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

Elgar’s Bridge Passages Acrostic and Anagram Ciphers

Old Wye River Bridge

Most of my ‘sketches’,—that is to say the reduction of the original thoughts to writing, have been made in the open air. I finished the Wye round about Mordiford & completed many pencil memoranda of compositions on the old bridge, of which I have vivid & affectionate memories.

Edward Elgar in a letter to G. H. Jacks

The British composer Edward Elgar played the Enigma Theme for the first time at the piano for his wife Alice on October 21, 1898. After hearing that melancholic melody, she inquired in an approving tone, “What is that?” He replied, “Nothing — but something might be made of it.” This private premiere of the Enigma Theme is commemorated by Elgarians every October 21 as Enigma Day. 125 years ago today marks that pivotal event heralding the dawn of the Enigma Variations. In honor of that anniversary, my 215th article will present some previously unrecognized ciphers in that extraordinary symphonic masterpiece. In a coded parallel, the number 215 is an anagram of 125.

Elgar was fascinated by phonetic spellings, wordplays, and anagrams. One notable example is the title “Craeg Lea” which he imparted to his Malvern home where his family resided between 1899 and 1904. That atypical moniker is an anagram obtained from the reverse spelling of “Elgar” (Craeg Lea) mingled with the initials from the first names of his daughter Carice, himself, and his wife Alice (Craeg Lea). Elgar challenged Dora Penny to decipher the meaning of his home’s bemusing name. She caught on quickly as recounted in her memoir:

Edward called the place Craeg Lea and challenged me to guess how he had found the name. By some stroke of luck, I realized that the key lay in the unusual spelling of “Craeg” and immediately saw that the thing had been built up anagrammatically from (A)lice, (C)arice, (E)dward ELGAR. I think he was a little annoyed that this mystification had fallen flat.

Elgar’s enthusiasm for word games permeated his obsession with cryptography, the discipline of coding and decoding secret messages. His expertise in that esoteric art is extensively documented by Craig P. Bauer in his book Unsolved! The bulk of its third chapter is devoted to Elgar’s brilliant decryption of an allegedly insoluble Nihilist cipher by John Holt Schooling featured in an April 1896 issue of The Pall Mall Magazine. A Nihilist cipher is a derivative of the Polybius square, a system for fractionating plaintext that was invented by the ancient Greeks. Elgar was so delighted with his solution that he bragged about it in his first biography published in 1905 by Robert J. Buckley. Elgar painted the solution in black paint on a wooden box, an appropriate medium as another name for the Polybius square is a box cipher. The historical record is unambiguous. Elgar was an accomplished expert in the field of cryptography.

Elgar’s methodical decryption of Schooling’s conundrum is summarized on a set of nine index cards. On the sixth card, Elgar relates the task of cracking the cipher to “. . . working (in the dark).” His use of the word “dark” as a synonym for a cipher is relevant to this investigation as this same adjective turns up later in the 1899 program note for the premiere of the Enigma Variations. It is an oft-cited passage worth revisiting because Elgar lays the groundwork for his tripartite riddle:

The Enigma I will not explain – its ‘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.

Elgar composed the Enigma Variations in 1898-99. That extraordinary work elevated him from provincial obscurity to international acclaim, transforming his career from an itinerant music teacher to a celebrated composer. The original title appears on the autograph score as “Variations for orchestra composed by Edward Elgar Op. 36”. With the unconventional theme dubbed “Enigma”, the work is popularly referred to as the Enigma Variations. In the 1899 program note and other primary sources, Elgar explains the Theme is called “Enigma” because it is a counterpoint to a famous melody that is not heard but can play “through and over” the Variations. This secret tune is the cornerstone underlying the whole work, a subject that has provoked interminable debates and disagreements about the correct solution.

Some contend there is no answer to Elgar’s Enigma by insinuating he concocted the notion of an absent principal Theme as an afterthought, practical joke, or marketing gimmick. The editors of the Elgar Complete Edition of the Enigma Variations blithely deny the likelihood there could be any covert counterpoints or cryptograms. Relying on Elgar’s recollection of playing new material at the piano to gauge his wife’s reaction, the editors tout the standard lore that he extemporized the idiosyncratic Enigma Theme, mirabile dictu, without any forethought or planning:

There seems to have been no specific ‘enigma’ in mind at the outset: Elgar’s first playing of the music was hardly more than a running over the keys to aid relaxation. It was Alice Elgar’s interruption, apparently, that called him to attention and helped to identify the phrases which were to become the ‘Enigma’ theme. This suggests it is unlikely that the theme should conceal some counterpoint or cipher needed to solve the ‘Enigma’.

