Elgar's Enigmas Exposed

"But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge" 

Daniel 12:4 

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival."

C.S. Lewis

   If I were ever to publish a book about Elgar’s Enigma Variations, it would go something like this…

Prologue: Why and What I Will Write

Since the greatest minds over the past 112 years have failed to penetrate the mysteries of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, why would I risk broaching this venerable yet controversial subject? What are my qualifications? Why do I write, and what do I have to say?

Chapter 1: A Missing Principal Theme

Getting the question right is the answer. The covert Principal Theme is a famous melody, not some abstract concept, symbol or number. Those who deny the existence of a hidden melodic Principal Theme directly contradict the recorded words of the composer by multiple, unimpeachable sources.

Chapter 2: A Premeditated Enigma

The Enigma Variations were not some random afterthought or capricious constellation of notes scattered haphazardly across an orchestral score. Elgar meticulously composed the Variations, and one obvious implication is that the enigmas contained within were methodically and melodically planned and premeditated.

Chapter 3: A Missing 'Dark Saying'

In the original 1899 program note Elgar explains the Enigma contains a ‘dark saying,' one that must remain ‘unguessed’. What else could be unguessed except a cipher? Elgar was an expert in secret messages and codes, and a cipher solution is not guessed – it's decoded.

Chapter 4: A Missing Dedicatee

Variation XIII is cryptically dedicated to a hidden friend represented by three mysterious asterisks (***). Standard solutions to this enigma – Lady Lygon and Helen Weaver – are easily disproven, leaving the question open and unresolved.

Chapter 5: Elgar's Covert Theme: Ein feste Burg

Evidence is presented proving that the covert Principal Theme to the Enigma Variations is Ein feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress) by Martin Luther. This historic hymn satisfies five criteria prescribed by Elgar to aid in unmasking the correct melodic solution:

1. The Enigma theme is a counterpoint to the Principal theme.
2. The Principal theme is not heard.
3. The Principal Theme is a melody that can play ‘through and over’ the whole set of Variations including the Enigma theme.
4. The Principal Theme is famous.
5. Dora Penny was very familiar with Ein feste Burg as she was the daughter of an Anglican missionary and Rector.

 Chapter 6: Confirmation: A Musical Checkerboard Cipher

The presumption that Elgar never left a written record confirming the melodic solution to the Enigma Variations is refuted by the discovery of an ingenious musical checkerboard cipher embedded in the first six measures of the Enigma Theme. This brilliant cipher confirms the name of the Covert Principal Theme and the hidden friend's identity for Variation XIII.

Chapter 7: Variation XIII: The Hidden Friend

Elgar’s secret dedicatee for Variation XIII is not a lady, but a lord – the Lord. His initials are represented by the Roman numerals for this movement (X = J, III = C). A cipher contained within the Mendelssohn fragments makes reference to the Turin Shroud, the burial cloth of Christ. The timing of this shroud reference is remarkable because a very famous photograph of the Turin Shroud was taken just five months before Elgar began work on the Variations. The photographic negative reveals a miraculous image of a crucified man that many Roman Catholics like Elgar believe to be Jesus Christ.

Chapter 8: Variation I C.A.E. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation I C.A.E., producing 28 melodic conjunctions spread over 13 out of 21 measures, and 140 chordal conjunctions spanning 21 measures. C.A.E. is 21 measures in length excluding a two bar bridge in measures 18 and 19. It was determined the Covert Theme is dormant in those two transitional measures, hence the absence of any note matches. Excluding these transitional measures, the Covert Theme plays in all 21 measures or 100% of this movement.

Chapter 9: Variation II H.D.S-P. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation II H.D.S-P., generating 45 melodic conjunctions in 31 out of 55 measures, and 65 chordal conjunctions covering 32 measures. It was determined the Covert Theme is dormant in the first ten measures (41-50), and the last fourteen (83-96). Theses inactive sections are essentially symmetrical because both consist of ten measure segments at the beginning and end of Ein feste Burg with the last dormant section followed by a four bar codetta. Elgar uses this sandwich technique more than once in the Variations as a sort of camouflage to obscure the start and end points of the Covert Theme. Since it is dormant in 24 out of 56 measures, the Covert Theme plays over almost 43% of the movement.

Chapter 10: Variation III R.B.T. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation III R.B.T., producing 34 melodic conjunctions spread over 24 out of 34 measures, and 72 chordal conjunctions spanning 27 measures. As it is dormant in 7 out of 34 measures (97, 105, 121-123, and 131-132), the Covert Theme plays over approximately 79% of the movement.

