What is the Music on your Desk Top? Enigma.

What is the music on your desk top? : Enigma

The music on my desktop is enigmatic. It comes from Enigma Variations. It is called Nimrod. Every time I hear Nimrod I am transported to another world.  A world of fantasy and foolishness, a world of romance, a world of longing, a world of gentleness and  a world of love.

Nimrod is another name for “idiot,” Nimrod is mentioned in the bible, Genesis 10:8-9. Nimrod has connotations of self adulation, rules of tyranny, rules of hunting.

Cush was the father of Nimrod.

Now, there is no world, but something is still there. There are some remnants.

Here on the rest of the rubble there are remnants of something, remnants of fantasy,  romance and longing,  gentleness and love.

We will see. Come let us go and see!

We walk in the wilderness which is vast and never ending.

We see the red furred fox spying on the chickens, he is hungry, he is sly. He waits until the cock called Chanticleer has come home from his peregrinations. “I am your cousin fine fellow, I would like very much to hear you sing, you have such a fine voice.”

Chanticleer sings but keeps one eye open to watch the red beast.

The furred fox says quietly,” You will sing much better with both eyes closed, my cousin. You h ave a beautiful voice.”

Chanticleer is flattered and closing both his eyes, sings loud and clear.

The fox grabs chanticleer by the throat and runs off, salivating at the thought of his forthcoming supper.

The farmers wife comes to look for Chanticleer and sees the fox running away with him in his mouth.

All the bystanders (who can’t keep their mouths shut) call out insults.

“Listen to them , are you not going to reply, you who are so good at mocking people?”

Renard the fox then calls out.

 “ In spite of you all, I have my piece.”

Chanticleer feels the loosening of the mouth and flies up in to an apple tree. Renard falls in to a pile of manure.

Now who is more foolish, the one who succumbs  to flattery, or the one who opens his mouth?

We see now, two young lovers, who drink from the cup of love. They flee from the King’s court for the King would marry the young girl Isolde. The King banishes the young Tristan, who flees in to the forests where he finds shelter with the villagers .

One year later, Tristan hears that the King is going to a feast in the forest and Isolde will be with him and his party.

 Tristan leaves a message on a tree trunk for Isolde with his name and isolde sees the message. She escapes from the King’s party and finds Tristan in the forest. The two lovers rejoice in being together but live in fear of being discovered. They plan to be free for ever and this is how. They plant themselves as seeds (anything is possible in post apolocypse) in a tree bole and grow up to be two trees with one origin. This is the explanation for the symbiosis for the Honeysuckle and the hazelnut tree. The lovers grow up together, forever intertwined.

The saying goes: “Ni vous sans moi, ni moi sans vous.”

In a world where there is no world, this is a remnant of courtly love.

Come let us go, come let us see the story of “Amour Lointain.” (Chanson de Jaufre Rudel)

Juafre chooses adventure but also chooses a far away love.

“When the days are long, I love the soft chant of the birds; and when my spirit is far away, I remember a distant love; I walk, full of desire, restless and dreamy,”

The way is long for all pilgrims. It is long for all travellers who look for spiritual significance. Life on earth is merely a time of exile, a time of longing for something else, a change from wretchedness to beatitude.

Juafre is looking for a “gite lointain” (bed and breakfast).

In a Post Apocalypse we can go to another country that is no longer anywhere.

We can go to Germany to the love songs of Walther von der Vogelweide. Some of his melodies are available.

“If any knew he lay with me

(May god forbid!), for shame I’d die.

What did he do?

May none but he

Ever be sure of that and I,

And one extremely tiny bird,

Tandaradei

Who will, I think, not say a word.”

Come let us go, come let us see a world of gentleness.

La Vierge et l’enfant  has been depicted in art since 431 and in all is depicted as a symbol of Humility. Great are the artists who have described the Madonna in paintings and sculpture: Simone Martini, Michelangelo, Bellini.

There was a wolf who ate all the villagers animals. He stopped at nothing; chicken, lambs, calves, all were grist to his mill. The villagers wished to kill the wolf who seemed to them ugly, evil and vicious. St Francis talked to the wolf, “ Wolf if I feed you will you stop eating the animals in the village?” the wolf howled his consent. St Francis then spoke to the village people. “ The wolf says if you feed him , he will stop eating you out of house and home.” The villagers agreed to feed the wolf and they all lived in harmony and gentleness from that day.

The words  “gentleman” and “gentlewoman”  have the attributes of gentleness apart from the required coats of arms for nobility. Aristotle wrote that gentleness comes when anger is redirected in to another emotion.

Come let us go and see what the world that no longer exists, says about ‘Love’.

William the baby, is about to be poisoned by his wicked uncle, when a prince disguised as a wolf jumps in and rescues him and take shim to be looked after by a cowherd.

William grows up to be a beautiful young man. The wolf reappears and shows him to the emperor of Rome who adopts him. William falls in love with Melanie the Emperors daughter and to avoid a fateful marriage, Melanie and William elope and live happily ever after.

After all anything can happen in a post apocalypse.

And what of Nimrod?

This music moves some listeners  to feel happiness and tears at the same time.

Elgar came home tired from work and sat doodling on the piano in a dream. Alice said “I like that tune.”

“What tune?”

“The one you just played.”

“Oh well I can try to make something of it.”

And so Enigma, Variations was composed.

Elgar said himself afterwards, that the music held a musical mystery, containing  a dark theme that was not played.

This is the music from my desktop!