Elgar's Variation XII Optional Ending Initials Ciphers

BASIL G. Nevinson, an amateur cello player of distinction and the associate of H. D. S.-P. and the writer (violin) in performances of many trios—a serious and devoted friend. The variation is a tribute to a very dear friend whose scientific and artistic attainments, and the whole-hearted way they were put at the disposal of his friends, particularly endeared him to the writer.

Edward Elgar in My Friends Pictured Within

Elgar the Cryptographist

The English composer Edward Elgar was a self-taught expert in cryptography, the science of coding and decoding secret messages. His obsession with that esoteric discipline merits an entire chapter in Craig P. Bauer’s book Unsolved! Bauer devotes most of the third chapter to Elgar’s meticulous decryption of an allegedly insoluble Nihilist cipher by John Holt Schooling from the April 1896 issue of The Pall Mall Magazine. Elgar was so gratified by his solution that he specifically mentions it in his first biography published in 1905 by Robert J. Buckley. Elgar painted his solution in black paint on a wooden box, an appropriate medium as the Nihilist cipher is based on a Polybius square which is also known as a box cipher.

Elgar summarizes his comprehensive decryption on a set of nine index cards. On the sixth card, he relates the task of cracking the cipher to “. . . working (in the dark).” His use of the word dark as a synonym of cipher is significant as he employs that same language in the original 1899 program note to describe the Enigma Theme. It is an oft-cited passage that warrants revisiting because Elgar lays the groundwork for his three-part 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.

A compulsion for cryptography is a reigning pillar of Elgar’s psychological profile. Over a decade of analyzing the Enigma Variations netted over one hundred cryptograms in multiple 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 importantly, the solutions give concrete 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 the German reformer Martin Luther. What is the “dark saying” hiding within the Enigma Theme? Answer: A musical Polybius cipher in the opening six bars. 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. Such a vast cache of cryptograms verifies that the Enigma Variations is Elgar’s musical homage to cryptography.

A recurring feature of some of Elgar’s ciphers is their proximity to double barlines, particularly those near the beginning or end of a variation. A double bar typically indicates the end of a movement or section, making the insertion of a double barline at the end of bar 6 in the Enigma Theme rather conspicuous. Encased within those opening six bars is a cornucopia of cryptograms, most notably the Psalm 46, Locks, and Polybius ciphers. Based on this pattern, a double barline located just two bars into Variation XII suggests the presence of ciphers. A meticulous study of these opening two bars uncovered a nexus of cryptograms. One of the most remarkable is constructed from performance directions assigned to the cello solo in bar 465 that encode the acrostic anagram “E’s Psalm.” With E as the initial for Elgar, the acrostic anagram may be read as “Elgar’s Psalm.” The first two digits of bar 465 implicate Psalm 46, the scriptural catalyst for Ein feste Burg.

The acrostic anagram “E’s Psalm” in bar 465 is virtually identical to another in the first bar of the Enigma Theme that enciphers “EE’s Psalm.” EE are the initials for Edward Elgar. This other acrostic anagram obtained from seven performance directions uses 46 characters. That precise sum implicates Psalm 46.

The notes from the cello solo’s second phrase in bars 466 and 492 are A, B-fat, A, and C. Remarkably, those four note letters furnish in order the ABA’C structure of the Enigma Theme. Section A is bars 1-6. Section B in bars 7-10. Section A’ is bars 11-17. Section C is the bridge passage in bars 18-19. 

The Enigma Theme’s structure is significant because it divulges a crucial trait of Elar’s unusual contrapuntal treatment of Ein feste Burg. The sequence “ABAC” is the phonetic equivalent of aback, a term defined by Merriam-Webster as “backward” and “by surprise.” The ABA’C structure of the Enigma Theme hints at Elgar’s surprising backward mapping of Ein feste Burg “through and over” the Enigma Theme as a retrograde counterpoint.

A retrograde mapping satisfies both definitions of aback as “backward” and “by surprise.” Retrograde motion is the rarest form of counterpoint and is strenuous to construct and detect. As Kent Kennan explains on page 133 of the third edition of his textbook Counterpoint:

Retrograde motion (cancrizans) is rare in tonal music. Not only is it difficult to write, but the average ear has trouble in recognizing a melodic line when it is played backwards; consequently the point of the device tends to be lost.

The opposing directionality of the Enigma Theme and its much older contrapuntal antecedent may have triggered Elgar’s recollection of an unusual dance program he attended in Leipzig in early 1883. In a letter to August Jaeger written sixteen years later on February 4, 1899, he recounts that unusual experience:

I saw two dancers . . . came down the stage in antique dress dancing a gavotte. When they reached the footlights they suddenly turned around & appeared to be two very young & modern people & danced a gay & lively measure: they had come down the stage backwards, & danced away with their (modern) faces towards us—when they reached the back of the stage they suddenly turned around & the old, decrepit couple danced gingerly to the old tune.