Chapter 11: Variation IV W.M.B. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation IV W.M.B., generating 26 melodic conjunctions dispersed over 28 of 32 measures, and 113 chordal conjunctions covering 28 measures. Since it is dormant in 4 out of 32 measures (178 through 181), the Covert Theme plays over almost 88% of the movement.

Chapter 12: Variation V R.P.A. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation V R.P.A., producing 68 melodic conjunctions spread over 20 out of 24 measures, and 166 chordal conjunctions dispersed over 22 measures. Since it is dormant in 2 out of 24 measures (172 and 173), the Covert Theme plays over almost 92% of the movement.

Chapter 13: Variation VI Ysobel with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation VI Ysobel, generating 39 melodic conjunctions in 17 and 105 chordal conjunctions spanning 21 measures. The Covert Theme plays over all measures or 100% of this movement. It is remarkable the cover theme plays over the entire variation without any dormant measures in the first two movements dedicated to women (I and VI).

Chapter 14: Variation VII Troyte with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation VII Troyte, producing 75 melodic conjunctions over 39 measures, and 236 total note conjunctions spread over 64 measures. Since it is dormant in 8 out of 72 measures (210 through 213, 223 through 225, and 252), the Covert Theme plays over almost 89% of the movement.

Chapter 15: Variation VIII W.N. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation VIII W.N., generating 60 melodic conjunctions and 159 chordal conjunctions in 26 out of 27 measures. Since it is dormant in the final measure (307), the Covert Theme plays in just over 96% of the movement. If the final G of Ein feste Burg in measure 307 is tied over to the G major chord in measure 308, the case could be made the Covert Theme plays ‘through and over’ the entire movement without any dormant measures. This would present a third instance in which the covert Principal Theme plays over the entire length of a movement dedicated to a woman (I, VI and VIII).

Chapter 16: Variation IX Nimrod with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation IX Nimrod, generating 27 melodic conjunctions spread over 20 measures and 150 chordal conjunctions over 36 measures out of a total of 43. Since it is dormant in 13 measures (341, 349-350, 356, 361-364, 368-372), the Covert Theme plays over virtually 70% of the movement.

Chapter 17: Variation X Dorabella with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation X Dorabella, producing 104 melodic conjunctions spread over 35 measures, and 172 chordal conjunctions over 41 measures out of a total of 74 measures. Since it is dormant in 33 measures (385, 397-404, 415-424, 437-450), the Covert Theme plays just under 58% of the movement. It is remarkable that in both instances when the Covert Theme concludes one complete cycle it is immediately followed by a carefully placed double bar in the score (measures 414 and 436). The odds of such a coincidence are astronomically low, reinforcing the conclusion Ein feste Burg must be Elgar’s missing melody. More importantly, this phenomenon is not isolated to only one movement.

Chapter 18: Variation XI G.R.S. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation XI G.R.S., generating 62 melodic conjunctions spread over 28 measures, and 241 chordal conjunctions over 33 out of a total of 41 measures. The Covert Theme is dormant in 5 measures (457, 490 – 493) with four of these five inactive measures consisting of a codetta at the end of the movement. Consequently there are shared melody notes in 28 out of 35 active measures, or 80% of the movement when Ein feste Burg plays. There are matching notes dispersed over 33 of 35 active measures, or 92% of the movement when Ein feste Burg plays. When factoring in all measures, matching notes occur in 80 % of the movement.

Chapter 19: Variation XII B.G.N. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation XII B.G.N., producing 23 melodic conjunctions spread over 23 measures, and 100 chordal conjunctions over 23 out of a total of 28 measures. Since it is dormant in five measures (494-495, 515, 520-521), the Covert Theme plays in just over 82% of the movement. Inactive sections are symmetrical insofar as two consist of two measure segments at the beginning and end of Ein feste Burg, and the third near the middle at measure 515. This sandwich technique serves to camouflage the start and end points of the covert Principal Theme, and is also found in Variation II.

Chapter 20: Variation XIII *** with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation XIII Romanza, generating 46 melodic conjunctions in 85 measures, and 173 chordal conjunctions over 46 out of a total of 51 measures. The Covert Theme is dormant over 21 quarter note beats dispersed over 8 bars (532-534, 548, 564-566, and 572). Consequently there are matching notes in 46 out of 51 active measures or 90% of the movement when Ein feste Burg plays. When factoring all measures, the Covert Theme plays over almost 83 % of this section. Melodic conjunctions begin in measure 522 and continue through the double bar at measure 553 where Ein feste Burg finishes one complete cycle. The conclusion of Ein feste Burg precisely at the double bar is not an isolated coincidence as this pattern also appears in other variations containing double bars such as X.

