When there is an original sound in the world, it makes a hundred echoes.
Variation XI is dedicated to George Robertson Sinclair (1863–1917). He served as organist at Truro Cathedral from 1880 to 1889, and as organist of Hereford Cathedral from 1889 until his death in 1917. During the 1890s, he performed chamber music at the Elgar residence with the Fitton sisters, Basil Nevinson, Hew Steuart Powell, and Winifred Norbury. Elgar frequently visited the Sinclair home and composed musical fragments in the visitor book. Their enduring friendship is further memorialized by the works Elgar dedicated to Sinclair: the Te Deum and Benedictus Op. 34 (1897), Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 Op. 39 (1907), and A Christmas Greeting Op. 52 (1909).
Although Variation XI bears Sinclair’s initials, Elgar confided that its opening bars have nothing to do with organs or cathedrals. The portrait instead captures Sinclair’s energetic personality and formidable organ pedaling by way of his “bulldog” Dan’s escapade, tumbling down the steep bank of the River Wye, paddling upstream to find a landing place, and letting out a rejoicing bark on reaching dry ground. In the August 2020 edition of The Elgar Society Journal, Arthur Reynolds confirms that Sinclair’s dog was a bullmastiff, a breed created by crossing an English Bulldog with an English Mastiff. The shared musical world of Elgar and Sinclair naturally embraced Johann Sebastian Bach, a composer whom Elgar deeply admired and arranged. There is a delightful irony in discovering the king of chorales concealed within the portrait of a cathedral organist, for no instrument is more intimately allied with Luther’s hymnody than the organ.
 |
| From My Friends Pictured Within by Edward Elgar |
In his 1899 program note for the premiere of the Enigma Variations, Elgar disclosed that a larger principal theme “goes” through and over the whole set but is not played. Consistent with that disclosure, Martin Luther's celebrated hymn Ein feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress) plays through and over this boisterous Allegro di molto, sounding above Elgar’s churning moto perpetuo figuration as shown in the short score reduction below. An audiovisual demonstration of this contrapuntal mapping verifies the efficacy of this melodic solution, with Ein feste Burg played by trumpet as the movement is performed on piano.
The original phrase structure of Luther’s chorale is ABABCDEFB. The version observed in this contrapuntal mapping presents the expanded phrase structure ABABCDEFB ABAB, a thirteen-phrase iteration that states the complete canonical nine-phrase sequence in correct order, extended by a twofold reprise of the opening phrase pair. The opening ABAB phrase sequence is in G minor. Phrases C and D are in A major, and phrases E and F are in A minor. Phrases BAB return to G minor. The final phrase A is in D major, and the last phrase B is in D minor. There is an elegant symmetry to this phrase sequence, which is bookended at its beginning and end by ABAB. The central phrases unfold in augmentation, their sustained whole notes gliding serenely above the frenetic torrents of Elgar’s accompaniment. This freer treatment of the source melody’s phrase architecture is entirely consistent with Elgar’s methods observed elsewhere in the set. By varying the hymn’s phrase structure from movement to movement, Elgar camouflages the presence of the covert principal theme, ensuring that no single template could betray the hidden counterpoint.
The phrases of Ein feste Burg mapped over Variation XI originate from three contrasting versions of the hymn to form a tribrid melody, a pattern established elsewhere across the Enigma Theme and Variations I–IX. Phrases A, B, C, E, and F mirror Bach’s rendering in the final chorale (“Das Wort sie sollen lassen stahn”) from his Cantata BWV 80, with the caveat that Phrase E is a transposition of Phrase F a third higher. Phrase D follows the pattern of Luther’s original version, which Bach faithfully preserved in his rendering, and which Mendelssohn likewise retained. Phrases C and D also reflect Mendelssohn's adaptation from the Finale of the Reformation Symphony, whose melodic contour aligns with Bach’s. The sequence closes with a final statement of Phrase A in D major followed by Phrase B in D minor. Ecclesiastes 4:12 declares that a threefold cord is not easily broken; and so it is with this tribrid theme, woven from the distinct but harmonious contributions of Luther, Bach, and Mendelssohn. Consult the following exhibit to easily compare phrases from all three versions of Ein feste Burg.
