Decoding Elgar's Wrong Completion Date

Schlossskirche (Castle Church) in Wittenberg

Now the church is not wood and stone, but the company of people who believe in Christ.

Martin Luther

The British composer Edward Elgar produced his symphonic Enigma Variations between October 1898 and July 1899. 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 an intractable debate about the correct solution.

Some contend there is no answer by insinuating Elgar 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 even 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 them of any obligation to probe for ciphers or cryptograms. Proponents of such a crude denialism extol the validity of their position based on a dearth of evidence for which they never executed a diligent or impartial search. This ridiculous state of affairs is a textbook case of confirmation bias pawned off as scholarship.

The more sensible view (adopted by those who take Elgar at his published word) accepts the challenge there is a famous melody lurking behind the Variations’ contrapuntal and modal facade. Regardless of what side is taken in the debate, mainstream 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 establishment presumes he never wrote down the solution for posterity to discover. Such a staid opinion glosses over or flagrantly ignores Elgar’s documented obsession with cryptography. That incontestable facet of his psyche raises the prospect that the solution is meticulously encoded 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 extravagant, 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 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 the “dark saying” ensconced 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 Savior of Elgar’s Roman Catholic faith. The cryptographic evidence supporting these discoveries is diverse yet mutually consistent, multivalent, and decisive. With such a vast trove of cryptograms, the Enigma Variations is Elgar’s musical homage to cryptography.

Elgar’s Enigma Date Cipher

On the last page of the original Finale to the Enigma Variations, Elgar penned the wrong completion date as “FEb 18 1898”. A facsimile of this final page from the autograph score is exhibited below:

Elgar’s finish date is flagrantly erroneous as he did not officially begin work on the Enigma Variations until October 21, 1898. On that historic Friday evening, Elgar first performed the Enigma Theme at the piano for his wife, Alice. The cover of the autograph score confirms it was completed on February 19, 1899.

Both end dates were Fridays with a divergence of 366 days. It is noteworthy that the first two numerals from that deviation match the opus number (36) of the Enigma Variations. Scholars concede the massive discrepancy between these two completion dates yet fail to offer any credible or cogent explanations. Why would Elgar write the wrong end date at the conclusion of Variation XIV, his own musical self-portrait? He was far too meticulous with his scores to make such an egregious error. Ultimately, the resolution to this anomaly hinges on Elgar’s lifelong obsession with cryptography.

Elgar’s anomalous completion date marks the 352nd anniversary of Martin Luther’s death on February 18, 1546. The wrong date cleverly insinuates who composed the hidden principal Theme. It also hints at where to find the answer to Elgar’s contrapuntal riddle because the complete title of Ein feste Burg is inscribed on Schlossskirche (Castle Church), Luther’s resting place in Wittenberg. The title of his most celebrated hymn does not appear on the original grave plate or bronze plaque in the sanctuary where Luther is interred. Instead, it is emblazoned around the top of the imposing church tower that was renovated between 1883 and 1892. This is a highly suitable monument as one of the English translations for Ein feste Burg has the title A Strong Tower. The renovation of Castle Church was completed six years before Elgar started work on his Enigma Variations.

Wittenberg Castle Church

Wittenberg Castle Church Tower

A coded reference to Luther’s resting place not only unveils the title of the covert Theme, for it also implicates the identity of Elgar’s secret friend whose title “Christi” (Christ) appears on the grave plate. The title of Elgar’s first sacred oratorio is Lux Christi (Light of Christ) which was premiered in 1896. The word “LUX” is encoded as a reverse acrostic anagram on the short score sketch of Variation XIII.

Martin Luther’s Grave Plate

Elgar’s incorrect completion date on the autograph score pinpoints the death anniversary of Martin Luther, the composer of the hidden melody. Luther died in his birth city of Eisleben at the age of 63. Remarkably, the number 63 is the most used metronome marking in the Enigma Variations as it sets the tempo for three different movements: The Enigma Theme, Variation I (C. A. E.), and Variation V (R. P. A.). Not only does Elgar cleverly insert the death anniversary for the covert Theme’s composer, but he also incorporates Luther’s age of death using the metronome marking 63. The opus number (36) is the reverse of that age. Luther was 36 years old when Pope Leo X issued the bull Exsurge Domine in June 1520 that threatened excommunication if he did not recant 41 propositions from his Ninety-five Theses and other papers. Luther responded with even more polemical essays and a public burning of the papal bull in December 1520.