The timing of Elgar’s letter recalling that bemusing dance routine is remarkable because he began orchestrating the Enigma Variations the very next day on February 5 and completed the orchestration two weeks later on February 19, 1899. The dancers portrayed an elderly couple by descending the stage backward and turning around to face the audience to abruptly become a young couple. The Enigma Theme was then a young melody, and Ein feste Burg was much older dating back 370 years to around 1529. Akin to the young couple, the Enigma Theme proceeds forward. Like the old couple, Ein feste Burg moves backwards. In bars 1-6 and 11-16, the Enigma Theme’s palindromic structure alternates between a rhythm played forward (two eighth notes and two quarter notes) and backward (two quarter notes and two eighth notes). This rhythmic see-saw affirms of sense of directionality by moving forward and backward.

Variation XII Optional Ending Initials Ciphers

Variation XII (B. G. N.) is dedicated to Basil G. Nevison, an amateur cellist who performed in trios with Elgar (violin) and Hew David Stuart Powell (piano), the friend sketched in Variation II (H. D. S-P.). The first two measures of Variation XII are sectioned off by a double bar at the terminus of bar 466. In these opening two bars, the principal cellist performs an introductory solo with a sparse accompaniment played by the viola and cello sections. Double barlines in the Enigma Variations often serve as signposts for ciphers. As mentioned earlier, prior research discovered that these opening two bars encode references to the covert Theme and its scriptural inspiration.

The cello solo with two descending sevenths is reprised in bars 491-492 followed by a second double barline and an optional ending bar when this movement is performed separately. Variation XII is the only movement with an alternative ending that is usually omitted as it is routinely followed without interruption by Variation XIII. Like the first double barline, this second one at the end of bar 492 suggests the presence of cryptograms.

Three black hexagrammic asterisks are dispersed at the end of the orchestral score of Variation XII. The first appears at the bottom of bar 491 followed by the directive, “This bar should be omitted except when Var. XII is played separately.” The accompanying German translation below bars 489-491 is flagged by an eight-pointed asterisk and reads, “Dieser Takt wird nur im Falle einer Separat Aufführung dieser Var. XII gespielt.” The first word from the covert Theme’s title is subtly divulged by the first three letters of einer, the seventh word in the German translation. The remaining two hexagrammic asterisks are in bar 492b which comprise the optional ending. The sum of three hexagrammic asterisks at the end of Variation XII is intriguing because the title of the next movement also consists of three hexagrammic asterisks.

The optional ending in bar 492b has in the uppermost principal flute staff a horizontal bracket, a starry asterisk, a fermata above a semibreve rest, a double bar line, and an end barline. Three of those elements—end bar line, fermata, and bracket—generate the acrostic anagram “EFB”. Those three letters are the initials of Ein feste Burg, the covert principal Theme of the Enigma Variations.

Those same three elements in bar 492b of the first violin staff encipher a second “EFB” acrostic anagram. In all, the optional ending bar of Variation XII encodes two iterations of “EFB” precisely where the asterisks are positioned.

The uppermost starry asterisk in bar 492b of the principal flute staff is preceded by “attacca” and is followed by a semibreve rest. The first letters of these elements—attacca, star, and semibreve rest—generate the acrostic anagram “ASS.” The initials “ASS” is an acronym of two English translations of Ein feste Burg as A Safe Stronghold and A Stronghold Sure. Thomas Carlyle published his translation A Safe Stronghold in 1831. Novello published Bach’s sacred cantata Ein feste Burg BWV 80 in 1876 using the translation A Stronghold Sure by Reverend Doctor John Troutbeck.

An attacca, star, and semibreve in bar 492b of the first violin staff encipher a second acrostic anagram of “ASS.”

In an October 24, 1898 letter to Jaeger, Elgar uses the plural form of ass to describe his friends’ imagined attempts at composing variants of the Enigma Theme. This missive was penned three days after Elgar first performed the Enigma Theme on the piano for his wife Alice. Elgar explains in his letter to Jaeger the creative genesis of the Enigma Variations:

Since I’ve been back I have sketched a set of Variations (orkestry) on an original theme: the Variations have amused me because I’ve labelled ’em with the nicknames of my particular friends–you are Nimrod. That is to say I’ve written the variations each one to represent the mood of the ‘party’–I’ve liked to imagine the ‘party’ writing the var: him (or her) self & have written what I think they wd. have written–if they were asses enough to compose – it’s a quaint idee & the result is amusing to those behind the scenes & won’t affect the hearer who ‘nose nuffin’. What think you?

This use of the word ass in connection with the Enigma Variations is a superb example of Elgar’s knack for wordplay because two English translations of Ein feste Burg generate the acronym “A. S. S.”

A third set of initials is encoded in bar 492b by the asterisk, fermata, and semibreve rest. These three items generate the acrostic anagram “AFS,” the acronym for “A Fortress Sure”, the title of an 1882 English translation of Ein feste Burg by the Anglican hymnist Godfrey Thring. The first “AFS” is encoded by the asterisk, fermata, and semibreve rest in bar 492b of the principal flute staff.

A second “AFS” is encoded by the asterisk, semibreve rest, and fermata in bar 492b of the first violin staff.

Thring’s “A Fortress Sure” is included in the 1886 book The Congregational Psalmist Hymnal published in London.

