Elgar’s 1899 Program Note Ciphers

    On being asked for some elucidation of “the composer’s intentions,” Mr. Edgar [sic] replied: “It is true that I have sketched for their amusement and mine, the idiosyncrasies of fourteen of my friends, not necessarily musicians; but this is a personal matter, and need not have been mentioned publicly. The Variations should stand simply as a ‘piece’ of music. The Enigma I will not explain—its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection 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 late dramas—e.g., Maeterlink’s [sic] ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept Princesses’—the chief character is never on the stage.”

1899 program note by Charles Ainslee Barry

The Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar is a musical homage to cryptography, the art of encoding and decoding secret messages. Trawling that symphonic masterpiece netted over one hundred cryptograms in diverse formats that encode a set of mutually consistent and complementary solutions. Although that sum may seem extraordinary, it is entirely consistent with Elgar’s obsession with ciphers. More significantly, their solutions give definitive answers to the riddles posed by the Enigma Variations. What is the secret melody to which the Enigma Theme is a counterpoint and serves as the melodic foundation for the ensuing movements? Answer: Ein feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress) by Martin Luther. What is Elgar’s “dark saying” ensconced within the Enigma Theme? Answer: A musical Polybius cipher positioned in the opening six measures. Who is the secret friend and inspiration behind Variation XIII? Answer: Jesus Christ, the Savior of Elgar’s Roman Catholic faith.

June 19 marks the 126th anniversary of the Enigma Variations’ premiere in 1899 at St. James Hall in London. At that historic Monday evening concert, Dr. Hans Richter led a substantial orchestra with over 100 members.

The program began with the Carnival Overture by Antonín Dvořák followed by Legend for Orchestra “Zorahayda” by Johan S. Svendsen. The third item on the program was the Closing Scene from the opera Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner. As one of Wagner’s protégés, Maestro Richter specialized in directing works by his renowned mentor. Rounding out the first half of the concert was the first performance of the Variations for Full Orchestra (Op. 36) by Edward Elgar. The second half of the concert opened with the “Snow Maiden” Suite by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The final work of the evening was the Symphony No. 38 in D major by Amadeus Mozart, commonly referred to as the “Prague” Symphony because it was first performed in that Bohemian city.

Detailed program notes by Charles Ainslee Barry supply analytical commentary with ample musical excerpts in short score format. Sections written by Barry conclude with his initials “C. A. B.” Virtually all of the program notes were supplied by him except for those concerning the “Prague” Symphony supplied by George Grove. Unlike other parts of the program, Barry’s sixteen pages of analysis regarding the Enigma Variations ends with his initials enclosed in brackets, a feature possibly added to signify that the program note was for a novel work.

The most important part of Barry’s program is his citation of Elgar’s introductory remarks on page 206, a passage often quoted in scholarly discourse on the Enigma Variations. This section is cited below as it appears in the original program.

    On being asked for some elucidation of “the composer’s intentions,” Mr. Edgar [sic] replied: “It is true that I have sketched for their amusement and mine, the idiosyncrasies of fourteen of my friends, not necessarily musicians; but this is a personal matter, and need not have been mentioned publicly. The Variations should stand simply as a ‘piece’ of music. The Enigma I will not explain—its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection 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 late dramas—e.g., Maeterlink’s [sic] ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept Princesses’—the chief character is never on the stage.”

There are two conspicuous misprints marked in blue pencil. The first is the composer’s name shown erroneously as Edgar instead of Elgar. The second is the misspelling of the playwright’s name Maeterlinck with the c ommitted. It is highly unlikely that Barry misspelled these names as Elgar is printed correctly at the top of page 204. Both misprints pertain to surnames that were probably unfamiliar to the printer and resulted in compositing errors and omissions.

Barry’s education, vocational experience, and flair for writing enabled him to pursue a career focused on music criticism and analysis. C. A. Barry was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied music under the composer and organist Thomas Attwood Walmisley. Barry continued his musical studies at Leipzig and Dresden before returning to London to serve as the organist and choir director at Forest School. He composed sacred chants, hymn tunes, pieces for piano, cantatas, and large scale works for orchestra. One of his specialties was writing in-depth analyses of compositions by Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, and other leading composers. He contributed articles to The Guardian, served as editor of The Monthly Musical Record, and compiled programs for the Richter Concerts. Below are some specimens of Barry’s sacred compositions.