The Roman numerals and initials from these three affiliated movements are A, A, C, E, E, I, P, R, and V. Two Es suggest a coded version of Elgar’s initials, a feature of other cryptograms ensconced within the Enigma Variations. When treated as an anagram, these nine letters may be rearranged as “PA VICAR EE.” “PA” is a shortened form of “Papa” and is informal for “Father.” A Roman Catholic priest is addressed as “Father.” Catholic canon law defines the role of a vicar as a representative of an ecclesiastical entity. For example, one of the titles for the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. These decryptions of “Father” and “Vicar” are accompanied by Elgar’s initials (EE). The relevance of these anagrams is that Martin Luther was awarded the titles “Father” and “Vicar” by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1507, he was ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood and received the title “Father.” In 1515, Luther was appointed Vicar of Saxony and Thuringia by his religious order.

The nine letters A, A, C, E, E, I, P, R, and V may also be rearranged as the anagram “C EE PRA VIA.” “C” is a homonym of see. “EE” is Elgar’s initials. “PRA” is a phonetic form of pray. The first three words are a phonetic encryption of the phrase, “See EE pray.” “VIA” is Latin for way. Christians in the 1st century called themselves followers of “The Way.” This label was likely inspired by Jesus’ declaration in John 14:6, “I am the way . . .” In Acts 9:2, early believers are referred to as adherents of “the Way.” The phrase “See EE pray [the] Way” is distinctly Christian and is consistent with Elgar’s Roman Catholicism and its many ritual prayers.

Another possible anagram from the initials A, A, C, E, E, I, P, R, and V is “VIA PEARCE.” The way that Jesus traveled through Jerusalem to be crucified is called the Via Doloroso (The Way of Sorrows). That path is also known as the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross). There are fourteen stations of the cross, and likewise, there are fourteen numbered variations in the Enigma Variations. It is remarkable that the word “stations” rhymes with “variations.” “PEARCE” is a phonetic equivalent of pierce. A prophecy in Psalm 22:16 regarding the Messiah’s execution reads, “. . . they have pierced my hands and feet.” Jesus walked the Via Crucis to Golgotha where his hands and feet were nailed to the cross. There is ample theological justification for the anagrammatic and phonetic decryption “VIA PIERCE.”

Elgar ingeniously records Martin Luther’s death anniversary in the anomalous completion date “FEb 18 1898” on the autograph score of the original ending to the Enigma Variations. The significance of this cipher is that Luther’s tomb bears the titles of the covert Theme and Elgar’s secret friend. The title Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott prominently encircles the church tower. The title “Christi” appears on Luther’s grave plate. Luther’s resting place puts to rest the misguided myth that the solutions to Elgar’s enigmas are unsearchable mysteries.

Luther’s age of death appears in the score as the metronome marking “63” for the Enigma Theme, Variation I (C. A. E.), and Variation V (R. P. A.). The Roman numerals and initials for those three affiliated movements form the anagram “PA VICAR EE” (Father Vicar EE). Before establishing the Lutheran Church, Luther served as an ordained Roman Catholic Priest and was awarded the titles “Father” and “Vicar.” Other possible anagrams from those Roman numerals and initials are “C EE PRA VIA” (See EE pray [the] Way), and “VIA PEARCE” (Via Pierce). These phonetic anagrams intersect elegantly with Elgar’s Roman Catholic education, faith, and sacred works. 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 German Sixth Enigma Ciphers

During railway journeys amuses himself with cryptograms; solved one by John Holt Schooling who defied the world to unravel his mystery.

Robert J. Buckley in his 1905 biography of Sir Edward Elgar

The British composer Edward Elgar relished phonetic spellings, wordplays, and anagrams. One notable illustration is the title “Craeg Lea” which he imparted to his Malvern home where his family resided between 1899 and 1904. That 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 spilled over into his obsession with cryptography, the discipline of coding and decoding secret messages. His expertise in that esoteric art is amply documented by Craig P. Bauer in his treatise Unsolved! The bulk of its third chapter is devoted to Elgar’s brilliant decryption of an allegedly insoluble Nihilist cipher presented by John Holt Schooling in an April 1896 issue of The Pall Mall Magazine. A Nihilist cipher is a derivative of the Polybius square. Elgar was so delighted with his solution that he brags 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.

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 that warrants revisiting as Elgar lays the groundwork for his melodic riddle:

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

Elgar birthed 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 explained 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 a prolonged debate about the correct solution.

Some contend there is no answer by insinuating Elgar concocted the notion of an absent principal Theme as an afterthought, practical joke, or marketing ploy. Others take Elgar at his word and accept the challenge that there is a famous melody lurking behind the Variations’ contrapuntal and modal facade. Regardless of what side is taken in the debate, mainstream scholars insist the answer can never be known with absolute certainty because Elgar allegedly took his secret to the grave in February 1934. They presume he never wrote down the solution for posterity to discover. This staid opinion glosses over or flagrantly ignores Elgar’s documented obsession with cryptography. That incontestable facet of Elgar’s personality raises the prospect that the solution is meticulously encoded within Enigma Variations’ orchestral score.