Chapter 21: Variation XIV E.D.U. with Ein feste Burg

Ein feste Burg plays ‘through and over’ Variation XIV E.D.U., generating 204 melodic conjunctions over 85 measures, and 464 chordal conjunctions over 148 out of a total of 236 measures. Since it is dormant in 77 bars (598-603, 626-634, 647-652, 671-674, 685-687, 702-703, 732-739, and 767-809), the Covert Theme plays in slightly over 67% of the final movement. It is significant 55% of dormant measures (41) are found in the extended ending Elgar added shortly after the 1899 premiere. This suggests Elgar tapered his sophisticated counterpoint to permit greater flexibility in the treatment and elaboration of the closing material.

Chapter 22: Elgar's Grand Allusion: Dante's Enigma Forte

There are an astonishing number of parallels between the Enigma Variations and Dante’s Divine Comedy. These connections involve poetry, numerology, symbolism, theology, and even music.

Chapter 23: The Case for Ein feste Burg

The evidence for Ein feste Burg as the missing Principle Theme to the ‘Enigma’ Variations is multifaceted, multivalent, and entirely consistent with Elgar’s character and Christian faith. From early youth well into adulthood, Elgar was drawn to creating counterpoints to famous melodies, and his 'Enigma’ Variations are no exception. Multiple streams of data converge into a mighty river proving Elgar’s elusive melody is the same quoted by Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Bach, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Wagner, Liszt, and Raff. The preponderance of the evidence makes – not breaks – the case for Ein feste Burg as Elgar’s covert Principal Theme.

Chapter 24: Why scholars failed to solve Elgar's Enigma Variations

My ability to penetrate the mysteries of Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations was granted by divine providence. Secular academics failed to solve the Variations because they proudly gaze inward for answers when they should be humbly looking upwards. They have long forgotten the words of the Psalmist:

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help! My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."

Epilogue: Jesus, Elgar and the Violin.....

There are a number of astonishing links between Jesus and the violin that undoubtedly fueled Elgar’s identification with the 'king of the orchestra.' A survey of these uncanny parallels helped unmask the the identity of the hidden dedicatee to Elgar’s violin concerto.

Soli Yah Gloria

Six Six-Letter Names and Elgar's 6 x 6 Box Cipher

“The Enigma I will not explain – it’s ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the connexion between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture; further, through and over the whole set another and larger theme ‘goes’, but is not played…So the principal Theme never appears, even as in some later dramas–e.g., Maeterlinck’s ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept Princesses’–the chief character is never on the stage.”

Edward Elgar from the 1899 program note for the Enigma Variations

There are six names in the Enigma Variations with one remarkable thing in common – each consists of six letters (Table 1.1). Elgar’s initials for Variation XIV (E.D.U.) come from the German spelling of his first name, Eduard, which is one of those six-letter names. In Table 1.1 the missing letters needed to complete Eduard are italicized. Discounting these three missing letters produces a name grid with 33 letters, the numerological equivalent of Elgar’s initials: EE. Including the missing letters yields 36 letters, the same as the opus number for the Variations. The subtitle for Variation XIV is Finale, a title that, like Eduard, is also six letters long. The remaining six-letter names found in the Variations are Enigma, Ysobel, Troyte, and Nimrod.

Could it be just a coincidence that Elgar supplied within the Variations six names that are each six letters in length? Is it a coincidence the opus number for the Variations is 36, the product of 6 x 6? That the word ‘saying’ is six letters in length? Or that the sum of the Roman numerals for movements with six-letter titles, i.e., VI, VII, IX and XIV, is also 36? One coincidence is possible. Two are unlikely. Three or more point to something calculated and deliberate. Elgar was trying to tell us something by using six-letter names in six difference instances interspersed throughout the Enigma Variations. It is suspected that the reason for this is the close connection between the number six and the key to his enigmatic ‘dark saying’ mentioned in the original 1899 program note: A 6 x 6 checkerboard cipher. As an aside, the association of the note letters E and F in the box cipher key is all but sealed by the pairing of the first letter from Elgar’s initials (E.D.U.) with the first letter from that movement’s subtitle, Finale. These same letters also happen to be the first two in the German acronym for the covert Principal Theme: Ein feste Burg.