Such a blanket abnegation conveniently relieves scholars of any obligation to probe for ciphers or counterpoints. Proponents of such an obtuse nihilism extol the validity of their position based on a dearth of evidence for which they never executed a diligent or impartial search. This tautological cul-de-sac is a textbook case of confirmation bias pawned off as ersatz scholarship. In the fourth chapter of The Cambridge Companion to Elgar, Christopher Kent meticulously documents how Elgar sketched and accumulated musical ideas in the countryside long before ever trying them out on the piano. Those familiar with Elgar’s compositional methods should know better than to proffer the lore that he miraculously improvised the Enigma Theme without advanced planning and preparation.

A more sensible view (embraced by those who take Elgar at his published word) accepts the challenge that there must be a famous melody concealed behind the Variations’ contrapuntal and modal facade. Regardless of the side taken in this debate, legacy scholars insist the answer can never be known with absolute certainty because Elgar allegedly took his secret to the grave in February 1934. The intellectual nomenklatura presumes he never wrote down the solution for posterity to discover. Such a staid opinion glosses over or flagrantly ignores Elgar’s documented expertise in cryptography. That incontestable facet of his psychological profile raises the possibility that the solution is scrupulously enciphered within Enigma Variations’ orchestral score.

A decade of trawling that sublime symphonic masterpiece has netted over one hundred cryptograms in diverse formats that encode a set of mutually consistent and complementary solutions. Although that figure may seem extraordinary, it is entirely consistent with Elgar’s lifelong fascination with ciphers. More significantly, the solutions give definitive answers to the core questions posed by the Enigma Variations. What is the absent 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 the “dark saying” nestled within the Enigma Theme? Answer: A musical Polybius box cipher embedded in its inaugural six bars cordoned off by a strangely positioned double barline. Who is the secret friend and inspiration behind Variation XIII? Answer: Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of Elgar’s Roman Catholic faith. The cryptographic evidence supporting these discoveries is diverse yet mutually consistent, multivalent, and decisive.

Some Bridge Passages Enigma Ciphers

Such an extensive trove of ciphers affirms that the Enigma Variations is Elgar’s musical homage to cryptography. Scores of ciphers within the score justify an ongoing search for additional cryptograms. Prior research uncovered a matrix of ciphers shrouded within its three bridge passages. A section in classical music that links one movement to another without interruption is called a bridge passage. The first bridge passage couples the Enigma Theme to Variation I (C. A. E.). Some cryptograms hidden in that first bridge passage are the Opus Dei Cipher, the Psalm 46 Ciphers, Tau Cross Ciphers, and interrelated word ciphers embedded within its performance directions. There is a cluster of cryptograms in the second bridge passage linking Variation V (R. P. A) to Variation VI (Ysobel). Fourteen cryptograms are concealed within the third bridge passage connecting Variation XIII (W.N.) to Variation IX (Nimrod). Other ciphers are formed collectively by these three bridge passages. Could there be more bridge ciphers yet to be discovered?

Elgar’s Bridge Passages Acrostic Ciphers

Six of the movements from the Enigma Variations are connected by three bridge passages. The sums three and six may be merged as “36” to reproduce its opus number. When reversed as “63”, it yields the tempo marking used for the Enigma Theme, Variation I (C. A. E.), and Variation V (R. P. A.). These three movements are associated with the first and second bridge passages. A short score reduction of these three bridge passages is exhibited below:

The Enigma Theme is joined to Variation I (C. A. E.) by the first bridge passage in bars 18-19. Variation V (R. P. A.) is connected to Variation VI (Ysobel) by the second bridge passage in bars 184-187. Variation VIII (W. N.) is linked to Variation IX (Nimrod) by the third bridge passage in bars 305-307. A total of nine bars make up these three bridge passages with two in the first, four in the second, and three in the third. The bar lengths of these three bridge passages are two, four, and three. The first two numerals may be merged to form 24, the sum of the letters in the title Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. Six words in that German title mirror the six movements conjoined by bridges. The third bridge passage consists of three bars, a total that corresponds to the common three-word title Ein feste Burg.