A decade of trawling that sublime symphonic masterpiece has netted over one hundred cryptograms in diverse forms that encode a set of mutually consistent and complementary solutions. Although that figure may seem extravagant, 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 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 the “dark saying” ensconced within the Enigma Theme? Answer: A musical Polybius box cipher embedded in its inaugural six bars cordoned off by an oddly placed double barline. Who is the secret friend and inspiration behind Variation XIII? Answer: Jesus Christ, the Savior of Elgar’s Roman Catholic faith. The cryptographic evidence supporting these discoveries is diverse yet mutually consistent, multivalent, and decisive. With such a vast trove of cryptograms, the Enigma Variations is Elgar’s musical homage to cryptography.

The German Sixth Enigma Ciphers

The discovery of scores of ciphers within the Enigma Variations score invites a sustained search for even more cryptograms. One intriguing aspect of that work is the appearance of an augmented sixth chord called the German sixth near the beginning and original ending. The first arises on the downbeat of bar 5 of the Enigma Theme and is performed by the second violins (G), violas (E-flat and B-flat), and cellos (C-sharp). The German sixth is a transparent clue that betrays key attributes of the covert Theme’s complete title for it consists of six German words: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott.

The label “German sixth” was in common usage when Elgar composed the Enigma Variations in 1898-99 as documented by numerous sources predating that work. “German sixth” appears in William Crotche’s 1812 edition of Musical Composition published in London. The April 1, 1879 issue of The Musical Times gives a probing analysis of the German sixth. The English music theorist Ebenezer Prout invokes this standard terminology in his 1889 text Harmony: It’s Theory and Practice published in London. There is no doubt Elgar was intimately familiar with the German sixth chord when he birthed the Enigma Variations in 1898-99.

The initials for Ein feste Burg are embedded within the first German sixth chord in bar 5 of the Enigma Theme. The E-flat and B-flat played as a double stop by the violas provide the first and third initials. The initial for flat rounds out “EfB” with the correct combination of upper and lower case letters for the commonly abridged title Ein feste Burg. Another way to arrive at f is through the application of a number-to-letter key (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc.) which converts “six” to the sixth letter of the alphabet. The G in the second violin part gives the initial for Gott. Based on this analysis, the German sixth on the downbeat of bar 5 harbors the case-sensitive initials for the first, second, third, and sixth words of the hidden melody’s German title: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. With ten of its fifteen titles consisting of initials, the Enigma Variations places a marked emphasis on that predominant format. The detection of four of the hidden Theme’s six initials strongly suggests the remaining two initials are lurking in that conspicuous chord.

Unmasking the initials for ist and unser posed a more serious challenge partially because musical notes are limited to the first seven letters of the alphabet. A number-to-letter key permits the conversion of the number nine to the letter i. The number nine is encoded by the first German sixth chord in at least four ways. The label “German 6th” has nine characters. The glyph for 9 is identical to 6. Counting from the start of the Enigma Theme, C-sharp is the ninth note played by the cello section. Yet another way to arrive at the number nine centers on the interval formed between the lowest (C-sharp) and highest (E-flat) notes of the German sixth. The C-sharp and E-flat is a diminished tenth, the enharmonic equivalent of a major ninth. This leaves only u for unser to track down.

The application of a reverse number-to-letter key (Z = 1, Y = 2, X = 3, etc.) enables the conversion of the number six to the letter u. Consequently, the number six also encodes this absent initial. There is an alternate way to arrive at this missing initial. Elgar used the letter c — the initial for cipher — to generate 24 curlycue characters for his Dorabella Cipher dating from July 1897. In that baffling cryptogram, the letter c is written in different orientations to approximate the letters u and n. The genesis of the Dorabella Cipher predates the Enigma Variations by 464 days. Elgar’s flexible treatment of the c glyph permits the interpolation of the C-sharp as a coded form of the letter u, the initial for under.

A cryptanalysis of the German sixth chord in Enigma Theme’s fifth bar revealed it encodes all six initials for Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. Three upper case initials are given as note letters: E, B, and G. The remaining three lower case initials are encoded by other indirect features of that chord. The notes E and B are flatted, and the initial for that accidental is f. C-sharp is the ninth note played by the cello section, leading to the ninth letter of the alphabet: I. The note letter C is also the glyph for U. This balanced encoding of three upper and three lower case initials by direct and indirect features of the German sixth reeks of design. Two threes intimate a coded form of Elgar’s initials as that number (3) is the mirror image of his capital cursive E. E-flat is the same pitch as a D-sharp, an equivalence that presents a coded spelling of “ED.” Ed is the short form of Edward and furnishes the first two initials from the title of Variation XIV (E. D. U. ), Elgar’s musical self-portrait. The first German sixth cipher efficiently enciphers Elgar’s initials, nickname, and initials for the secret melody.

