“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”
The concluding movement of the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar is Variation XIV (E. D. U.) with the subtitle “Finale.” The initials come from the first three letters of “Eduard,” the German spelling of Elgar’s forename. His wife Alice coined the affectionate nickname “Edoo” based on this distinctly German rendering. The initials allude to the Germanic origin of Ein feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress), the covert principal Theme. Contained within these initials for Elgar’s musical self-portrait is a reference to an acronym found extensively in the private correspondence of General Charles Gordon, one of Elgar’s heros. The initials “D. U.” form the Latin equivalent “D. V.”, an apotropaic meaning “Deo Volente” (God willing). This was a conventional expression of piety or caution that appears in Elgar’s published correspondence. For example, in an April 1907 letter addressed to Alfred Littleton of Novello, Elgar wrote, “I am nearing home & am right glad to feel I shall (D. V.) soon be there.”
Elgar initially planned to compose a symphony in honor of General Gordon before abruptly redirecting his efforts to Enigma Variations. Gordon casts a long shadow over that symphonic masterpiece. Recognizing Gordon’s disdain for earthly honors and recognition, Elgar undoubtedly realized the best way to honor Gordon would be to pay musical homage to Jesus, Gordon’s God and Savior. To be consistent with the General’s fervent belief in and practice of hidden charity (the kind Jesus described in Matthew 6:1–3), Elgar honors the hidden God (Deus absconditus and le Dieu caché as described in Isaiah 45:15) within the Enigma Variations with a hidden theme, a hidden message, and a tribute to a hidden friend to all. When viewed from this perspective, the Enigma Variations is a multifaceted Christogram wrapped in cryptograms concealed within an enigma.
In his 1899 program note for the premiere of the Enigma Variations, Elgar stated that the absent principal theme “goes” through and over the entire set without ever being played. The following short score documents how Ein feste Burg plays “through and over” Variation XIV as a counterpoint. An audiovisual demonstration features Luther’s chorale on trumpet and Variation XIV on piano.
Measures in which Ein feste Burg could not be detected contrapuntally are classified as dormant. The chorale does not play in 48 bars: 569–574, 600–605, 618–623, 673–674, 703–710, 738–755, and 774–775. The sum of dormant bars corresponds to Psalm 48, a chapter that shares similar language to Psalm 46 that describes God as a fortress. Between 1910 and 1912, Elgar composed a setting of Psalm 48 as the anthem Great is the Lord, Op. 67. The chorale is dormant in 48 out of a total of 237 measures, representing just over 20% of the movement. The measure count excludes the pickup bar preceding the first full bar of the movement. As detailed in the following table, these dormant measures fall into seven groupings with discrete even sums of 2, 6, 8, and 18.
Following the premiere in June 1899, Elgar added 101 bars to Variation XIV, beginning at measure 680 and extending the movement to bar 780, for a total of 237 measures. Of the 48 measures in which Ein feste Burg is dormant, more than half (28) occur within this appended ending, compared to 20 in the original 1899 version. This concentration suggests Elgar grew less inclined to sustain the counterpoint as the Finale drew to its close, a treatment consistent with Variations II, III, IX, X, XI, and XII, where Elgar likewise interrupts or abandons the counterpoint before each movement’s ending.
The chorale’s phrase structure unfolds “through and over” Variation XIV in the following pattern: ABABAAAAAB ABCDEFB AB AAAAAB ABCDEF BABAB ABABBA B. Spaces between phrase letters denote sections where Ein feste Burg is dormant. This sequence consists of 43 phrase statements in which the hymn's complete canonical structure (ABABCDEFB) appears intact twice, framed throughout by extensive reprises of beginning (A) and ending (B) phrases. That emphasis on the beginning and ending phrases accords with Elgar’s own literary testament. After appending 101 measures to the Finale between 30 June and 20 July 1899, he inscribed at the conclusion of his new ending a passage from the poem “Elegiac Verse” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.” The emphasis on beginnings and endings is observed in the elaborated phrase structure, in which Phrase A (the beginning) and Phrase B (the ending) are often revisited. These repetitions of the opening and closing phrases further serve to conceal the counterpoint by departing from the canonical phrase order.
Elgar’s unique version of Ein feste Burg is a mosaic of phrases sourced from three contrasting versions of the hymn: Luther’s original 1529 setting, the final chorale from Bach’s Cantata BWV 80 Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott , and Mendelssohn's setting in the finale of his Reformation Symphony. Rather than favoring a single source throughout, Elgar’s mapping moves fluidly among all three, reflecting the same expansive, exploratory character that defines the finale as a whole. True to that expansiveness, the pattern of sourcing doubles back on itself repeatedly across the hymn’s 43 phrases, rather than proceeding in a simple, one-directional handoff from one version of the hymn to the next.