Six movements joined in pairs by three bridge passages encompass a distinct subset of variations. The titles of these bridge movements are listed below in order of appearance:

Enigma
C. A. E.
R. P. A.
Ysobel
W. N.
Nimrod

There is a conspicuous symmetry with the titles of these six bridge movements. Three are six-letter words (Enigma, Ysobel, and Nimrod) which are traceable to the Bible. Nimrod is described in Genesis 10:9 as “. . . a mighty hunter before the LORD.” Elgar dedicated Variation IX (Nimrod) to his German friend August Jaeger whose last name means “hunter” in German. The nickname “Nimrod” is a scriptural wordplay on “hunter.” A standard abbreviation of Genesis is “Ge.” This is affirmed by The Treasury Bible published in London in 1833. Remarkably, the first two melody notes of Nimrod — G descending a major 3rd to E-flat — are a coded abbreviation of Genesis. Nimrod is the tenth movement and the ninth variation, supplying the chapter and verse to complete the cipher “Ge. 10:9”. Genesis 10:9 conveniently provides the first two words of the covert Theme's title: A Mighty Fortress.

Ysobel is a derivative of Elisheba, the wife of the high priest Aaron mentioned in Exodus 6:23. Enigma is defined as a “dark saying,” a phrase that appears in Psalm 49:4, Psalm 78:2, and Proverbs 1:6. Elgar employs the phrase “dark saying” in his original 1899 program note to describe the Enigma Theme. The recurrence of the phrase “dark saying” in the Psalms appears to be a clue about the origin of the covert Theme. The covert Theme’s title is drawn from the first line of Psalm 46, a chapter known as “Luther’s Psalm.” The remaining three titles are composed of initials: C. A. E., R. P. A., and W. N. These two sets of three titles suggest the mirror image of Elgar's initials (33). Roman Catholic tradition holds that Jesus was crucified at age 33.

Like the two sets of three titles that intimate a coded form of Elgar’s initials, there are precisely two capital Es in the titles of the opening two movements: Enigma and C. A. E. These two Es are the first and last letters of those two titles. The Theme and Variation I are joined together by the first bridge passage.

Before venturing any further, it is crucial to recognize that Elgar used phonetic spellings in his personal correspondence. Some examples of his atypical spellings are listed below:

1. Bizziness (business)
2. çkor (score)
3. cszquōrrr (score)
4. fagotten (forgotten)
5. FAX (facts)
6. frazes (phrases)
7. gorjus (gorgeous)
8. phatten (fatten)
9. skorh (score)
10. SSCZOWOUGHOHR (score)
11. Xmas (Christmas)
12. Xqqqq (Excuse)
13. Xti (Christi)

The three bridge titles consisting of six-letter names produce the acrostic “EYN”: Enigma, Ysobel, and Nimrod. “EYN” is the phonetic equivalent of Ein with y substituting for i, a spelling convention observed in words like my and cry. This phonetic acrostic encodes the first word in the covert Theme’s title Ein feste Burg.

The three remaining titles composed of initials yield the acrostic “CRW”: C. A. E., R. P. A., and W. N. “CRW” is a phonetic rendering of crow. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the verb crow as “cry” and provides the sample sentence, “When a cock (an adult male chicken) crows, it makes a very long and loud sharp cry.” The Authorized King James Version of Matthew 26:34 recounts Jesus prophesying to Peter, “Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” The disciple Peter vehemently Jesus three times on the night of his arrest before the rooster announced the arrival of dawn and the fulfillment of Christ’s dire prophecy. The word crow is intimately linked to the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus, Elgar’s secret friend memorialized in Variation XIII (✡ ✡ ✡). The identification of Christ as the dedicatee of that movement readily explains why it was performed during Elgar’s memorial service at Worcestershire Cathedral in March 1934.

A bridge is a place to cross, a word intimately associated with the crucifixion of Jesus and the Roman Catholic ritual of making the sign of the cross. Like the three bridge passages, there were three crosses at the crucifixion of Christ. Similarly, there are three Mendelssohn quotations in Variation XIII that sonically portray a sea crossing. The first bridge passage in bars 18-19 begins in G major and modulates to G minor. The second bridge passage in bars 185-188 begins in C minor and resolves to C major at the start of Variation VI (Ysobel). The key letters of the first and second bridge passages are G and C, respectively. The letters of these modes provide the initials for Gesù Cristo, the Italian translation of Jesus Christ. The encoding of Christ’s initials in Italian by the modes of the first and second bridge passages is consistent with Elgar’s reliance on Italian nomenclature for the instrumentation and performance directions in the autograph and published scores.