The German sixth makes its final appearance in measure 683 of the original ending for Variation XIV (E. D. U.). On the third beat of that bar, the orchestra plays a conspicuous German sixth consisting of E-flat, B-flat, G, and C-sharp — the same notes used for the inaugural German sixth in the Enigma Theme. It was previously shown how that augmented chord encodes all six case-sensitive initials for the covert Theme’s German title. The last German sixth is positioned precisely six quarter beats from the end of the final bar.

In the final German sixth chord, the written notes for the F trumpets are B-flat, F, and D. These written notes resonate up a perfect fourth to generate in concert pitch the sounding notes E-flat, B-flat, and G. This combination of written and sounding notes for the F trumpets in the last German sixth chord provide the initials for Ein feste Burg. The written notes in the two adjacent staves for the F trumpet and trombone also present the initials for the covert Theme.

Setting aside the notes letters that encode “EFB,” the remaining discrete note letters for the last German sixth chord in bar 683 are C, G, and D. When treated as an anagram, these three letters may be rearranged as “CGD.” When read phonetically, those letters produce the phrase “See God.” A phonetic decryption is called for by Elgar’s use of phonetic spellings in his correspondence. For example, he respelled “phrases” as frazes, “gorgeous” as gorjus, and “excuse” as xqqq. An alternative phonetic anagram is “GDC” which may be read as “God” and “sea.” In Variation XIII, Elgar depicts a calm sea by repeatedly citing a melodic fragment from Felix Mendelssohn’s overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Variation XIII is dedicated in secret to Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God according to Elgar’s Roman Catholic faith. The combination of a marine atmosphere with a stealth dedication to Jesus poetically associates God with the sea. Jesus likened his death and resurrection to the Sign of Jonah, a prophet who spent three days and nights in the belly of a whale. This comparison provides a theological basis for linking Elgar’s covert friend with the sea. The word “sea” is a homonym of “C,” the initial for Christ. The first note of the opening two Mendelssohn quotations in A-flat major is also C. These opening two Mendelssohn quotations are accompanied by a soft metallic roll played by the timpani on C.

The positions of the first and last German sixth chords in the Enigma Variations provide the correct figures to encipher the initials for Ein feste Burg. The first German sixth occurs in the fifth bar from the beginning. The application of a number-to-letter key to that bar number converts 5 to E. The last German sixth is positioned two bars from the end, and precisely six quarter beats from the concluding quarter beat. A number-to-letter key converts 2 to B, and 6 to F. The F is also supplied by the label “German sixth” as it singles out its numeric equivalent. In this manner, the positions of the first and last German sixth chords encipher the initials “EFB” using an elementary number-to-letter key.

Elgar placed German sixth chords close to the beginning and original ending of the Enigma Variations. In a similar fashion, the titles of the Enigma Variations are bookended by two coded forms of his initials (EE). The first instance arises from the first letter of “Enigma” and the last initial of “C.A.E.” The second set is produced by the first initial of “E.D.U.” and the last letter of “Finale.” It should also be observed that the titles of the first and last movements (Enigma and E. D. U.) generate a third coded pair of initials. This final pair of initials associates the ending with the beginning.

There is also a coded form of those Elgar’s initials in the last German sixth chord from the original ending. That chord has precisely two unison E-flats played by the principal trumpet and principal trombone. Those two notes in the final German sixth are a transparently encrypted form of Elgar’s initials. This is part of a larger pattern of cryptograms in the Enigma Variations that harbor his initials. One notable example is the Enigma Theme Psalm Cipher that encodes “EE’s Psalm” and has precisely 46 characters, a figure that implicates Psalm 46. The title Ein feste Burg originates from the first line of that famous chapter known as “Luther’s Psalm.”

Elgar employs a similar flanking maneuver with the anomalous title of Variation XIII (***) by enveloping the asterisks with the three absent letters. He accomplished this cryptographic displacement using the first initials from the titles of the adjacent movements — XII (B. G. N.) and XIV (E. D. U. & Finale). Those first letters are an acrostic anagram of the covert Theme’s initials (EFB).

The answer is positioned so close to the question that it is shocking nobody spotted it sooner. Elgar created no less than five different lists of the Variations, a task carried out in retrospect to create this and other proximate title letters cryptogram.

The Finale’s AMDG Dedication Cipher

The initials on the Jesuit monogram are “AMDG” and signify the Latin motto “Ad Majorem Dei Glorium” (For the great glory of God). Elgar inscribed this monogram on his scores as a dedication to God. One of the most notable examples of this practice is The Dream of Gerontius.