All of the phrases from Ein feste Burg mapped above Variation XI are traceable to Bach’s distinctive rendering. This sourcing resonates with the dedicatee’s own musical sympathies, as Sinclair evinced a professional and abiding interest in Bach’s music. As a church organist, he performed organ and choral works by Bach that formed a core part of the Anglican cathedral repertoire. As the director of eight Hereford Festivals from 1889 until his death, he modernized the repertoire while also programming major Bach pieces such as the Christmas Oratorio and the St. Matthew Passion. It is fitting that a variation honoring so devoted an interpreter of Bach should be dominated by Bach’s realization of Ein feste Burg through and over its measures.
The following short score reduction tracks the contrapuntal course of Ein feste Burg “through and over” Variation XI by cataloguing two categories of note matches between the hymn and the movement. A melodic conjunction is defined as any matching note between the hymn melody and the melody line of the variation. A harmonic conjunction is defined as a match between a melody note from the chorale and any non-melodic note sounding simultaneously in the score. Both melodic and harmonic conjunctions require matching notes to sound together. In the annotated short score, a melodic conjunction is represented by a diamond-shaped note head, and a harmonic conjunction by a triangle-shaped note head. Variation XI generates 81 melodic conjunctions and 167 harmonic conjunctions, for a combined total of 248. The totals of melodic and harmonic conjunctions serve as objective measures of the efficacy of this contrapuntal solution. A robust counterpoint will distribute these matches broadly across the movement rather than clustering them in isolated passages, and the mapping of Ein feste Burg through and over Variation XI achieves precisely that objective, sounding conjunctions in 31 of the variation’s 41 measures.
Various contrapuntal devices are evident in this mapping such as augmentation, diminution, parallel motion, oblique motion, similar motion, and contrary motion. The augmentation of the central phrases is especially prominent, their sustained whole notes gliding above Elgar’s moto perpetuo figuration. An effective counterpoint typically employs a fairly balanced mix of contrary and similar motion, something clearly evident throughout this mapping.
The following table identifies 81 melodic conjunctions between Ein feste Burg and Variation XI dispersed across 29 bars, covering 71% of the movement’s 41 measures and 81% of the 36 active measures during which the hymn is mapped. The 81 melodic conjunctions encompass nine note types with frequencies ranging between 2 and 24. Note D leads with 24 matches (30%), followed by G with 20 (25%), A with 12 (15%), F with 10 (12%), E♭ and E, tied at 4 each (5% apiece), B♭ with 3 (4%), and B and C, tied at 2 each (2% apiece). The three most frequent notes (D, G, and A) account for over two-thirds (69%) of all melodic conjunctions, reflecting the dominant (D) and tonic (G) of G minor, the home key of Variation XI, and the tonic (A) of the central phrases in A major and A minor. The prevalence of D also anticipates the mapping’s closing turn to D major and D minor.
The next table identifies 167 harmonic conjunctions between Ein feste Burg and Variation XI dispersed across 27 bars, covering 66% of the movement’s 41 measures and 75% of the 36 active measures during which the hymn is mapped. The 167 harmonic conjunctions encompass twelve note types with frequencies ranging between 1 and 33. The tonic G leads with 33 matches (20%), followed by A with 27 (16%), E♭ with 26 (16%), F with 25 (15%), D with 24 (14%), E with 15 (9%), C♯ with 5 (3%), B with 4 (2%), F♯ with 3 (2%), B♭ and G♯ tied at 2 apiece (1% each), and C with 1 (1%). The five most frequent notes (G, A, E♭, F, and D) account for over four-fifths (81%) of all harmonic conjunctions, reflecting the tonic (G) and dominant (D) of G minor, the home key of Variation XI, and the tonic (A) of the central phrases in A major and A minor. The elevated tallies of G, F, and E♭ owe much to the augmented whole notes sustained in bars 440 through 445, each of which generates twelve harmonic matches per measure against Elgar’s relentless accompanimental figuration.
There is a combined total of 248 note conjunctions (81 melodic + 167 harmonic), covering 31 of the movement's 41 measures for a 76% coverage rate, rising to 86% of the 36 active measures during which the hymn is mapped. Melodic conjunctions appear in 29 bars and harmonic conjunctions in 27, with the two categories coinciding in 25; where melodic conjunctions fall silent, harmonic conjunctions maintain the contrapuntal connection in bars 455 and 456. This demonstrates that Ein feste Burg engages the full harmonic texture of Variation XI rather than merely overlapping with its surface melody.