Elgar received a letter dated 10 April 1899 from Barry soliciting his assistance with the program note for the Enigma Variations’ premiere. The date of Barry’s letter is 50 days after Elgar completed the orchestration on February 19. In anticipation of Elgar visiting London, Barry wrote:

    I shall be very pleased if during your visit to Town you will come here some day to lunch, at which I shall be glad of any hints as to the ‘composer’s intentions.’ It would be best if you could send me your score in advance, as in that case I should perhaps be prepared with some questions on moot points. I will send you some Variations of mine thirty years ago. Don’t think me impudent that I think I discovered a ‘trick’ which I will impart to you. You won’t guess it, so I am glad to think that there is something enigmatical about my Variations as well as yours.

Far from being an afterthought, the Theme’s unusual title “Enigma” was clearly on Barry’s mind when he first invited Elgar to comment on the work. Elgar realized he was answering to a professional intimately familiar with the covert principal Theme and its diverse quotations by members of the German School such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Joachim Raff, Richard Wagner, and Carl Reinicke. In his carefully scripted reply, Elgar resorted to cryptic language and obscure literary references in French, sowing ambiguities mingled with hints to insulate his secrets from easy discovery.

Elgar’s Program Note Languages Cipher

The Elgar quotation is drawn from an unsourced letter directed to Barry that encapsulates the composer’s intentions. Prior research uncovered various cryptograms embedded within Elgar’s remarks supplied expressly for the June 1899 program. The most basic of these ciphers relies on the languages employed in Elgar’s commentary which consists of 119 words in English, French, Latin, and Belgian. 111 terms are in English covering slightly over 93% of the quotation. Five words are in French (‘L’Intruse’ & ‘Les sept Princesses’) representing slightly over 4%. Two are a Latin abbreviation (e.g.) for just under 2%. One is Belgian (Maeterlinck) representing slightly less than 1%. These four languages—Belgian, English, French, & Latin—generate the acrostic anagram “EFB L”, the initials of Ein feste Burg followed by Luther’s initial. These solutions are in the form of initials, a trait shared by ten out of fifteen titles from the Enigma Variations. This cryptogram is called the 1899 Program Note Languages Cipher. The discovery of this cryptogram strengthens the suspicion that it is not an isolated case. As Warren Buffet famously said, “There’s never just one cockroach in the kitchen.”

Elgar’s Program Note Italics Ciphers

The Elgar quotation in the 1899 program note features four italicized letters, two in the word is and two in e.g., the Latin abbreviation of exempli gratia (for example). Elgar wrote during a period when underlining was used for emphasis with a single underline denoting italics. It was also standard practice in England during the 1890s to italicize Latin abbreviations, a convention stemming from italicizing foreign phrases to distinguish them from surrounding English text. Style guides followed by major publishers during the close of the 19th century recommended italics for Latin abbreviations to maintain clarity and typographical norms. Barry dutifully preserved Elgar’s italicizations of “is” and “e.g.” from his letter. The significance of these four italicized letters (is and e.g.) is that they are an anagram of the German word “Sieg,” meaning victory and triumph. Sieg refers to the act of winning or achieving success in a battle, competition, or struggle.

Why would Elgar encode the German noun Sieg in remarks that he knew would be published in the program for the first performance? Following his May 1889 marriage at the Brompton Oratory to Alice Roberts, the couple moved to London to pursue Elgar’s ambition of becoming a professional composer. When those efforts failed, Elgar beat a retreat back to Worcestershire to resume his work as an itinerant music teacher and concert violinist. He undoubtedly viewed the premiere of one of his symphonic works at a London Richter Concert as a major triumph and the realization of his nuptial aspiration a decade earlier.