There is a chord sequence beginning four bars from the original ending to the Finale that encodes three of the four initials for “AMDG.” Measure 681 opens with a forceful A minor seventh chord that decrescendos into the next bar. This is followed in bar 682 by a dramatic scale run upwards that arrives at a fortissimo D dominant seventh chord on beat four. This dominant seventh resolves on the downbeat of bar 683 to a tonic G major chord. The order of these chord letters is A-D-G, a pattern reinforced by the contrabass section that performs the identical note sequence. Remarkably, this chord and notes series presents the three available musical note letters of “AMDG” in the correct order. The lone holdout is M, a letter inaccessible in the musical alphabet. To encipher that letter, Elgar would need to resort to other indirect means.

One way the absent m is supplied in bar 682 is by the initial for the performance direction molto which appears four times in that measure. M is the alphabet’s thirteenth letter, a number embedded within that bar 682 in four discernable ways. The first is by the instrumental parts which have precisely thirteen coincident written notes at the outset of that measure. This pattern of thirteen concurrent written notes persists until the arrival of the dominant seventh on beat 4. The second is with the upward thirteen-note scale run that covers the interval of a major thirteenth. A third and less obvious way Elgar pinpoints the number thirteen in this bar is through thirteen performance terms dispersed over the first three quarter beats. There are six “ff”, four “molto”, and three “cresc.” The fourth method is by the sum of the characters in “ff molto cresc.” which adds up to precisely thirteen. These redundant encoded forms of the number thirteen implicate the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, the absent M.

The location of these coded versions of M appears between the A minor seventh and D dominant chords, the correct location required to complete the stealth “AMDG” dedication. This secretive dedication is consistent with Elgar’s blueprint encompassing an absent principal Theme, a missing “dark saying” and an anonymous friend memorialized in Variation XIII.

Concluding Observations

Elgar’s mastery of cryptography is evinced by a broad spectrum of ciphers within the Enigma Variations. An augmented German sixth chord surfaces near both the Enigma Theme's beginning and the original Finale's ending. That particular chord furnishes multiple clues about the covert melody by identifying its language (German) and complement of words in the title (six). The first German sixth appears in bar 5 of the Enigma Theme. Three upper case initials are divulged directly by its note letters (E, B, and G), and the remaining three lower case initials (u, i, f) are encoded by other indirect features of that chord. These two groupings of three initials suggest a coded version of Elgar’s initials as the number 3 is the mirror image of a capital cursive E.

The final German sixth occurs two bars before the original ending of Variation XIV (E.D.U.), Elgar’s musical sketch of himself. The sounding notes of this last German sixth are identical to the first in bar 5 of the Enigma Theme. Precisely two E-flats are played in unison by the principal F trumpet and principal trombone, providing a coded form of Elgar’s initials within that augmented chord. The discrete written note letters that comprise the concluding augmented German sixth chord in bar 683 are B, C, D, E, F, and G. When treated as an anagram, these letters may be reshuffled to form the initials for Ein feste Burg (EFB), a phonetic version of the phrase “See God” (C G-D), and the words “God” (G-D) and “sea” (C). The two latter decryptions relate to Variation XIII, a movement with marine imagery that is dedicated in secret to Jesus, the physical manifestation of God. A phonetic analysis is supported by Elgar’s personal correspondence which exhibits creative phonetic spellings.

The positions of the first and last German sixth chords cleverly encode the initials for the covert Theme. The first German sixth appears five bars after the beginning, and the last occurs two bars from the original ending. Converting those bar distances into their corresponding letters of the alphabet generates the letters E and B, two of the three initials from Ein feste Burg. The last German sixth appears exactly six quarter beats from the end, and its label also furnishes the number six. A number-to-letter key transforms the number six into the letter F. Like so many other cryptograms in the Enigma Variations, the first and last German sixth chords encipher the initials to the hidden melody.

The last four bars of the original Finale encode the Jesuit monogram “AMDG” using a combination of chord letters (A, D, and G) and coded forms of the number thirteen, the numeric equivalent of the letter M. The chord in bar 681 is an A minor seventh. The next chord on the third beat of bar 682 is a D dominant seventh that resolves in bar 683 to G major. As previously discussed, the number thirteen is encoded in numerous ways in bar 682. One of the more obvious exemplars is its upward thirteen-note scale run that covers the interval of a major thirteenth. An elementary number-to-letter key converts thirteen to the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, M. The location of these various coded forms of thirteen is appropriately situated in between the A and D chords. Elgar inscribed “AMDG” on musical scores as a dedication to God. In the original ending, he encoded that dedication over three measures just before the final bar.

After the 1899 premiere of the Enigma Variations on June 19, August Jaeger counseled Elgar that the Finale’s ending was too abrupt and should be extended. The conductor Hans Richter also endorsed that assessment. After delaying a week, Elgar replied to Jaeger on June 27:

I waited until I had thought it out & now decide that the end is good enough for me...You won’t frighten me into writing a logically developed movement where I don’t want one by quoting other people! Selah! 