Compiling a list in program order of the Variations’ six-letter names and titles forms the equivalent of a 6 x 6 checkerboard grid (Table 1.1). More intriguingly, a comparison of Elgar’s box cipher table with the name grid turns up some remarkable parallels. For instance, four letters in the box cipher table are exact matches with those in the name grid: T, R, E and I. These corresponding letters are highlighted in Table 1.2 with matching cipher cells shown in Table 1.2a.

In addition to four exact letter matches, there are six matching solution letters from the cipher table located in adjacent cells within the name grid: S, G, B, S, F and O. These adjacent matching letters are highlighted in Table 1.3 with matching adjacent cipher cells shown in Table 1.3a.

Besides exact matches and adjacent matching cells, there are two matching letters in identical rows as shown Tables 1.4 and 1.4a: N and U.

This leaves only two remaining letters from Elgar’s box cipher unaccounted for, the duplicate letters S and G located in the sixth and final row. Since both are duplicates, there are other adjacent matching cells in the name grid for these letters as shown in Tables 1.3 and 1.3a.

The numerous and intriguing parallels between the name grid and cipher table are not limited to letter matches within identical cells, adjacent cells, or identical rows. There is also the phenomenon of letter clustering in which certain letters are found grouped together. For example, the letters g and b are in adjacent cells in both the name grid and cipher table. The sixth column of the cipher table contains the letters e, o and s, and these same three letters are strung together diagonally in the name grid. The letters u, f and i are contiguous in both the name grid and cipher table, and the same holds true for the letters t, r, s and i. These observations are summarized in Tables 1.5 and 1.5a.

The title Ein feste Burg may be assembled from 12 letters in the name grid (Table 1.6), leaving an astonishing array of anagram solutions for the remaining 24: nimayoeloytmrodedardinal.

While the vast majority of these anagrams are sheer nonsense, a rare few stand out. One example is An ordained morality melody, an apt description for Martin Luther's epic hymn, A Mighty Fortress. Another anagram solution is Iy, Edoo, adrn a Martin L melody. The personal pronoun I is rendered phonetically as Iy. Edoo was Alice's pet name for Elgar spelled phonetically in the title of Variation XIV as E.D.U. The word adorn is rendered phonetically as adrn. This alternate anagram may therefore be read as I, Edoo, adorn a Martin L melody.  A series of variations is one convincing way to adorn a melody. The phonetic spelling of I as Iy may allude to Elgar's personal identification with the military, specifically as an Imperial Yeoman. Martin L turns up as part of another anagram, this one obtained from Maeterlinck, the only name Elgar mentions in the original 1899 program note for the Variations. The name grid may be viewed as one complete anagram that reads I, Edoo, adorn a Martin L melody–Ein feste Burg. The reader is encouraged to attempt other anagram solutions and share them in the comments section.
      The numbers 6 and 24 are intimately linked to Elgar's Enigma Variations. For example, the complete six word title in German for the covert Principal Theme is 24 letters long: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. A similar pattern exists with the Enigma Theme as there are 24 melody notes in the first six measures. These first six measures are cordoned off by an oddly placed double bar containing Elgar's 'dark saying' in the form of an ingenious 6 x 6 musical checkerboard cipher. In conclusion, a careful consideration of the parallels between Elgar's box cipher table and the name grid provides powerful circumstantial evidence that he deliberately used six six-letter names within the Variations to hint at the nature and construction of his musical cipher.

Soli Yah Gloria

Elgar’s Diamond Jubilee

Elgar’s Variations are my Everest,

Elevating song to the starry heights,

Lasting music by one of England’s best,

Guarded by ciphers, a trove of insights,

A labyrinth of dark enigmas unguessed,

Rousing strains of love’s labors lost, now found,
Solved by one willing to endure the test;
Jesus spoke in 'dark sayings' to confound,

Unveiling truth not to the rich and wise,

But rather to fools, the poor, and the lame,

In music Elgar mimics that disguise,

Lifting up in secret his Savior’s name,

Enduring to the end he ran his race,

Emboldened by seeing Christ’s Holy Face.

Robert Wayne Padgett

      My fiftieth post is in celebration of the fact this blog is on the verge of a new milestone: 50,000 page views. This number is understated as some of my posts range between ten to forty pages in length, yet one view is counted only as a single page. A more conservative estimate of actual page views is ten to fifteen times greater, or upwards of 750,000 page views. Considering the subject is something as esoteric as a British symphony by Edward Elgar, this is by no means a small feat. A Google search of ‘Elgar enigma solution’ lists my blog as the number one search result, beating out popular sites like Wikipedia and Answers.com. This favorable condition has been the case for over six months, so I must be onto something.