The term Sieg is German, the language of the covert Theme’s title (Ein feste Burg) and Richter’s native tongue. Martin Luther famously translated the Bible into German, employing the word Sieg in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “Aber Gott sei’s gedankt, der uns den Sieg gegeben hat durch unsern Herrn Jesum Christum” (But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ). Luther also employed Sieg in his sermons and treatises. Wagner used the word Sieg in the libretto of his opera Lohengrin where it appears in the phrase, “Durch Gottes Sieg ist jetzt dein Leben mein” (Through God’s victory, your life is now mine). Lohengrin sings this line in Act III, Scene 3, after defeating Telramund in a trial by combat, declaring that Elsa’s life is now his through God’s victory. Associations of Sieg with God observed in Luther’s translation of 1 Corinthians 15:57 and Wagner’s libretto reflect the influence of the Luther Bible on German culture and art. Wagner was born and baptized into the Lutheran faith and required that his second wife Cosima convert from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism. Elgar’s encoding of “Sieg” via italicized letters in his program note envelops the teutonic associations between the covert Theme, Luther, Wagner, and Richter.

The German word Sieg is identical to the first four letters of Siegfried, the protagonist placed on a funeral pyre and set ablaze in Brünnhilde’s immolation scene from Act III Scene 3 in Wagner’s Gӧtterdӓmmerung (Twilight of the Gods). This was the third work on the program slated immediately before the Enigma Variations. One wonders if Barry apprised Elgar in advance that this scene would be performed at the premiere of the Enigma Variations. The German name Siegfried is derived from two Old High German words sigu meaning “victory” and fridu meaning “peace”, “protection,” and “security.” The name Siegfried may be understood as “victorious peace” or “protected by victory.” Siegried is the legendary hero in the Germanic epic Nibelungenlied. Wagner composed a set of four operas to dramatize this epic known as the Ring cycle. In the second installment Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), there is a set of twins named Siegmund and Sieglinde, the mother of the hero Siegfried.

The martial tone of Ein feste Burg imbued with themes of resilience and divine protection engendered a close association with German identity and national pride. Its stirring melody and lyrics resonated with the dominant military ethos of the German Empire (1871-1918). These bonds elevated Ein feste Burg to a patriotic hymn and paean of the Imperial German Army. Wagner composed his Kaisermarsch in 1871 to celebrate Germany’s decisive victory in the Franco-Prussian War. In recognition of the cultural and martial significance of Ein feste Burg, Kaisermarsch features four prominent quotations from Ein feste Burg in the contrasting major keys of B♭, E♭, and A♭. Remarkably, these quotations half cadence on the dominant chords of F, B♭, and E♭. Those chord letters are an anagram of “EFB,” the initials for Ein feste Burg. The Mendelssohn quotations in Variation XIII share some striking parallels with Wagner’s quotations from Ein feste Burg in Kaisermarsch.

Elgar heard Kaisermarsch in the years leading up to the genesis of the Enigma Variations. As documented in Christopher Fifield’s thoroughly researched and endlessly fascinating biography, Hans Richter conducted no less than fifteen performances of Kaisermarch at Richter Concerts in London between 1879 and 1897. The dates of those performances are listed below:

1. May 7, 1877
2. May 28, 1877
3. May 5, 1879
4. May 3, 1882
5. July 2, 1883
6. April 21, 1884
7. October 24, 1885
8. October 23, 1886
9. May 7, 1888
10. June 24, 1889
11. July 14, 1890
12. July 20, 1891
13. May 30, 1892
14. May 20, 1895
15. May 31, 1897

Elgar attended some of those concerts in his quest to immerse himself in Wagner’s music. Richter’s towering influence assured that the Kaisermarsch would also be programmed by other orchestras throughout England during that era. The August 1, 1889 issue of The Monthly Musical Record contains a glowing review of a June 24 Richter Concert in London that was capped off with Kaisermarsch:

The “Kaisermarsch” — that grand page of brilliant orchestral writing to celebrate a grand page in German history — again produced its overpowering effect at the conclusion of one of the finest concerts of the season.

That article further mentions the premiere of Hubert Parry’s Symphony No. 4 in E minor dedicated to Hans Richter. It describes “the diffuse finale” of that work with “its marked reminisces from . . . ‘Kaisermarsch’ . . .” Elgar attended that premiere after only recently settling in Kensington with his wife following their marriage in May 1889. Elgar gleaned insight and knowledge from Parry’s contributions to Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, performed his music as a sectional violinist, and publicly acknowledged Parry as “the head of our art in this country.” As evidence of his enduring respect for Parry, Elgar orchestrated his Jerusalem which is now a fixture at the Last Night of the Proms.