Selah is a Hebrew term used almost exclusively in the Psalms. Jaeger was apprised of the secret melody to the Enigma Variations, hence he would have quickly appreciated Elgar’s inside joke as a literary allusion to Ein feste Burg. Indeed, “Selah'' appears three times in Psalm 46. Elgar’s reluctance to alter the original ending makes perfect sense as he did not want to abandon his carefully crafted cryptograms in those final bars. 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

Original Ending to Variation XIV. (E. D. U.)

Elgar's Program Anagram Enigma Ciphers

Edward Elgar posing at the entrance of The Mount School

In the early months of that year [1899], Elgar decided to take another house, so he moved to Craeg Lea, Wells Road, Malvern, on 21st March. It will be noticed, no doubt, that the mind which turned Jaeger into Nimrod, the daughter from Caroline Alice into Carice, and so on, once more exercised its ingenuity upon the name of his house, which is an anagram constructed from the names of all the people who lived in it, i.e., Carice, Alice, Edward, ELGAR.

William H. Reed in The Master Musicians: Elgar

The British composer Edward Elgar relished phonetic spellings, wordplays, and anagrams. One notable example is the title “Craeg Lae” which he imparted to his Malvern home where his family resided between 1899 and 1904. That strange 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, his wife Alice, and himself (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.

In honor of Elgar’s affinity for anagrams, the title of this article produces the acrostic anagrams “PEACE.” It also forms the telestich anagram “M MASS” in which the “M” symbolizes the initial “E” for Elgar prostrating itself before the word Mass, a central liturgical rite of his Roman Catholic faith.

Elgar’s enthusiasm for word games inevitably spilled over into the field of cryptography, the discipline of coding and decoding secret messages. His obsession with that esoteric art is granted an entire chapter in Craig P. Bauer’s treatise Unsolved! The bulk of its third chapter is devoted to Elgar’s brilliant decryption of an allegedly insoluble Nihilist cipher conveyed by John Holt Schooling in an April 1896 issue of The Pall Mall Magazine. A Nihilist cipher is a derivative of the Polybius square cipher. Elgar was so delighted with his solution that he mentions 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.

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 Elgar’s 1899 program note for the premiere of the Enigma Variations. It is an oft-cited passage that warrants revisiting as he lays the groundwork for his melodic riddle:

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

Elgar birthed 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 explained 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 absent tune is the cornerstone underlying the whole work, a subject that has provoked a prolonged debate about the correct solution.

Some contend there is no answer by insinuating Elgar concocted the notion of an absent principal Theme as an afterthought, practical joke, or marketing ploy. Others take Elgar at his word and accept the challenge that there is a famous melody lurking behind the Variations’ contrapuntal and modal facade. Regardless of what side is taken in this debate, conventional scholarship stalwartly insists that the answer cannot be verified because Elgar allegedly took his secret to the grave in February 1934. They insist Elgar never wrote down the solution for posterity to discover. However, this opinion glosses over or flagrantly ignores Elgar’s documented obsession with cryptography. This incontestable facet of Elgar’s personality profile raises the possibility that the solution is meticulously encoded within Enigma Variations’ orchestral score.

A decade of trawling that sublime symphonic masterpiece has netted over one hundred cryptograms in diverse forms that encode a set of mutually consistent and complementary solutions. Although that figure may seem extravagant, it is entirely consistent with Elgar’s lifelong obsession for ciphers. More significantly, the solutions give definitive answers to the core questions 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 box cipher embedded in its inaugural six bars cordoned off by an oddly placed double barline. Who is the secret friend and inspiration behind Variation XIII? Answer: Jesus Christ, the Savior of Elgar’s Roman Catholic faith. The cryptographic evidence supporting these discoveries is diverse, mutually consistent, and decisive.

The Enigma Theme Performance Directions Cipher

One exemplar of Elgar’s affinity for acrostic anagrams is ensconced within the Enigma Theme. Below is a facsimile of the Enigma Theme’s opening bars from the autograph score.

The first page of the Enigma Theme from the Autograph Score

In the first measure, Elgar penned seven discrete performance directions in Italian. Those seven words are listed below:

1. Andante.
2. legato
3. e
4. sostenuto
5. molto
6. espress.
7. Piano

The first letters of those seven performance directions are an acrostic anagram of “EE’s PSALM.” The order of the terms is reshuffled below to spell out this remarkable discovery.

1. e
2. espress.
3. Piano
4. sostenuto
5. Andante.
6. legato
7. molto

Elgar initialed this cryptogram with his dual Es observed in the first part of the decryption. He often signed his letters with his initials. His friends also referred to him as “E. E.” as shown by Dora Penny’s diary from 1899. “Psalm” in the singular refers to a particular chapter in the Book of Psalms. Which one could it be? Elgar’s cipher has precisely 46 characters, a figure that implicates Psalm 46. That chapter is known as “Luther’s Psalm” because it inspired Luther’s epic hymn Ein feste Burg. In the very first bar of the Enigma Theme, Elgar enciphered the answer to his melodic riddle with an elegant acrostic anagram that he stealthily initialed to authenticate the solution.