Bach’s version carries the melody through Phrases 1–12 (ABABAAAAAB AB), establishing it as the dominant voice from the outset. Phrase 13 (C) draws on both Bach and Mendelssohn together, and Phrase 14 (D) presents a striking convergence in which all three sources sound as one. Phrases 15 and 16 (EF) feature Mendelssohn alone, before Bach returns for an extended span in Phrases 17–27 (B AB AAAAAB AB) that carries the melody through the movement’s central restatements. Phrase 28 (C) revisits renderings by Bach and Mendelssohn. Phrase 29 (D) is a second restatement of versions by Luther, Bach, and Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn alone carries Phrase 30 (E). Bach then closes out the movement's long central span (Phrases 31–41: F BABAB ABABB), before Mendelssohn returns to carry the movement to its close at Phrases 42 and 43 (A B). In all, Bach’s version supplies 34 of the 43 phrases, a pattern consistent with Elgar’s own words in his 1904 authorized biography: “No man has a greater reverence for Bach than I.” Consult the following exhibit to easily compare phrases from all three versions of the chorale.
The following short score reduction tracks the contrapuntal course of Ein feste Burg “through and over” Variation XIV by cataloguing melodic and harmonic note conjunctions. A melodic conjunction is defined as any matching note between the hymn melody and the melody line of the movement. 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. Note conjunctions are indubitably consonant with Elgar’s approach to harmony and counterpoint. In the annotated short score, 323 melodic conjunctions are represented by diamond-shaped note heads, and 461 harmonic conjunctions by triangle-shaped note heads.
An assortment of standard contrapuntal devices are evident in this mapping, including augmentation, diminution, parallel motion, oblique motion, similar motion, contrary motion, and stretto. The rhythmic contours of Ein feste Burg are essentially dictated by the score of Variation XIV, so any attempt to castigate the mapping as an abuse of free rhythm would be misguided. As with any successful counterpoint, the degree of incidence between two contrapuntal voices should remain sufficiently low to assure the independence of each voice. In his 1899 program note, Elgar cautioned that “…the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture…” This technique is crucial when the composer is deliberately concealing a famous source melody.
The mapping’s statistics bear this out. Although 178 of the movement’s 189 active measures (94%) contain at least one conjunction, each point of contact is typically a single matching note rather than an extended doubling of the two lines, precisely the kind of “slightest texture” Elgar mentioned. Harmonic conjunctions (461) outnumber melodic ones (323), meaning the hidden hymn more often blends into the surrounding harmony than the surface melody. This same pattern holds at the level of individual measures. Harmonic conjunctions occur in 159 measures, compared to 109 measures containing melodic conjunctions (including the pickup bar) — a further safeguard of independence that allows the counterpoint to remain demonstrable without becoming conspicuous.
The following table identifies 323 melodic conjunctions between Ein feste Burg and Variation XIV dispersed across 109 bars (including the pickup bar), covering 46% of the movement’s 237 measures and 57% of the 189 active measures during which the hymn is mapped. The 323 melodic conjunctions encompass eleven note types with frequencies ranging between 1 and 88. The tonic G leads with 88 matches (27%), followed by D with 62 (19%) and E with 44 (14%); A follows with 39 (12%), B with 28 (9%), and F♯ with 23 (7%), trailed by D♯/E♭ with 11 (3%), B♭ and C tied at 10 apiece (3% each), F with 7 (2%), and C♯ with a single match (0.3%).
The next table identifies 461 harmonic conjunctions between Ein feste Burg and Variation XIV dispersed across 159 bars, covering 67% of the movement's 237 measures and 84% of the 189 active measures during which the hymn is mapped. The 461 harmonic conjunctions encompass ten note types with frequencies ranging between 2 and 166. The tonic G leads by a wide margin with 166 matches (36%), followed by D with 72 (16%) and E with 68 (15%); A follows with 44 (10%), C and F♯ tied at 30 apiece (7% each), B with 24 (5%), D♯/E♭ with 20 (4%), C♯ with 5 (1%), and G♯ with a single pair of matches (0.4%). The three most frequent notes (G, D, and E) account for nearly two-thirds (66%) of all harmonic conjunctions, reflecting the tonic and dominant of G major together with the submediant E — a distribution consistent with the tonic-centered harmonic language of the movement's home key.