Another prospective anagram obtained from the four italicized letters (is & e.g.) in Elgar’s 1899 program note is “gise,” a phonetic approximation of guise. It is widely acknowledged that Elgar employed phonetic spellings in his correspondence. For instance, he substituted “frazes” for phrases, “gorjus” for gorgeous, and “xqqq” for excuse. The Cambridge Dictionary defines guise as “the appearance of someone or something, especially when intended to deceive.” Synonyms of guise listed by Merriam-Webster include pretense, facade, disguise, camouflage, and cloak. The definition of guise and its synonyms are apt descriptors of a cipher.

The Maeterlinck Phrase “Psalm 46” Cipher

For a symphonic work dedicated to Elgar’s friends, it is decidedly odd that the only person mentioned in his 1899 program note is the foreign poet and dramatist Maurice Maeterlinck and two of his French plays: L’Intruse (The Intruder) and Les sept Princesses (The Seven Princesses). Why would Elgar refer to a stranger to characterize a work dedicated to his friends? One explanation draws on his expertise in cryptography, the art of encoding and decoding secret messages. Elgar’s obsession with hidden codes merits an entire chapter in Craig P. Bauer’s treatise Unsolved! As an accomplished cryptographer, Elgar devised baffling coded messages like the Dorabella Cipher. Could Elgar’s anomalous references to Maeterlinck and two of his plays be a cipher? And could it be connected to the secret melody of the Enigma Variations and the hidden friend?

The phrase “Maeterlinck’s ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept Princesses’” stands out because it is enclosed by two long em dashes. The label “em dash” was in common usage when Elgar penned his program note as it is described in reference volumes published in London such as Practical Printing (1884) and Lloyd’s Encyclopaedic Dictionary (1896). Two em dashes present a coded form of Elgar’s initials as each “em” begins with an e. These two em dashes further encipher the initials of Maurice Maeterlinck as a telestich acrostic. When distilled down to its unique initials, the Maeterlinck clause harbors a reverse spelling of “PsaLM” (Maeterlinck’s ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept Princesses’). The seven-word Maeterlinck phrase consists of 46 characters excluding spaces. That total implicates chapter 46 called “Luther’s Psalm” by Thomas Carlyle because it inspired the composition of Ein feste Burg.

A related cryptogram is formed by seven discrete performance directions in the first bar of the Enigma Theme’s orchestral score. In that opening measure, Elgar uses the following seven terms: Andante, legato e sostenuto, molto express., and Piano. The first letters of these seven Italian words are an acrostic anagram of “EE’s Psalm.” The dual Es followed by an s indicate the possessive form of Elgar’s initials.

Elgar indicated the tempo for the Enigma Theme by writing a quarter note followed by an equals sign (=) and the number 63. This adds four more characters to the seven other performance directions in the Enigma Theme’s opening bar for a grand total of 46 characters, a sum that points to Psalm 46. The Maeterlinck Phrase Cipher also employs 46 characters in combination with an encoding of Psalm to specify that special chapter. These coded references to “psalm” are significant because the title of the hidden melody (A Mighty Fortress) originates from the first line of Psalm 46.

Seven initials from Elgar’s Maeterlinck phrase appear in the following order and case: M, L, I, a, L, s, and P. It is noteworthy that the first two initials in that phrase correspond to those of Martin Luther. When treated as an anagram, those seven initials may be reorganized as “L PsaLM I.” “L” is the initial for Luther. “PsaLM” refers to a particular chapter from the Book of Psalms. “I” is a homonym of aye which is another word for yes. Following this analysis, the anagram “L PsaLM I” may be interpreted as “Luther Psalm Aye.” Psalm 46 is called “Luther’s Psalm” because the title of Ein feste Burg originates from its first line. Precisely 46 characters in the Maeterlinck phrase bolsters the authenticity of this anagram cipher. With the coded message “Luther Psalm Aye,” Elgar is covertly signaling his assent to Ein feste Burg as the melodic solution to the Enigma Variations.

