Elgar’s Enigma Variations: Dedicated “...to my friends pictured within.”

Send us Fan MailDescriptionOn 21 October 1898, Edward Elgar returned to his wife and their home in Malvern after a long day teaching. He finished dinner, lit a cigar and sat down at the piano to doodle.  Hence his Enigma Variations was born. Take a minute to get the scoop!Listen to: Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations, Op.36: IX. (Nimrod)Queensland Symphony Orchestra ℅ YouTubeFun FactThe first performance, conducted in London by Hans Richter, took place on 19 June 1899 in a concert that concluded with Mozart’s ‘Prague’ Symphony. It was not until 13 September in Worcester, however, that the Variations were heard in their final form after Elgar had added a further 100 bars to the end of “E.D.U.” to make a more powerful conclusion.__________________________________________________________________About Steven, HostSteven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.__________________________________________________________________You can FOLLOW ME on Instagram. 👋On a personal note, please consider a coffee donation. 🤓☕️It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏__________________________________________________________________Got a topic? Pop me an email at: [email protected] Note To Music Students et al.All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.Love classical music? There's more to discover.If you enjoyed this episode, you can read the companion article and subscribe on Substack at The Classical Music Minute. And for a brand-new narrated classical music story every day, download the Classical Minute app for iPhone.Until next time, I'm Steven Hobé. Thanks for listening to The Classical Music Minute.