This comprehensive, note-by-note penetration — from the opening bar to the final cadence at measure 460, interrupted only briefly by one dormant measure (428) and the concluding four-bar codetta (461–464) — embodies the defining hallmark of a genuine contrapuntal mapping. Elgar’s own description of the hidden theme proceeding “through and over” the set is thus borne out with striking quantitative precision. Far from merely visiting Variation XI in passing, Ein feste Burg permeates it at nearly every structural level: melodically with the movement’s principal tune, harmonically with its inner voices, and formally with the thirteen-phrase arc (ABABCDEFB ABAB) from the first note to the last. Such a pervasive and structurally coherent alignment — encompassing 248 sequential note conjunctions across nine melodic and twelve harmonic note types — provides compelling, quantifiable evidence that Ein feste Burg forms a clear and convincing counterpoint to Variation XI.
The test Elgar set is straightforward but demanding. The covert principal theme must play “through and over” the set of Enigma Variations as a counterpoint. More than a century of purported solutions have failed to meet that requirement, for none has ever been successfully mapped contrapuntally above any complete movement. Ein feste Burg satisfies that test from the Enigma Theme to the Finale, replicating sequential note content phrase by phrase while preserving the hymn's phrase architecture. In consideration of that extraordinary feat, Ein feste Burg stands in a class all its own.
Variation XI (G. R. S.) rewards scrutiny on its biographical and musical levels, where Elgar constructed his musical self-portraiture and puzzles. He advised that the movement has nothing to do with organs or cathedrals, a disclaimer that protests too much, for the portrait honors a cathedral organist whose professional life was steeped in the repertoire of Bach and the traditions of sacred music. Sinclair was renowned for his pedal work, and the movement’s vigorous bass line pays homage to that skill, translating the organist’s nimble footwork into the orchestral register. The surface program of Dan’s plunge into the River Wye supplies a comic diversion, while beneath it courses the king of chorales in Bach’s realization — the very composer whose organ and choral works Sinclair performed at Hereford and programmed across eight festivals. The variation thus operates on two planes at once: an affectionate caricature above, and a concealed counterpoint below that aligns precisely with the dedicatee’s musical identity.
The musical evidence is exacting. The contrapuntal mapping of Ein feste Burg “through and over” Variation XI produces 81 melodic conjunctions and 167 harmonic conjunctions for a combined total of 248, spanning 31 of the movement's 41 measures for a coverage rate of 76%. These conjunctions form a nearly unbroken thread from the first bar to the final cadence, coalescing into sustained chains of seven consecutive measures (431–437), nine (440–448), and eleven (450–460). At no point in the mapping do more than two measures pass without a note match, and where the melody line falls silent, harmonic conjunctions sustain the connection. This is not a random overlap but a sustained architecture. The hymn’s canonical phrase structure (ABABCDEFB) unfolds intact across the movement in the elaborated sequence ABABCDEFB ABAB, preserving the correct order of all nine phrases before closing with a twofold reprise of the opening phrase pair — a symmetrical design bookended by ABAB and traversing G minor, A major, and A minor before returning to G minor and making the final turn to D major and D minor.
As with the Enigma Theme and Variations I through IX, the phrases mapped across Variation XI are tribrid in origin, drawn from three distinct historical settings of the hymn: Luther’s original, Bach's harmonization in Cantata BWV 80, and Mendelssohn’s treatment in the Reformation Symphony — woven together as a threefold cord not easily broken. That Bach’s rendering should dominate this particular mapping is fitting, for few dedicatees in the Enigma Variations were more devoted interpreters of Bach than the organist of Hereford Cathedral.
The biographical resonances converging on the dedicatee’s Bach credentials, the structural symmetry of the thirteen-phrase mapping, and the quantitative rigor of 248 note conjunctions distributed across a structurally intact phrase sequence supply overwhelming evidence that Ein feste Burg is the concealed counterpoint to Variation XI exactly as Elgar’s own accounts of the secret melody require. To learn more about the secrets of the Enigma Variations, read my free eBook Elgar’s Enigmas Exposed. Please support my original research by becoming a sponsor on Patreon.
No comments:
Post a Comment