"Nimrod" from Enigma Variations

"Nimrod" from Enigma Variations (Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36) by Edward Elgar (arr. Alfred Reed). Recorded live by the Rhode Island Wind Ensemble on May 19, 2024. Videography by Jack Zornado jackzornado.com/.
“Nimrod” from Enigma Variations
More than a decade after the Enigma Variations were composed in 1899, Elgar reflectively stated that the variations started “in a spirit of humour, and continued in deep seriousness.” The story goes that after a long day of teaching, Elgar returned home and sat at his piano and began improvising a melody. His wife Alice was struck by the tune and as the evening continued he began improvising variations to go with the melody. In his exhaustion and playfulness with Alice he began including characteristics of several of his friends and colleagues in the variations. He sent what he had written to his publisher August Jaeger, himself an inspiration for one of the variations, with the following note: “I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme: the Variations have amused me because I’ve labeled ‘em with the nicknames of my particular friends-you are Nimrod.”
“Jaeger” is German for “hunter,” and Nimrod is one of the Old Testament’s fiercest hunters. According to Dora Penny, Elgar confided in her that this variation is not about Jaeger as much as a conversation with him. One day Elgar was very frustrated and considered giving up composing. Jaeger stepped in and compared Elgar’s struggles to those of Beethoven. He asked the composer how he thought Beethoven must have felt, having to compose while going deaf. Jaeger then told Elgar that as Beethoven’s hearing got worse, his music became more beautiful, and encouraged Elgar to take that lesson to heart. Jaeger then sang the slow movement to Beethoven’s “Pathetique” Sonata for his depressed friend. Elgar told Dora Penny that the opening of “Nimrod” suggests the “Pathetique.” He said, “Can’t you hear it at the beginning? Only a hint, not a quotation.”