Akin to locks, ciphers are unlocked by keys. The Enigma Theme is set in the parallel keys of G minor and G major. The accidentals that define those key signatures are B-flat, E-flat, and F-sharp. Remarkably, those letters are an acrostic anagram of the initials for “Ein feste Burg.” The Enigma Theme’s performance directions in bar 1 encode “Psalm 46,” and the accidentals for its keys encode the initials “E.F.B.”

The Program Note Maeterlinck Phrase Cipher

With so many cryptograms expertly woven into the fabric of the Enigma Variations, it would be prudent to sift through Elgar’s original 1899 program note for prospective ciphers. There is a conspicuous phrase in his commentary that begins with the Belgian playwright’s name Maeterlinck followed by the French titles for two of his plays. This reference is anomalous because Elgar only gives the name of a stranger when describing a work dedicated to his friends. This Maeterlinck phrase also stands out because it is bookended by two long dashes. These punctuation marks add emphasis and are referred to as an “em dash.” This label for the long dash was standard before Elgar composed the Enigma Variations. “Em” is a homonym of the letter “M.” Consequently, the two em dashes surrounding the Maeterlinck phrase suggest the dual initials for Maurice Maeterlinck.

An analysis of the Maeterlicnk phrase revealed its unique first initials spell “Psalm” as a reverse acrostic: Maeterlinck’s ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept princesses’. More remarkable still, there are precisely 46 characters in that Maeterlinck phrase. That sum points to the 46th chapter of the Psalms. Elgar also subtly associates the numbers four and six in that phrase by distributing six apostrophes among four words. The decryption of the anomalous Maeterlinck phrase as “Psalm 46” parallels the Enigma Theme’s Performance Directions Cipher.

There is a second layer to this Maeterlinck Phrase Cipher. The German initials for the secret melody (E.F.B.) are ingeniously enciphered by the nationalities associated with Elgar’s program note. Elgar is an English composer whose explanatory note for the Enigma Variations is in his native language. In his remarks, he refers to the Belgian playwright Maeterlinck and the French titles of two plays. These three nationalities (English, French, and Belgian) are an acrostic anagram of the initials for the covert Theme: Ein feste Burg. In a remarkable display of cryptography, the phrase “Maeterlinck’s ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept Princesses’” efficiently enciphers Psalm 46 and the initials for the secret melody. These two overlapping ciphers provide a set of mutually reinforcing solutions in which one affirms and authenticates the other.

The Program Note Enigma Phrase Cipher

The Maeterlinck Phrase Cipher consists of six words set apart by long dashes. This phrase is anomalous as Elgar only furnishes a stranger’s name in a program note describing a work dedicated to friends. There is another unusual six-word phrase followed by a long dash that appears earlier in his commentary. It begins, “The Enigma I will not explain – . . .” Elgar contradicts this refusal by continuing to explain the Variations are based on an absent principal Theme that can be played over the set but is not heard. Like the Maeterlinck Phrase Cipher, the anomalous six-word phrase ends with an em dash. The phrase “The Enigma I will not explain” consists of six words with a total of 24 characters. These sums present two striking parallels with the covert Theme’s title because it also consists of six words with 24 characters: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. These elements of the Enigma phrase allude to the existence of another phrase cipher in Elgar’s program note.

A cryptanalysis of the Enigma phrase was conducted to detect if it employs the same encryption techniques found with the Maeterlinck Phrase Cipher. The first letters from the six-word Enigma phrase appear in order as “TEIwne.” The first three initials are capitalized followed by three more in lower case. The balanced distribution of three capitalized and three lowercase letters suggests a coded form of Elgar’s initials as the glyph “3” is the mirror image of a capital cursive E. Two Es in this series of initials — the first capitalized and another lowercase — present another coded version of his initials. The first revealing anagram from this set of initials is “EIn,” the first word from the title of Ein feste Burg. Note that the first two letters are capitalized with the third in lower case. This pattern of capitalized and lowercase letters surfaces on the cover sheet, original final page, and the last page of the extended Finale of the autograph score. In all three places, Elgar’s abbreviated the month of February as “FEb”. Remarkably, this anomalous abbreviation is an anagram of the covert Theme’s initials. Consequently, the anagram “EIn” is organically linked to “FEb” based on this distinctive pattern of capitalized and lowercase letters.