The third bridge passage in bars 305-307 modulates from G major to E-flat major at the arrival of Variation XI (Nimrod). When treated as an anagram, the key letters G and E may be reshuffled as “EG”, a phonetic spelling of egg. The Easter egg is a traditional Christian symbol of Christ’s resurrection. It is noteworthy that Elgar hid his Easter egg cipher in the third bridge passage, a number that equals the three days and nights that Jesus spent in the tomb. The term egg is also encoded extensively by notes in the E-flat ostinato accompanying the third Mendelssohn quotation in Variation XIII.

E-flat ostinato “EGG” cipher accompanying the third Mendelssohn quotation

The number three is emphasized by the location and length of the third bridge passage with its three bars. These two references to the number three may be combined to produce “33”, the alleged age when Jesus was crucified.

There are fifteen lowercase letters in the three six-word bridge titles: nigma, sobel, and imrod. When treated as an anagram, the letters igmasobelimrod generate 178,572 possible combinations with accurate spellings. The overwhelming majority of these anagrams are utterly nonsensical with the notable exception “lamb is mooring ed”. “Ed” is a short form of Edward, Elgar’s first name. In John 1:29, Jesus is called the “Lamb of God” (Agnus Dei) by John the Baptist. A core tenet of Christianity is that Jesus was sacrificed at Calvary as the Passover Lamb to redeem the world from sin and death. The Cambridge Dictionary defines mooring as “a place to tie a boat.” This definition relates to Elgar’s depiction of a ship crossing a calm sea in Variation XIII, a movement dedicated in secret to Christ who fulfilled the prophetic Sign of Jonah. Merriam-Webster furnishes another definition of mooring as “an established practice or stabilizing influence.” Jesus is the ultimate mooring to whom Christians fasten their faith. Based on this analysis, the anagram “Lamb is mooring Ed” may be interpreted as Jesus securing Elgar in his faith. This interpretation is supported by Elgar’s sizable output of sacred cantatas and oratorios. Elgar was born, educated, married, and buried as a Roman Catholic. He dedicated his major sacred works to God by invoking the Jesuit motto “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” (For the Greater Glory of God).

Another defensible anagram obtained from the lowercase letters igmasobelimrod is “mooring lamb dies.” In this context, “mooring” refers to “an established practice or stabilizing influence.” As previously shown, “Lamb” is a title for Jesus. The term “dies” denotes the death of that lamb. The anagram “mooring lamb dies” effectively conveys a central article of faith from Elgar’s Roman Catholicism that acknowledges the sacrificial death of Jesus. The anagram “mooring lamb dies” is mutually consistent with the “Dead God” Cipher in Variation XIII where note sequences in bars 497-500 and 529-532 encode the phrase “DEAD G-D”. Roman Catholicism teaches that Jesus is the incarnation of God and a member of the Trinity who died and rose bodily from the grave.

Elgar completed many of his sketches on the Old Wye River Bridge during pastoral excursions in search of solitude and bucolic stimulation. He clearly associated his musical creations with bridge crossings. Another type of crossing is an acrostic “in which sets of letters (such as the initial or final letters of the lines) taken in order form a word or phrase.” When arranged in order of appearance, the first letters of the six bridge titles generate the acrostic “E CRY WN”.

Enigma
C. A. E.
R. P. A.
Ysobel
W. N.
Nimrod

The verb “CRY” indicates that Elgar’s ordering of these bridge movements is not random. The verb cry is a synonym for crow, a term encoded as a phonetic acrostic by the three titles consisting of initials. The “E” may be safely interpreted as Elgar because he signed and sealed his correspondence with that letter. “CRY” is an intransitive verb defined by Merriam-Webster in four ways. The first is “to call loudly, shout.” The second is “to shed tears often noisily, weep, sob.” The third is “to utter a characteristic sound or call.” The fourth is “to require or suggest strongly a remedy or disposition.” “WN” is a phonetic spelling of when. This analysis shows that the acrostic “E CRY WN” may be decoded as the command, “Elgar, cry ‘When!?’” This decryption vents his frustration with waiting to be recognized by London's musical establishment for his prodigious musical endowment.