A second anagram that may be secured from the initials of the Maeterlinck phrase is “I L PsaLM.” “I” is a homonym of eye. When treated as a verb, eye means to “fix the eyes on” and “look at” something. The anagram “I L PsaLM” may be interpolated as “Eye Luther Psalm,” a command to look at Luther’s Psalm. Following Elgar’s coded directive will lead to Psalm 46, the inspiration behind the covert Theme by Luther. The first verse of that chapter supplies the title of the famous hidden melody of the Enigma Variations.

Elgar’s 1899 Program Note Quotations Ciphers

Elgar’s published remarks in the June 1899 program feature nine terms enclosed by five sets of single quotation marks. Those nine terms are listed below in order of appearance.

1. ‘piece’
2. ‘dark saying’
3. ‘goes’
4. ‘L’Intruse’
5. ‘Les sept Princesses’

It is intriguing that the English terms piece, Enigma, dark saying, and goes appear in various translations of the Book of Psalms. The first letters of words enclosed in quotations are “pdsgLILsP.” A promising anagram sourced from those initials is “Ls ps gd L PI.” It was observed earlier that “L” is the initial for Luther, the author of Ein feste Burg. Consequently, “Ls” may be read in a possessive format as “Luther’s.” This is followed by a standard abbreviation for psalm as “ps.” Next is a phonetic spelling of God as “gd.” “L” is a homonym of El, the Hebrew word for God found in words like Elohim and Israel. Pi is a mathematical constant representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Elgar encodes a rounded form of Pi (3.142) in bars 1 and 11 of the Enigma Theme via the scale degrees (3124) of the melody. In Christian theology, a circle represents God’s infinite nature, eternity and unity as it has no beginning or end. The chord progressions in bar 1 begin on the downbeat with G minor and modulates on beat 3 to a D dominant seventh in second inversion. The letters of those two opening chords (G-D) present a phonetic spelling of God. These observations make it feasible to interpolate the nine-letter acrostic anagram “Ls ps gd L PI” as “Luther’s Psalm, God, El, & Pi.”

A second prospective anagram sourced from the initials “pdsgLILsP” is “L Ps gIld ps.” This anagram may be decrypted as “Luther Psalm Guild Psalm.” The term “gild” means to overlay with a thin covering of gold. “Gild” is also a phonetic realization of guild, a medieval association of craftsmen, merchants, or artists. One of Elgar’s favorite operas was Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Master-Singers of Nuremberg), WWV 96. In Wagner’s longest music drama, an elite group of singers and poets belong to the Meistersinger Guild to guard and promote the highest standards of their art. In Act III Scene 5 during the procession of the guilds, the Meistersingers enter carrying their banner emblazoned with King David holding his harp to symbolize the art of song and poetry. This procession is soon followed by a performance 0f the chorus “Wach Auf” in honor of Hans Sachs, the head of the Meistersinger Guild.

The libretto for “Wach Auf” originates from the first seven lines of the 700 line long poem Die Wittenbergisch Nachtigall (The Wittenberg Nightingale) by Hans Sachs. In his allegorical polemic, Sachs lauds and defends Martin Luther against attacks by the Roman Catholic Church. When Elgar was appointed artistic director of the Worcestershire Philharmonic Society in late 1897, he selected “Wach Auf” as its motto and signature song. It is significant that Elgar conducted performances of that chorus in the months before, during, and after composing the Enigma Variations. Elgar’s selection of a Lutheran anthem as the theme song of the Worcestershire Philharmonic Society resonates with the discovery of Ein feste Burg as the covert Theme of the Enigma Variations. Dr. Julian Rushton’s objection that Elgar would not choose a Lutheran anthem as the covert Theme of the Enigma Variations is decisively refuted by Elgar’s selection of “Wach Auf” as the theme song of the Society, yet Rushton has yet to tender a public retraction. The significance of Elgar’s choice is explored in my essay “Wach Auf!”: Elgar’s Lutheran Lied and Lead.

