Variation III R.B.T. with 'Ein feste Burg'

Richard Baxter Townsend

"A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education."

George Bernard Shaw

Variation III from Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations is dedicated to Richard Baxter Townsend (1846 - 1923), the brother-in-law of W. M. Baker of Variation IV. Alice befriended the Baker family before she met Elgar, and after marriage Elgar became close friends with them. One outcome of that friendship is Elgar dedicated three of the Enigma Variations to members of the Baker family, namely III, IV and X.

It is entirely possible for Ein feste Burg to play through and over Variation III as demonstrated in Figure 5.1.  A sound file of this melodic solution is available here.

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Figure 5.2 substantiates how Ein feste Burg was meticulously mapped over Variation III based on melodic interval mirroring, and the contrapuntal devices of contrary and similar motion. Melodic interval mirroring occurs when note intervals from Ein feste Burg are mirrored or reflected in the variation over similar or identical durations between notes. Similar motion occurs when voices from Ein feste Burg and the variation move in the same direction, but not necessarily by the same intervals. Contrary motion takes place when Ein feste Burg moves in the opposite direction than the variation, again not necessarily by the same interval. In some cases, the upper voice of the variation moves parallel with Ein feste Burg while the base line moves in a contrary direction. An effective counterpoint commonly employs a fairly balanced combination of contrary and parallel motion, something very apparent in this analysis.

 Table 5.1 summarizes 34 melodic conjunctions between Ein feste Burg and Variation III. A melodic conjunction is defined as a shared note between the two melody lines. Share melody notes are dispersed over 24 of 31 measures from Variation III. Ein feste Burg was found to be dormant in 7 out of 36 measures, namely measures 97, 105, 121-123, and 131-132. This means Ein feste Burg plays in 29 out of 36 measures, or 80.5 % of the time. In measures where the missing Principal Theme is deemed active, shared melody notes are present in 24 of those 29 measures, or almost 83% of all active measures.

Table 5.2 breaks down melodic conjunctions between Ein feste Burg and Variation III by note type. There are 7 types of shared melody notes with frequencies range from 2 to 9.

Table 5.3 gives a complete breakdown of all shared notes between Ein feste Burg and a piano reduction of Variation III. There are 72 shared notes spread out over 27 measures.  Melodic conjunctions are indicated in bold with a double box, and all other note conjunctions are shown in bold within a single box. Note conjunctions not involving both melody lines are also known as chordal conjunctions. Ein feste Burg was deemed active in 29 measures, so slightly over 93% of active measures have shared notes. This percentage is 10% higher than that found for melodic conjunctions.

 

 

 

 

Table 5.4 condenses data from Table 5.3 according to note type and frequency with a total of 8 types of shared notes with frequencies ranging from 2 to 17. Of these shared notes, 7 are shared by both melodies (i.e., A, B, C#, D, D#, F# and G).

Conclusion
The preponderance of the evidence from Figures 5.1-5.2 and Tables 5.1-5.4 proves that Variation III is a clear and convincing counterpoint to Ein feste Burg.

Soli Deo Gloria