Elgar may have encoded the word “cry” because it turns up in one of his favorite poems, Ode penned by Arthur O’Shaughnessy in 1873. Elgar set the entirety of that poem in The Music Makers for contralto or mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra. It was composed sporadically between 1903 and 1912 before premiering at the Birmingham Festival in October 1912. The Musical Times published a preview of The Music Makers by Ernest Newman in September 1912 that deftly encapsulates the thrust of O’Shaughnessy’s Ode:

    The ‘motif’ of O’Shaughnessy’s poem is the idea that the poets—the music makers and dreamers—are really the creators and inspirers of men and their deeds, and the true makers of history and of human societies. Their dreams and their visions are the foreshadowings of what the rest of mankind are predestined to work out in endless conflict: to-day is a realisation of a dream of the generations past; to-morrow will bring into being the dream of to-day.

The Music Makers is a retrospective piece that cites themes from the Enigma Variations, Sea Pictures, The Dream of Gerontius, Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 2, Violin Concerto, Rule, Britannia!, and La Marseillaise. The inclusion of the Marseillaise is interesting because the German poet Heinrich Heine famously extolled Ein feste Burg as “the Marseillaise of the Reformation.” In The Music Makers, Elgar invokes incipits from the Enigma Theme and Variation IX (Nimrod). It is possible that Elgar cites melodic extracts from the Enigma Theme, Nimrod, and the Marseilaise to hint at Heine’s equation of that French paean to Ein feste Burg, the covert Theme of the Enigma Variations. According to Elgar, the Enigma Theme is quoted more than once because “it expressed when written (in 1898) my sense of the loneliness of the artist as described in the first six lines of the Ode, and, to me, it still embodies that sense.” The familiar phrase “movers and shakers” appears in line 7 of Stanza I of O’Shaughnessy’s Ode. The ninth and final stanza employing the word “cry” is cited below:

Great hail! we cry to the comers
    From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers;
    And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
    And things that we dreamed not before:
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
    And a singer who sings no more.

There are nine stanzas in O’Shaughnessy’s Ode, and coincidentally there are nine bars in Elgar’s three bridge passages. O’Shaughnessy’s Ode invokes sea imagery in its opening and closing stanzas. Line 3 of Stanza I states, “Wandering by lone-sea breakers . . .” Line 2 of Stanza IX reads, “From the dazzling unknown shore . . .” Elgar depicts a calm sea in Variation IX (Nimrod) by citing a four-note incipit from Felix Mendelssohn’s concert overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. This sonic portrayal of the sea resonates with marine references in O’Shaughnessy’s Ode tied to the lonely artist who conjures new music and new worlds.

“WN” is also a phonetic rendering of Wen, a term defined by Merriam-Webster as “an abnormal growth or a cyst protruding from a surface . . .” During the 1820s, William Cobbett coined the derogatory nickname “The Great Wen” for the city of London. That epithet remained in common usage during Elgar’s lifetime. For example, it appears twice in an 1892 issue of The National Review published (ironically) in London. Cobbett was a staunch advocate for Catholic emancipation and England’s working class, two constituencies associated with Elgar’s upbringing as a Roman Catholic and denizen of the working class. Relying on that peculiar nickname, the acrostic “E CRY WN” may also be decoded as “Elgar, cry ‘London!’” Shortly after his marriage in 1889, Elgar moved to London to launch his career as a professional composer. After encountering many obstacles and setbacks, he retreated back to the provinces to resume the daily drudgery of teaching. Fortunately, Elgar did not abandon his dream and continued to expand his portfolio of new works. A decade later in June 1899, he returned to London in triumph for the premiere of the Enigma Variations under Hans Richter. The overlapping decryptions “Elgar, cry ‘When!?’” and “Elgar, cry ‘London!’” aptly communicate this polarity of his vexation and ascendency.

In addition to the acrostic “E CRY WN,” the remaining initials (AEPAN) from the titles of I, V, and VIII form the anagram “PAEAN”. Merriam-Webster defines paean as “a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph.” That is a fitting description of Luther’s Ein feste Burg, a hymn sung as a spiritual and patriotic paean. As previously mentioned, Heine praised Ein feste Burg as “the Marseillaise of the Reformation,” a national paean of France. In the April 1913 issue of The Lutheran Quarterly, C. J. Kiefer writes that Thomas Carlyle considered Ein feste Burg “the world’s greatest hymn, and says there is something in it like the sound of an Alpine avalanche or the first murmur of an earthquake.” Kiefer adds that Ein feste Burg “. . . has become the national hymn of Germany.”