There is a combined total of 784 note conjunctions (323 melodic + 461 harmonic), covering 178 of the movement’s 237 measures for a 75% coverage rate, rising to 94% of the 189 active measures during which the hymn is mapped. Melodic conjunctions appear in 109 bars (including the pickup bar) and harmonic conjunctions in 159, with the two categories coinciding in 89; where melodic conjunctions fall silent, harmonic conjunctions maintain the contrapuntal connection across the remaining 70 active bars. This demonstrates that Ein feste Burg engages the full harmonic texture of Variation XIV rather than merely overlapping with its surface melody.
This comprehensive, note-by-note penetration covering the opening pickup note to the final cadence, interrupted only by the 48 measures of dormancy detailed earlier, embodies the defining hallmark of a compelling contrapuntal mapping. Elgar’s description of the hidden theme proceeding “through and over” the set is borne out with striking quantitative precision. Far from merely visiting Variation XIV in passing, Ein feste Burg permeates it at nearly every structural level: melodically with the movement’s thematic material, harmonically with its other voices, and formally with the 43-phrase arc (ABABAAAAAB ABCDEFB AB AAAAAB ABCDEF BABAB ABABBA B). Such a pervasive and structurally coherent alignment — encompassing 784 sequential note conjunctions across eleven melodic and ten harmonic note types — provides compelling, quantifiable evidence that Ein feste Burg forms a clear and convincing counterpoint to Elgar’s musical self-portrait, Variation XIV.
The test Elgar set is straightforward but demanding. The hidden melody 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 canonical phrase architecture. In consideration of that extraordinary feat, Ein feste Burg stands in a class all its own.
Variation XIV closes the Enigma Variations and this fifteen-part study of Ein feste Burg as the covert principal Theme. As Elgar’s musical self-portrait, the Finale is where the stakes are highest. If the hidden hymn could not be shown to move “through and over” this movement with the same rigor demonstrated in the preceding fourteen movements, then the entire thesis would collapse. The quantitative, structural, and biographical evidence assembled here converges to make Variation XIV the most thoroughly saturated mapping in the series.
The numbers alone tell a compelling story. Across 784 total conjunctions (323 melodic, 461 harmonic), Ein feste Burg achieves a 94% coverage rate of 189 active measures, with harmonic conjunctions in particular threading through inner voices even where the melodic line falls silent. This is not superficial overlap. It is note-by-note penetration of the movement's musical fabric, exactly the kind of “slightest texture” connection Elgar advised listeners to expect. The coverage is pervasive enough to sustain a genuine counterpoint, yet subtle enough to have evaded detection for over a century.
The 48 measures in which the chorale falls dormant are themselves meaningful rather than incidental. Their total corresponds to Psalm 48 whose fortress imagery echoes Psalm 46, the chapter that inspired Luther to compose Ein feste Burg. Just over a decade after completing the Enigma Variations, Elgar set Psalm 48 to music as the anthem Great is the Lord. That more than half of these dormant measures (28 of 48) fall within the 101-bar ending Elgar appended after the 1899 premiere indicates that Elgar was less inclined to sustain the counterpoint as the Finale drew to its close — a pattern consistent with his treatment of endings elsewhere in the set.
That same appended ending carries its own literary signature. The chorale’s 43-phrase structure is framed by persistent reprises of its opening (A) and closing (B) phrases, divided by two presentations of the hymn’s complete canonical structure (ABABCDEFB). This emphasis on beginnings and endings resonates with the Longfellow inscription Elgar wrote at the close of the extended Finale, “Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.” The hymn’s phrase architecture and Elgar’s literary epigraph both capture the importance of beginnings and endings.
Elgar’s unique version of Ein feste Burg is a mosaic of identifiable phrases drawn from three versions: Luther’s original, Bach’s rendering in BWV 80 Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, and Mendelssohn’s adaptation in his Reformation Symphony. Bach’s version predominates, supplying 34 of the 43 phrases, a weighting that accords with Elgar’s own reverence for that contrapuntal master of the German School. The hymn’s canonical structure (ABABCDEFB) is presented twice within its 43 phrases, with the beginning (A) and ending (B) phrases appropriately receiving marked emphasis at the movement’s opening and close.
No other proposed solution to the Enigma Variations has ever been mapped contrapuntally through a complete movement, let alone across all fifteen. Ein feste Burg has met that test from the Enigma Theme to this Finale, and does so with overwhelming force in the very movement where Elgar depicts himself. The preponderance of the evidence assembled in the foregoing figures and tables demonstrates that Variation XIV is a clear and convincing counterpoint to Ein feste Burg. To learn more about the secrets behind the Enigma Variations, read my free eBook Elgar's Enigmas Exposed. Please support my original research by becoming a sponsor on Patreon.
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