Category: The Lord Jesus

Re blog – Edward Elgar

This morning I bring to you a blog with a difference.

The story of the Enigma Variations is an amusing one. Tired from a day of giving violin lessons, Elgar returned home to improvise a theme on the piano. His wife liked it and he comically tried to imagine how some of their musical friends may play the piece instead, hence the proper title of Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) Op 36.

The collected pieces were known as Engima for two reasons. The first puzzle inside it is to tie the likely personalities to the variations, a game which Elgar himself gave away when he wrote some notes for (of all things) a pianola roll version of his music. The second puzzle contained in the music is far more subtle, and concerns a musical link that ties all the variations together. Elgar himself said that the theme is never actually heard and that the element that links the pieces is of the ‘slightest texture’ and therefore that ‘the chief character is never on stage’. Elgar never gave the game away about the identity of the piece and took the solution to his grave in St Wulstan’s Catholic Church in Little Malvern in 1934. He actually thought any suitably educated person would solve it on hearing the first performance. No one did, and no one has.

Others have wished the theme to be more obvious than all of this and have suggested that the musical link is anything from God Save the Queen, through Auld Lang Syne and (more promisingly) Bach’s The Art of the Fugue. Others have taken a more tortuous look at things and have suggested that the theme is in fact a reflection of Elgar’s own Christian faith, particularly in the context of some wordplay concerning biblical quotations. No one is ever going to know for certain and that, to me, is appealing.

The ninth variation was given the name ‘Nimrod’ after the biblical reference to Noah’s great-grandson of the same name who was a gifted hunter. It pays tribute to Elgar’s great friend Augustus J Jaeger (whose surname in German translates to ‘Hunter’) who managed to keep Sir Edward’s hopes up while he was still trying to make his mark on the world of music. Elgar attempted to capture Jaeger’s nobility in the slowness of the piece and (allegedly) tried to make a musical reproduction of a a conversation they once had late at night concerning the slow movements of Beethoven’s slow pieces. Indeed, the first few bars closely resemble the very start of the second movement of Beethoven’s Eighth Piano Sonata (also called Pathetique). Having said that, the piece also quotes from Mendelssohn at one point as well.

Perhaps it’s due to the fact that the piece is always played at the Cenotaph on Rememberance Sundays that this piece of music captures – maybe more than even his celebrated Pomp and Circumstance – the essence of Britishness in a few pithy musical phrases. Jaeger’s personal nobility aside, its slowness and languid fluidity seems to speak of stoical endurance, making do, fighting to the last bullet and of a small ‘c’ variery of conservatism that the sceptred isle will probably never shake off as long as we exist.

As for the music, I’ve loved this one variation above all the others since I was a child. Like everyone else I probably know it best from a muted brass band playing it on some Sunday every November, but the orchestral version offers so much more. The music appears to climb endlessly, like some kind of Escher staircase (or Shepard tone), playing with cadence, crescendo, tension and release in the most masterful of ways.

Jonathan Scott playing Elgar’s Nimrod on the largest organ in the world

Queen Elizabeth dies at 96

Kenneth's avatarBrain disorders & other General topics of the day

BALMORAL, Scotland, Sept 8 – Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, the nation’s figurehead and a towering presence on the world stage for seven decades, died peacefully at her home in Scotland on Thursday aged 96.

“The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” the new king, her eldest son Charles, said.

“I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world,” the 73-year-old said in a statement.

News that the queen’s health was deteriorating emerged shortly after midday on Thursday when her doctors said she was under medical supervision, prompting her family to rush to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to be by her side.

Thousands gathered outside Buckingham Palace, in central London, and there was a stunned silence when the…

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The Lily of the Valley

The Song of Solomon is an extended love poem. In Song of Solomon 2:1, the woman declares, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” Then the man affirms in verse 2, “Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.” Then in verse 3 the woman responds, “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men.”

In the first verse, the woman says she is a rose of Sharon and a lily of the valleys. Many different plants have been called a rose of Sharon, and we do not know the specific species that is referred to here. There is also some question as to how the lily of the valley is to be identified. Suggestions include wild-growing anemone, hyacinth, tulip, iris, and gladiolus. In any case, the lily of the valley was a beautiful and fragrant plant. In the context of Song of Solomon, it may be that the woman is comparing herself to some common wildflowers that would not necessarily be considered valuable or beautiful when compared to cultivated flowers.

On the contrary, the man sees his beloved as a lily among thorns. Thorns are ugly, unattractive, and uninviting. But his beloved is a lily among the thorns—she stands out in his eyes, and her beauty outshines that of all other women. By the same token, the woman sees her bridegroom as an apple tree among the other trees in the forest—he is unique and valuable in her eyes.

The point seems to be that each lover finds the other superior to all the other options. The bride is a lily, as compared to thorns. The bridegroom is an apple tree, as compared to the other forest trees. There might be a lot of trees in the forest that are large and tall—like the mighty oak or the cedar of Lebanon. A rather small, scrubby apple tree would not seem to be very significant by comparison. However, when one considers the fruit that the apple tree gives, it is extraordinary. A person might chop down any number of trees for firewood, lumber, etc., but would most likely save an apple tree because of the fruit.

The point seems to be that comparing a beloved with others is all a matter of perspective. A lily of the valley compared to cultivated flowers might be rather insignificant, but compared to thorns that grow around it, it is beautiful. An apple tree is not the greatest tree in the forest, but when you consider the fruit that it gives, it is a wonderful tree.

This is the attitude that married people need to have when viewing each other. Each spouse needs to emphasize the positive strengths of the other. If one spouse looks around and starts to compare himself/herself against others who are better looking, more successful, richer, more powerful, more talented, more capable, etc., he or she may begin to feel inadequate or unworthy. It is the responsibility and privilege of the other spouse to point out the strengths and to demonstrate that “I only have eyes for you.” If the other spouse falls into the trap of negatively comparing his or her spouse with others, then things can go downhill quickly. Pornography and so much of what popular media defines as beautiful, sexy, or successful can be devastating to marriages because they set impossible, artificial standards that a spouse in real life can most likely never meet.

Every husband should see his wife as the lily of the valley and thank God for the beautiful and delightful blossom He has provided for him in the wilderness.

Neurology Appointment & Seizure update

Kenneth's avatarBrain disorders & other General topics of the day

Today 31/08/2022 I seen my Neurologist via video call when I told him how I have been since last seen in December by video.

During the call he asked how my seizures were compared to last call where I said there was hardly any seizures (possibly due to reduced stress in my life).

I told him so far at the beginning of the year and around mid summer there was very little activity, but in February I had four seizures and in August as many as seven. (Most of them Complex)

When asked what triggered them I could only think of a few things (forgotten meds & interrupted sleep).

No change has been made to medication and he said he would call us in about six weeks

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