Elgar’s interest in Ein feste Burg is consistent with his devotion to the German School and reverence for such Lutheran composers as Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Richard Wagner. After the outbreak of the Great War, Elgar could never disclose the hidden melody of the Enigma Variations without the risk of being ostracized from English Society. Anti-German sentiments ran so hot that Jaeger’s widow was forced to change her surname to Hunter. Even the Royal Family deemphasized its German heritage by reinventing itself as the House of Windsor. Ernest Newman supplied an essay about The Spirit of England for the May 1916 issue of The Musical Times that amplified the anti-German hysteria pervading English society during that troubled era. Below is an excerpt from Newman’s screed:

We gladly leave the writing of Hymns of Hate to the race that has shown us in too many other respects also how near its instincts are to those of the barbarian. An older and better civilisation looks to its leading artists for something different from the German froth and foam, bellowing and swagger. We are not “too proud to fight,” but we are too proud to abase our emotions about the war to the level of our bestial foe; to do that would be disloyalty to the memory of our holy dead.

The association between Ein feste Burg and German nationalism readily explains why Elgar refused to talk about the Enigma Variations’ absent Theme during and after the cataclysm of World War I.

The acrostic “E CRY WN” and associated anagram “PAEAN” may be merged into the larger anagram “A WRY PENANCE”.

Merriam-Webster defines penance as “a sacramental rite that is practiced in Roman, Eastern, and some Anglican churches and that consists of private confession, absolution, and a penance directed by the confessor.” Merriam-Webster defines wry as something “ironically humorous.” Elgar was fond of practical jokes that he referred to as japes. His earliest recorded tune is Humoresque written in 1867 in a sketchbook along with the word “Jape.” Merriam-Webster defines jape as “something designed to arouse amusement or laughter.” Elgar's reliance on the battle hymn of the Reformation as the covert Theme of the Variations is ironically humorous in light of his Roman Catholicism.

The use of the word wry in the bridge passages titles anagram is important because it also appears in Elgar’s Liszt Fragment Cipher. In April 1886, Elgar attended a concert at London’s Crystal Palace in honor of Franz Liszt. Elgar penciled eighteen curlicue-like symbols in the margin of his program known today as the Liszt Fragment Cipher. This cryptogram employs the same characters observed in the more famous Dorabella Cipher. The Liszt Fragment Cipher defied decryption for over a century before finally being cracked. Its solution is the phrase, “STRING QUARTET IS WRY.” Elgar used the word “wry” in his correspondence. In a letter to Troyte Griffith dated February 10, 1918, Elgar lamented, “Well, I wish you were here: I have had a long and dreary time and should like a sight and a word, but these wry-necked times make it impossible to move.” Those “wry-necked times” also made it inconceivable for Elgar to divulge the hidden melody of the Enigma Variations.

Summation

Three bridge passages in the Enigma Variations forge a nexus of cryptograms that encode a set of mutually consistent and complementary solutions. The first bridge passage in bars 18-19 contains the Opus Dei Cipher, the Psalm 46 Ciphers, Tau Cross Ciphers, and various word ciphers embedded within its performance directions. The second bridge passage in bars 184-187 also conceals another sequence of cryptograms. The third bridge passage in bars 305-307 harbors at least fourteen cryptograms. Other ciphers are enciphered collectively by these three bridge passages.

A reassessment of the six titles associated with the three bridge passages identified some remarkable symmetries. The numbers three and six may be combined to reproduce the opus number 36. When reversed, they give the tempo marking for the Enigma Theme, I (C. A. E.), and V (R. P. A.). Three titles consist of six-letter terms found in the Bible: Enigma, Nimrod, and Ysobel. The other three titles are made of initials: C. A. E., R. P. A., and W. N. The six-letter bridge titles form the acrostic “EYN”, a phonetic rendering of Ein which is the first word in the covert Theme’s German title. The remaining three titles consisting of initials generate the acrostic “CRW”, a phonetic realization of crow, a synonym of cry. The verb crow is associated with the crucifixion of Jesus. On the eve of his arrest, Jesus issued a stark prophecy in Matthew 26:34 that “before the cock crow” Peter would deny him thrice.

