.
THANK YOU for this upload.
Stunning
Glorious sound!
MAESTOSO, oltre l'Umano...., DIVINO
Awesome...
This song 👌 should be played on TV, radio station, on the websites around the world 👌 to remember the people who are dying of Corona-virus and For heroes that are helping people in the UK and around the world keep strong 👌
Elgar’s “Nimrod” was played at the end of the “Tree of Life” Symphony in Pittsburgh in 2018. It was a brilliant edifying choice by Manfred Honeck; “slow or fast” regardless, healing ... if possible. Always, Lenny....
When I hear this I always think of the thousands of (allied) soldiers who never returned home.
ruclips.net/video/yOGD1WkJJok/видео.html
ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE.
Yes it has that longing sweeping sound, but it is the music of Hope and Regeneration - the assurance of morning after the pitch of night.
Yes it is beautiful its warm for the soul, let Trump hear this piece of music and he will regret saying that dead soldiers are losers..... ridin with Biden, stay strong greetings from the Netherlands
@@jan-pietervanwaasbergen2441 He didn’t say that; it was an anonymous source who claimed that. No need to bring politics into this piece about friendship.
Perfect! Thanks for a few minutes of near bliss at this awful time.
C'est parfait !
Staggering beautiful
First time !’ve heard this version, it is very nice indeed.
What was it with this Bernstein person being able to get people to express all that emotion beautiful
Bella ejecucion y direecion del Maestro Bernstein. El ha logrado el Tempo perfecto para esta obra. Nimrod es la calma ante la tempestad y la paz en todas las noches tormentosas. Una maravilla.
The massed bands of the Household Division playing this by the Cenotaph on an autumn morning on Remembrance Sunday cannot be bettered.
It is hard to top anything on the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice!
This beautiful piece was introduced to me during the funeral of Prince Philip. I was moved
Bernstein always felt first then raised his baton, matching what he thought the emotional feelings of the human spirit was evoked in the composer's music. Was he a student of Reinhold Niebur one wonders......
Can anyone make it through this piece without crying? ...No?
samphibious1 I cry every time.
There's a wonderful version of this also available on RUclips by a Greek orchestra. The most moving thing is the reaction of one of the violinists - a lady who begins crying as she plays.
Yes, I can. But I don't have any personal connection to it (yet) as I just first heard about it and Sir Edward Elgar today when I got the DUNKIRK soundtrack in the mail. Having now listened to it, I can hear how Hans Zimmer was inspired from it when he wrote the score for The Lion King and can't wait to hear how he incorporates it in the DUNKIRK soundtrack.
I cry as soon as the music begin !
The house I lived in when married was owned by one of his friends. He was a frequent visitor. I often wondered did he get his inspiration looking at the sea a few yards away
And to think, he wrote this for his friend. I sure wish I had friends like this man.
YEAH BUT---THE FRIEND WAS DEAD, THIS IS A REQUIEM
@@MrDaiseymay Please stop yelling! If you must type without using the shift key, please lock it on lowercase, rather than upper. Many people simply by-pass comments that are written in uppercase letters. Don't let that happen to you!!
Perfection.......🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️
exquisita musica
Comment ne pas pleurer, effectivement.
I love this version..seems as cinematic music and you watching film .. ❤️
This is it.....the soul of Nimrod..can only be Bernstein..
Insuperable!
Bravo!
The moment when you listen to this piece and realize that Muse used the theme of it in the last part of the Globalist song. Glorious'!!!
Just found your comment, man. True. The sadness. The unsettling feeling of that dictator-protagonist's feeling when he has done bombing the world. Emptiness. Irony. Inability to avert the catastrophy he ignited.
Listening to this on Remembrance Sunday, #LessWeForget
good ~thank very much ~♡♡♡♡♡
De extrema beleza... inesquecível rendition mais lenta (e melhor versão, em minha opinião).
WOW!!!
The tempo is as slow as Mahler's Adagio from his 9th symphony.
Revelatory!
forse la più bella interpretazione di Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein is much missed.
Nimrod is the biblical King who built the Babel tower to shoot God
The music gives me the feeling of ascending to the open sky
NASA should make it their theme
Like it, Your a Poet.
It's believed that Nimrod refers to a friend of Elgar's, named Jaeger. The first name escapes me at the moment. Jaeger is the German word for hunter. Before he became king, Nimrod was known as *a mighty hunter.*
@@brookeggleston9314 it was August Jaeger, who was Elgar’s publisher. He was clearly a very special person in Elgar’s life. Here’s a letter from Elgar to Jaeger about the Enigma Variations: www.bl.uk/collection-items/elgar-letter-to-jaeger
It's impossible to listen to this and not think about Tom Hardy in Dunkirk, "landing" the Spitfire on the beach during sunset.
😭💜😍 wow 🤩
friendship
Ethereal
GUD WORD
la più bella interpretazione! Io l' avrei diretta proprio così.
Makes me wish he conducted Ives' "Unanswered Question." He yacks about it.
drewyknot He did.
Of course he would slow it down. I sang under his direction a handful of times in the 60s, remember then?
Hans Zimr's vrsion for Dunkrk is waaay sLowr and it works, Leny knw xactLy wat he was doing, he was no cLown
BUT ZIMMER WAS FRAMED INTO DOING IT
Dunkirk....💔😢
Gustav Mahler's Enigma Variations - Nimrod = Adagietto
Try Sir Edward Elgar!!
I think Adrian Boult also took this speed.
Lar M Hi. This is far slower than Boult...... and he got all the emotion out of it as well. I can’t stand Bernstein’s speed, but there’s room for various versions. It’s still great music.
Dunkerque !
Bernstein is only 40 seconds slower than Colin Davis: ruclips.net/video/aqvOVGCt5lw/видео.html I suspect that Davis had heard the Bernstein recording and may have internalized it's approach. Perhaps?
Ends too soon!!