The final eight letters of terms in quotation marks are “ekgseste”. It is feasible to construct the telestich anagram “ee k gses t” from those ending letters. Elgar’s initials in lower case are “ee”. Anthony Payne observes in his elaboration of Elgar’s Third Symphony that Elgar would write “K” in red-crayon on his musical sketches as an abbreviation of kopiert to indicate that they had been copied elsewhere. The word kopiert is German for “copied.” A phonetic realization of Jesus is “gses”. Such a decryption is nearly identical to “GSUS” encoded in the first bar of the Enigma Theme by a musical Polybius cipher. A lower case “t” resembles a Latin cross. Based on these insights, the telestich anagram “ee k gses t” may be read as “EE kopiert Jesus’ cross.” This is likely a coded reference to the sign of the cross, a ritual blessing practiced by various Christian denominations including Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran.

The Enigma Theme is in common time (4/4) with four quarter beats per bar. An alternative symbol for that time signature is a capital C. That letter serves as the initial for Christ, cross, crux, and is also a homonym of sea. It is significant that the pattern for conducting common time replicates the sign of the cross. The Enigma Variations has five movements performed in common time:

1. Enigma
2. I. (C. A.E.)
3. V. (R.P.A.)
4. XII. (B.G.N.)
5. XIV. (E.D.U.) Finale

Although Variation V. (R.P.A.) is in 12/8, it is conducted in four as compound quadruple time. Eight staves in that movement are actually set in 4/4 time: Bassoons I and II, Contrabassoon, Trombones I and II, Tuba, Viola, Cello, and Bass. Popular renderings of Ein feste Burg by Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn are set in common time. Consequently, Elgar’s use of common time for the opening and closing movements of the Enigma Variations ingeniously hints at the time signature of the covert Theme.

The letters “ekgseste” are also a telestich anagram of “e kst gses”. Elgar signed some of his correspondence with his initial “E”. The term “kst” is a phonetic spelling of kissed. The word “gses” is a phonetic spelling of Jesus, the secret friend memorialized in Variation XIII and mentioned in the second stanza of Ein feste Burg. The telestich anagram “e kst gses” may be read as “E kissed Jesus.” As an act of veneration, Roman Catholics kiss sacred images of Jesus including icons, statues, and crucifixes. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that venerating representations of Christ honors God. Elgar was born, married and buried as a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Summation

When preparing the program for the June 1899 premiere of the Enigma Variations, C. A. Barry wrote to Elgar requesting an explanation of his objectives. In his reply cited in the program, Elgar seasoned his prose with perplexing words and foreign terms to both confound and supply subtle clues about his enigmas. This essay identified how Elgar framed his 1899 program remarks in four languages (Belgian, English, French, and Latin) that yield the acrostic anagram “EFB L”, a linguistic solution that unveils the initials of the covert Them (Ein feste Burg) and its composer (Luther). It was also shown how four italicized letters (is and e.g.) yield anagrams of the German word “Sieg” (victory or triumph) and “gise”, a phonetic rendition of guise. Elgar’s anomalous reference to Maeterlinck and two of his French plays supply a reverse acrostic spelling of “Psalm” constructed from discrete initials. The sum of 46 characters in this Maeterlinck phrase implicates Psalm 46, a chapter known as “Luther’s Psalm” as it inspired the composition and title of Ein feste Burg. The initials from Elgar’s Maeterlinck phrase generate the anagram “L PsaLM I” (Luther Psalm Aye), signaling Elgar’s affirmation that Ein feste Burg is the covert Theme of the Enigma Variations. Another possible anagram is “I L PsaLM” (Eye Luther Psalm), an order to look at Psalm 46, a chapter that supplies the covert Theme’s title in its opening verse.

It was also demonstrated how English and French terms enclosed by quotation marks (piece, dark saying, goes, L’Intruse, Les sept Princesses) generate the acrostic anagrams “Ls ps gd L PI.” (Luther’s Psalm, God, El, Pi) and “L Ps gIld ps” (Luther Psalm Guild Psalm). These anagrams resonate with other coded references to God, Pi, and the Psalms in the opening bars of the Enigma Theme. The final letters from words in quotations generate the telestich anagrams “ee k gses t” (EE kopiert Jesus cross) and “e kst gses” (E kissed Jesus). These solutions allude to various Roman Catholic acts of veneration such as the ritual sign of the cross and kissing crucifixes, icons, and sacred images of Jesus.

To learn more about the secrets of the Enigma Variations, read my free eBook Elgar’s Enigmas Exposed. Please help support and expand my original research by becoming a sponsor on Patreon.

Soli Yah Gloria