Publisher's Synopsis
August Jaeger deserves to be seen as a remarkable individual in his own right, rather than just as the identity behind Edward Elgar's familiar æNimrod' variation. All too little is known about his early life in Bismarck's Germany, his emigration to England as a political refugee, and his struggle for survival as a clerk in London before his employment with Novello. This book, the first biography of any kind of August Jaeger, attempts to cast some light on these aspects and goes on to present evidence of his wider contribution to the English Musical Renaissance through many unpublished documents, including letters to Parry, Walford Davies and Sydney Loeb. These combine the critical encouragement for which he was celebrated, with much delightful gossip about the London musical scene, together with extracts from his forgotten journalism. Most moving of all, they chronicle the courage with which Jaeger faced years of illness and a tragically early death. An indispensable companion-piece to Elgar biographies.
