Elgar's Enigma Theme Unmasked: Troyte Griffith’s Enigma “Solution” Refuted

“Can I have one guess? Is it God Save the King?”

In 1924, Troyte Griffith visited Edward Elgar at Napleton Grange in Kempsey. Griffith is the friend depicted in Variation VII. During that encounter, Troyte asked if he could have one guess concerning the hidden melody of the Enigma Variations. Elgar consented, then Troyte inquired, “Is it God Save the King?” “Of course not,” came the reply, “but it is extraordinary that no-one has found it.” That answer begs the question of why God Save the King still lingers in the literature as a viable theory. Wikipedia still lists this erroneous answer as a prospective melodic solution. Elgar was perfectly clear in dismissing that melody, so unless scholars are making him out to be a liar, God Save the King should be stricken from the lists. Yet like a bad cold, it lingers as a popular theory to this day.

Is it possible God Save the King could still be the hidden melody to the Enigma Variations? A credible case can only be made if it can be shown to effectively satisfy six conditions Elgar gave describing the relationship between the Enigma Variations and the covert principal Theme. Obtained directly from Elgar’s recorded words by multiple, independent, unimpeachable sources, those six conditions are:

The Enigma Theme is a counterpoint to the principal Theme.
The principal Theme is not heard.
The principal Theme is famous.
Fragments of the principal Theme are present in the Variations.
The principal Theme is a melody that can be played through and over the whole set of Variations including the entire Enigma Theme.
The Enigma Theme comprises measures 1 through 19.

Any theme that violates just one of those six conditions must be ruled out as invalid. The first and foremost test is to play a candidate melody “through and over” the Enigma Theme to assess whether there is credible evidence for both a contrapuntal and horizontal fit. Before attempting to do so it is first necessary to adapt a prospective melody to mirror the Enigma Theme’s shifts between the major and minor modes of G. These modulations are necessitated by the structure of the Enigma Theme which opens in G minor (measures 1-6), continues in G major (measures 7-10), returns to G minor (measure 11-16), cadences in G major (measure 17), then modulates back to G minor in the bridge leading to Variation I measures 18-19). Even when granting these generous accommodations to facilitate a contrapuntal mapping, God Save The King flunks the test.

God Save the King does not present a convincing counterpoint to the Enigma Theme. Strike one. That patriotic song concludes in measure 15, four measures short of the Enigma Theme's concluding cadence. Strike two. On top of these difficulties, it has never been shown how that popular anthem could possibly play “through and over” the remaining movements, a requirement Elgar specifically mentions in the original 1899 program note. Strike three. God Save the King is out of contention for the mysterious missing melody to the Enigma Variations.

A Mighty Fortress

The only theme that successfully satisfies all of Elgar’s conditions is Ein feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress) by the German Reformer Martin Luther. That well-known hymn successfully plays one complete cycle “through and over” the Enigma Theme, establishing an uncanny horizontal fit. A precise vertical alignment between the two melodies illustrates Elgar's unique treatment of Ein feste Burg in an augmented form as a retrograde counterpoint. This unconventional method accounts for the profound difficulty in detecting a contrapuntal fit because one typically plays the beginning of a prospective melody over the beginning of the Enigma Theme. Such a predictable approach produces a mismatch, throwing off researchers even when the right melody is assessed.

The case for Ein feste Burg as the covert principal Theme to the Enigma Variations is extensive and persuasive. Confirmation that Ein feste Burg is the hidden theme is given by a diverse range of music ciphers in the Enigma Theme and Variation XIII. Within the Enigma Theme is concealed a Music Box Cipher, Elgar’s “dark saying” linked to the Enigma mentioned in the original 1899 program note. Incredibly, Elgar did not take his secret to the grave, but rather enciphered the answer in the orchestral score. When discovered, the decrypted answer would remain unguessed just as Elgar prescribed. He even went so far as to encode the initials for the hidden melody in the Enigma Theme which modulates between the minor and major modes of G. The accidentals for those two keys are E-flat, F-sharp, and B-flat. Remarkably, the letters of those accidentals furnish the initials for Ein feste Burg.

The odd nickname for August Jaeger’s movement (Nimrod) is linked to the title A Mighty Fortress by one of Elgar’s favorite pastimes, wordplay. When he gave a copy of Longfellow’s novel Hyperion to the conductor Hans Richter following the premiere, Elgar literally gave away the answer. No wonder he suspected the solution would soon be found. Even the wrong date on the original score is a revealing clue since it falls on the anniversary of Luther’s death. According to a scale degrees cipher within the Mendelssohn fragments, the missing initials for Variation XIII (✡ ✡ ✡) are “EFB”, the initials for Ein feste Burg. The mapping of Ein feste Burg over Nimrod is so self-evident that the melodic solution to Elgar's Enigma Variations is as plain a pikestaff.

If he were alive today, Elgar's response to Troyte's conjecture would undoubtedly be, “I do not see that the tune you suggest fits in the least.” If the theme does not fit, then one cannot commit. To learn more about the secrets of the Enigma Variations, read my free eBook Elgar’s Enigmas Exposed. Like my heavenly Father’s gift of salvation and forgiveness, the price is free. Please help support and expand my original research by becoming a sponsor on Patreon.

Soli Yah Gloria