On the third of February 2009 I was fortunate enough to discover the covert Principal Theme to Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations: Ein feste Burg by Martin Luther. This extraordinary event took place in my hometown of Pacific Grove precisely on the bicentennial of Felix Mendelssohn’s birth, something I was blissfully unaware of at the time. It was also 110 years after the completion of the Variations in February 1899, and 75 years following Elgar’s death in February 1934. The passage of 75 years after an event is known in the United States as a Diamond Jubilee. In commemoration of this discovery I composed an acrostic sonnet that spells E ELGAR'S JUBILEE. I chose a sonnet because it has fourteen lines, and similarly, the Enigma Variations has fourteen variations. 

The credit for this marvelous discovery belongs to my heavenly Father who graciously answered my fervent prayer, blessing me with the wisdom and endurance needed to surmount the seemingly insurmountable. As this was His gift, I have not sought to profit from it in any way. On the contrary, I prefer to emulate Elgar’s excellent example, for the Variations were his first major noncommissioned work. I seek no reward in this lifetime, but prefer to collect my treasure in the next. I suspect Elgar’s motivations in 1898-99 were similar, preferring to follow the great commission rather than toil for one from a publisher hungry for trifles rather than triumphs. Jesus told his followers to do their good works in secret to assure they are not recognized and rewarded by the world, but rather by our heavenly Father.

My prolonged study of the Enigma Variations has produced a number of fascinating finds, and some of the more notable are described below:

1.      Elgar’s Covert Theme: Ein feste Burg

2.      Elgar’s Enigma Theme and the German Sixth

3.      Elgar's 'Dark Saying': A Musical Checkerboard Cipher

4.      *** stands for F.A.E.

5.      F.A.E. and the initials for A Mighty Fortress

6.      Maeterlinck, Luther, and Mendelssohn

7.      Variation IX Nimrod with Ein feste Burg

8.      Variation XIII and Elgar’s Hidden Friend

9.      Elgar’s Enigma Theme, Pi and C

10.  Links between the 'Enigma' Variations and the Turin Shroud

11.  Elgar's Grand Allusion: Dante's "Enigma Forte"

12.  The Case for Ein feste Burg

13.  Jesus, Elgar and the Violin…..

Why was I chosen, of all people, to make these unprecedented discoveries? I never attended conservatory, but then neither did Elgar. On closer analysis, a comparison of Elgar’s life history with my own produces a lengthy list of similar life experiences:

• The son of a musician father who “who hated all religions”[1]
• The son of a devout Christian mother who taught him to revere God and the arts
• The fourth child born to his parents
• A husband and father
• A Christian
• A concert violinist
• A piano accompanist
• An instructor of violin, viola and piano
• A violin student of a respected teacher
• A Self-taught composer
• An enthusiast for golfing, kite flying, bicycling, and experimenting in a home laboratory
• A law student in his youth
• Employed for a few years in an asylum as a musician
• Planning to attend conservatory but could not afford to do so
• An ardent admirer of Bach, Mendelssohn and Wagner
• A Native English speaker
• Able to read, write and speak German
• An award winning composer
• Considered an outsider because of his faith, profession and class
• Suspicious of career academics
• Fascinated by puns, anagrams, and cryptograms

These similar life experiences have undoubtedly helped in my quest for answers. The scripture says, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” In my case the Lord could not have chosen a more foolish messenger from the perspective of secular academia. In their eyes I am a dithering fool, and they have told me so in no uncertain terms. The scripture also assures us that “whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.”[2] No matter how hard the world strives to hide the truth, it eventually gets out. In the case of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the waiting took 110 years, and now the answers are finally here.

Soli Deo Gloria

---

[1] McVeagh, D. (2007), Elgar the Music Maker. Rochester, New York: Boydell Press, p 57.

[2] Mark 4:22 NIV

C.A.E, *** and F.A.E.

Jesus heals the blind beggar

"They have mouths, but cannot speak,

   eyes, but cannot see.

They have ears, but cannot hear,

   noses, but cannot smell."

