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Welcome to Intermezzo from Interlochen Public Radio, where we take a few minutes to bounce some ideas around about classical music.
This week, Christy L'Esperance and her co-host Quinn celebrate this Thursday's National Puzzle Day with a musical puzzle — “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside of an enigma," Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
Yesterday we explored the part of Edward Elgar's musical diary where he talks about his wife, Caroline — and today we'll skip ahead several pages, past musical descriptions of people he knew.
We land on the 9th variation — the most famous melody in the entire piece. It's been played at the Olympics, in movies and at royal funerals: "Nimrod." Who could "Nimrod" be referring to?
To crack the code of the title, you need to crack open the Bible to the Book of Genesis. Nimrod is the great-grandson of Noah and described as "a mighty hunter before the Lord."
The German word for "hunter" is "Jaeger." Edward Elgar's publisher who gave Elgar harsh criticism but also meaningful encouragement was Augustus J. Jaeger.
When Elgar had been very depressed and was about to give up writing music, Jaeger visited him and encouraged him to continue composing. This variation, "Nimrod," is the story of how Jaegar inspired Elgar.
Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations: Variation IX. "Nimrod"
This week's Mystery Melody
It's time to test your ears. Each week we have a mystery melody that we have to figure out together. It relates to our topic. (We'll make the melody less mysterious each day.)
If you know the mystery melody, text your name and the title and we’ll give you a shout out on Friday. The number to text is (833) 490-4718.