A bridge offers a place to cross, a word indelibly linked to the crucifixion of Jesus. There were three crosses at his brutal execution as Jesus was crucified between two criminals. Similarly, there are three bridge passages in the Enigma Variations. The letters of the modes used for the first and second bridge passages are G and C, the initials in order for Jesus Christ in Italian (Gesù Cristo). This cipher is consistent with the Italian nomenclature and performance directions dispersed throughout the autographed and published scores. The letters of the modes associated with the third bridge passage are G and E, an anagram of “EG” which is a phonetic rendering of egg. The Easter Egg is a traditional Christian symbol of Christ’s resurrection. Consisting of three bars, the third bridge passage parallels the same tally of days and nights that Jesus spent in the tomb before miraculously rising from the dead. The word egg is spelled out by adjacent note letters throughout the E-flat ostinato accompanying the third Mendelssohn quotation in Variation XIII. The third bridge passage consists of three bars. Its location and length encode two threes that may be merged to form “33”, the traditional age ascribed to Jesus at his death.

Fifteen lowercase letters from the titles of Enigma, Ysobel, and Nimrod yield the anagrams “lamb is mooring ed”. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Mooring may be defined as “an established practice or stabilizing influence.” “Ed” is a short form of Edward, the composer’s first name. Jesus is the conclusive mooring to whom believers fasten and secure their faith. Elgar was born, educated, married, and buried as a Roman Catholic. He dedicated his major sacred works to God by invoking the Jesuit motto “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” (For the Greater Glory of God). A second combination obtained from the lowercase letters igmasobelimrod is “mooring lamb dies.” This anagram expresses a key belief in Roman Catholicism about the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God. The “DEAD G-D” Cipher in Variation XIII reiterates this solution.

When the six bridge movements are listed in order of appearance, they generate the acrostic “E CRY WN”. The initial “E” represents Elgar. “CRY” is a synonym of the verb crow, an acrostic formed by the three bridge movements comprised of initials. The word cry occurs in the ninth stanza of O’Shaughnessy’s Ode, a poem Elgar set to music between 1903 and 1912. “WN” is a phonetic realization of when. The acrostic “E CRY WN” may be decoded as the directive, “Elgar, cry ‘When!?’” This solution conveys Elgar's exasperation with waiting to be accepted and acknowledged by London's musical establishment. “WN” is also a phonetic rendering of Wen, a nickname for London. Consequently, “E CRY WN” may also be read as “Elgar, cry ‘London!’” Following his 1889 marriage in London, Elgar struggled to launch his composing career in that city but was forced to beat a retreat back to Malvern to resume his duties as an instructor of violin, viola, and piano. A decade later, Elgar returned triumphantly to London for the premiere of the Enigma Variations.

After setting aside the initials used to generate the acrostic “E CRY WN”, the remaining initials (AEPAN) from I, V, and VIII may be reshuffled to form the anagram “PAEAN”. A paean is “a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph.” Throughout its history, Ein feste Burg has been sung as a spiritual, patriotic, and military paean. In praising Ein feste Burg as “the Marseillaise of the Reformation,” Heine places that hymn on the same level as the national anthem of France. It is conceivable that Elgar quotes the Enigma Theme, Nimrod, and the Marseilaise to hint at Heine’s comparison of that French paean to Ein feste Burg, the hidden melody of the Enigma Variations. After the outbreak of World War I, Ein feste Burg could never be acknowledged by Elgar as the covert Theme to the Enigma Variations because that hymn was a nationalistic paean of Germany.

The acrostic “E CRY WN” and the anagram “PAEAN” may be consolidated to generate the larger anagram “A WRY PENANCE”. Wry is a synonym for “humorously ironic.” From the very outset, Elgar associated the serious work of composing with humor. On his earliest surviving sketch called Humoresque written in 1867, Elgar appended the word “Jape.” A jape is a practical joke. Elgar employs the word wry in correspondence and his Liszt Fragment Cipher. Penance is a sacramental rite carried out by Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations. There is a profound dichotomy between Elgar’s Roman Catholicism and his reliance on a Protestant anthem as the secret tune of the Enigma Variations. 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