Psalm 115:5-6

 Elgar dedicates Variation I of the ‘Enigma’ Variations to his wife (Caroline Alice Elgar) using her initials (C.A.E.) as the title for this poignant movement. Remarkably, two of her initials are exact sequential matches for those secretly enciphered in Variation XIII: F.A.E. More intriguing still is the fact these hidden initials (***) are enciphered by musical fragments that sonically portray the sea, the phonetic equivalent of Alice’s first initial – C. It would appear that Elgar hinted at a connection between the letters A.E. and the sea fragments in Variation XIII by means of his wife’s initials. These musical fragments are drawn from a symphonic work by Felix Mendelssohn, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt), and are quoted in the keys of A-flat major, F minor, and E-flat major.

In the orchestral score three of the four Mendelssohn fragments are enclosed within quotations, and are performed on clarinet. Two of these quotations are in A-flat major and begin on the major third of hat key, C, as in the phonetic equivalent of sea.

Coincidence? Definitely not. It is deeply symbolic that the circular bell of the clarinet closely resembles the letter C. It is hardly coincidence that Elgar would use an instrument whose name begins with the letter C to capture the ocean’s deathly stillness so ominously described in the poetry of Goethe.

Clarinet Bell

The connection to the letter C ventures beyond Elgar’s symbolic use of the clarinet to begin two of the Mendelssohn fragments on C, the major third of the A-flat major scale. The two A-flat major quotations are buoyed by an accompaniment figure provided by the violas and cellos. In an interesting twist, both instruments have C-bouts and C strings.

C bouts

The sound of a passing steamship's engine is deftly portrayed by a timpani roll on C with coins placed near the edge of the rim. Notice that coin begins with the letter c, and the secret friend of Variation XIII was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, i.e., coins. The sea picture is intimately linked to Jesus as he compared his death to the plight of Jonah who spent three days in the belly of a whale. What happened when Jonah was cast into the raging sea and swallowed by the great fish? The storm subsided and the waters became calm. In Variation XIII Elgar makes this theological allusion by quoting Mendelssohn fragments that portray a calm sea. Elgar was also fond of quoting scripture, particularly in his many sacred oratorios.

The accompaniment figure mimics the palindromic rhythm of the Enigma Theme, alluding to the presence of a cipher. Unlike the Enigma cipher marked off by double bar lines, this one is identified by double apostrophes in the form of quotation marks. The cipher solution points to the burial cloth of Elgar's hidden friend, the Turin Shroud. One combination of the unique letters from the initials C.A.E. and F.A.E. spells the word FACE, a subtle reference to the Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. These devotions were first approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1895. It is conceivable that the number thirteen and capital letter L to identify Variation XIII may allude to this pope and these devotions. Elgar did not begin work on the Variations until 1898, five months after Secondo Pia took his famous photographic negative of the Turin Shroud. That picture became an international sensation in the secular and Catholic press, so Elgar was aware of this incredibly discovery in the months immediately preceding the Variations. The subtitle for Variation XIII, Romanza, is easily identified with Elgar's Roman Catholic faith.

The notes forming the marine accompaniment for the A-flat major Mendelssohn quotations are A-flat, C, and E-flat. Sound familiar? They should be, for they are the initials for Elgar’s wife: C.A.E. This observation should decisively extinguish any speculative claims regarding Elgar’s alleged longing for Helen Weaver or some other long lost love interest. Among the Mendelssohn fragments, Elgar only quotes the A-flat major fragment twice. This is revealing on one level because C.A.E. is the second movement of the Enigma Variations. Why would Elgar allude to his wife in a Variation secretly dedicated to Jesus? One likely explanation involves his Christian view of marriage that sees the union between a husband and wife as ordained by God, and symbolizing the union of Christ and the Church. An another level, Elgar’s use of the A-flat major key for the Mendelssohn fragments places extra emphasis on A-flat, or A tone. Could this be a musical reference to the word atone, as in atonement, one of the few theological terms coined in the English language? It would certainly be a fitting gesture in a movement dedicated to Christ. Interestingly, the Christian symbol for marriage somewhat resembles a treble clef, the same used for the clarinet.

Christian Symbol for Marriage

Treble Clef

Jesus began his ministry at the Wedding Feast at Cana by miraculously turning water into wine. The word Cana starts with the letter C, just like Christian, Catholic, Christ, church, crucified, Calvary and cipher. In another miracle involving water, Jesus calmed a raging sea, prompting his disciples to exclaim, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" In yet another miracle involving water, Jesus walked on the sea of Galilee. Other notable connections to the letter C within the Enigma Variations are discussed in the following posts:

1.      Elgar's Enigma Theme, Pi and C

2.      Elgar's Enigma Fish: Pi ~ C

Jesus calms the sea

Soli Yah Gloria