“EFB” anagrams on the cover page of the Autograph Score 

“EFB” anagram on the last page of the autograph score

Setting aside the initials for “EIn” leaves “Twe,” an anagram of “weT.” Merriam-Webster defines wet as “covered or soaked with water…” There is only one place in the Enigma Variations where Elgar openly depicts water: Variation XIII. In that movement, he cites melodic incipits from Felix Mendelssohn’s overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage to portray a calm sea. Like the title of the covert Theme, the overture’s original title is in German (Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt). These Mendelsohn quotations are anomalous because they originate from a seemingly extraneous work unrelated to the Enigma Theme. This sonic portrayal of water presents a clever wordplay as water is a solution. As an aficionado of wordplay, Elgar’s aquatic quotations subtly hint at a solution lurking beneath the surface of the Mendelssohn fragments.

Do the Mendelssohn quotations conceal ciphers? Extensive cryptanalysis confirms they harbor a diverse array of cryptograms that encode the secret melody’s initials, title, and distinctive ending phrase. Some ciphers also supply answers about the identity of Elgar’s secret friend who is the mysterious dedicatee of Variation XIII. A sampling of these cryptograms with links to their solutions are provided below:

1. Mendelssohn Fragments Scale Degrees Cipher
2. Mendelssohn Clarinet Solo Nominal Notes Cipher
3. Rehearsal 55 Clarinet Solo Cipher
4. Variation XIII Clarinet Key Signature Cipher
5. Mendelssohn Keynotes Cipher
6. Music Anagram Cipher
7. Mendelssohn Fragments Melodic Intervals Cipher
8. Mendelssohn Fragments Major Keys Cipher
9. Mendelssohn Fragments Clefs Cipher
10. Mendelssohn Quotations Accidentals Cipher
11. Mendelssohn Quotations Elimination Cipher
12. Mendelssohn Fragments Solo Passages Cipher
13. Mendelssohn Quotations Polybius Box Cipher

The partial decryption “wet” from the Enigma Phrase Program Note Cipher robustly implies the solution to the Variations is hidden within Elgar’s marine quotations. Trawling those melodic fragments netted a substantial hual of cryptograms that verify the authenticity and accuracy of this “wet” decryption. Martin Luther was inspired by Psalm 46 to compose Ein feste Burg, a chapter that mentions the sea in its opening verses. Psalm 46:1-3 reads:

God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

It is equally feasible to rearrange the initials “TEIwne” as the anagram “TwIn Ee.” The expression “Twin EE” is an apt characterization of Elgar’s initials (EE). It is also an accurate description of the first initials for the Enigma Theme and its covert melody, Ein feste Burg. Although these two melodies are outwardly dissimilar, they are like fraternal twins as they share a unique contrapuntal fusion.

In less frequent cases, the last letters from words may also form an anagram, a type known as a telestich. The last letters from each word of the phrase “The Enigma I will not explain . . .” are “eaIltn.” As there is only one letter in “I,” it counts as both the first and final letter in this analysis. When treated as a telestich anagram, these last letters may be reshuffled as “latIne.” This arrangement may be read as “Latin E.” The “E” may be confidently interpreted as Elgar’s initial as he sometimes signed his correspondence with “E.” His wife also routinely identified him in her diaries with a solitary capital E. Alternatively, the last initials “eaIltn” may be reorganized as “latIne.” The Latin adverb Latine means “in Latin.” This ancillary decryption is a virtual twin to “Latin E.”

Elgar was born, raised, and educated as a Roman Catholic. During his formative years, he studied Latin at three Roman Catholic schools and regularly attended Latin Mass. Some of his earliest choral works are set in that language. In all, Elgar composed fifteen Latin Motets with three forming his Op. 2: Ave Verum (Jesu, Word of God Incarnate), Ave Maria, and Ave Maris Stella. Elgar wrote Ave Maria and Ave Maris Stella during his tenure as organist at St. George’s Church in Worcester. He arranged Ave Verum in 1902 from music prepared for William Allen’s funeral. These Latin works furnish gargantuan clues regarding the identity of Elgar’s secret friend depicted in Variation XIII. The decryption of a musical Polybius cipher in the Enigma Theme unveiled a Latin expression in bars 1-2.

Conclusion

This investigation identified two anomalous phrases from Elgar’s commentary cited in the original program note for the June 1899 premiere of the Enigma Variations. These phrases consist of six words and are set apart by long dashes. The first is “The Enigma I will not explain — . . .” This phrase possesses six words and 24 letters, the very same sums associated with Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. The Enigma Phrase Cipher encodes the acrostic anagrams Ein, Wet, Twin EE, and the telestich anagrams Latin E and Latine. The second phrase is “. . . Maeterlinck’s ‘L’Intruse’ and ‘Les sept princesses’ — ”. This phrase has 46 characters and encodes a reverse acrostic of Psalm. The solutions to these 1899 program note phrase ciphers furnish substantive clues regarding the covert Theme, the location of other cryptograms in the orchestral score, and the identity of Elgar's secret friend memorialized in Variation XIII. 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