The first time I heard Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations I was awestruck. It felt like one of the most beautiful things I’d ever heard.

I learned recently it was the piece of work that set the composer up. A few years later he was knighted and became an establishment figure raised from his lower middle class origins. He seemed to enjoy the elevated status.

All art is relative to perspective. Most art, even the most celebrated, is appreciated only by a minority. But occasionally a work appears to be of such outstanding character to be of universal value. Nimrod might be one such.

Interestingly, I looked at at the piano score recently and was surprised to see it was in 3/4 time. It sure doesn’t feel like a waltz. Clever man that Elgar!