This analysis showed how the optional ending of Variation XII encodes three pairs of initials associated with four different titles of the covert Theme. The first is “EFB” encoded twice as an acrostic anagram in the principal flute and first violin staves by the end bar, bracket, and fermata. “EFB” is the acronym of Luther’s original German title Ein feste Burg. The second set of initials “ASS” is encoded twice in the principal flute and first violin staves by attacca, a starlike asterisk, and semibreve. “ASS” is the acronym for the English translations A Safe Stronghold by Carlyle and A Stronghold Sure by Troutbeck. The encoding of “ASS” at the rear end of Variation XII is a double-cheeked entendre. The third set of initials “AFS” is encoded twice in the principal flute and first violin staves by the asterisk, fermata, and semibreve rest. “AFS” is the acronym for Thring’s English translation A Fortress Sure

The sums of initials enciphered for the hidden melody in the optional ending bar are significant because they revolve around the numbers three, four, and six. There are six sets of three-letter initials for the covert Theme associated with four different renderings of the title. The numbers four and six may be combined to generate 46, the chapter of the Psalms that inspired Luther to compose Ein feste Burg. The merger of the integers three and six produces 36, the opus number of the Enigma Variations. An emphasis on the number six resonates with a six-by-six checkerboard key for a musical Polybius cipher embedded in bars 1-6 of the Enigma Theme. This Polybius key has 36 cells containing fifteen containing plaintext letters, totals corresponding to the Opus number and sum of the movements, respectively.

The numbers six and 36 are emphasized by another six-by-six checkerboard key for a second musical Polybius cipher in the Mendelssohn quotations of Variation XIII. In this key, three rows have plaintext letters in three contiguous cells followed or preceded by three null or blank cells. There are also three rows with six null cells. It is telling that these empty cells are grouped in three threes and three sixes. Two threes may be combined to generate the mirror image (33) of Elgar’s initials consisting of two capital cursive Es with rounded corners. The fusion of the numerals 3 and 6 generates the opus number 36. Even the blank cells in Elgar’s Polybius key convey information relevant to his Enigma Variations.

The encoding of the initials for Ein feste Burg in bar 492b is accompanied by coded allusions to Luther’s initial. The bracket above that optional ending bar is conspicuous because it mirrors two horizontal capital Ls fused at the top. One L is rotated 90 degrees to the right to form the left side of the bracket, and the second is rotated 90 degrees to the left and inverted. Reorienting that bar vertically allows viewing the bracket more readily as the merger of two L glyphs. L is the initial for Luther, the composer of Ein feste Burg. The reorientation of the L glyphs in this manner to resemble something else is reminiscent of how Elgar rotated the letter E in his Dorabella cipher to resemble the letters M and W and the numeral 3.

Like the bracket above the optional ending bar in Variation XII, Elgar places a bracket to the right of the start and end dates of the orchestration on the autograph score’s title page. This bracket on the cover is constructed from two capital Ls divided by a small notch. The uppermost L is upside down and backward, and the lower L is upright but facing backward. These backward-facing Ls subtly hint at Elgar’s contrapuntal mapping of Luther’s Ein feste Burg in retrograde above the Enigma Theme. The squared-off area on the cover page has two abbreviations of February as “FEb”, an anagram of “EFB.” The tilted square on the title page harbors two stealthy capital Ls accompanied by two coded forms of “EFB” that encipher the initials of Luther and his greatest hymn Ein feste Burg

Bottom of the title page from the Enigma Variations (autograph score)

The brackets over the optional ending of Variation XII transparently furnish four glyphs of the capital letter L, the initial of the composer of the hidden melody. This conclusion is supported by the asterisks accompanying the brackets because Luther wrote a defense of his Ninety-Five Theses and gave it the title Asterisks. On the earliest surviving short score sketch of Variation XIII, Elgar titled it in blue pencil with three asterisks and a capital L. The cryptic title of three asterisks hints at a title by Luther whose initial is writ large in blue pencil. On later sketches, Elgar appended “ML” to the solitary L. It is not a coincidence that “ML” are the initials for Martin Luther.

Variation XIII short score sketch

Luther designed a personal seal in 1530 that uses the color blue. His circular emblem is bordered by a gold ring that encloses a blue field around a large five-petaled white rose with five green leaves. At the center of the rose is a red heart with a black cross. Luther explained the symbolism of his seal in a July 1530 letter to Lazarus Spengler. This seal is also called the Luther rose due to its prominent floral symbolism. The eight-pointed asterisk below bar 489 is also floral in appearance.

Luther’s seal

Elgar was fond of initialing or signing various cryptograms in the Enigma Variations, and those ensconced in the optional ending bar of Variations XII are no exception. The double bar and end bar lines furnish a reverse acrostic of “ED,” a short form of Edward. The alternate ending bar has five semibreves or whole notes: Two Gs, Two Ds, and one B-flat. The violas play G a perfect fourth above D. The solo cello plays B-flat a minor third above the G in the viola staff. The cello section plays D a perfect fifth over G. When converted into its corresponding letter of the alphabet using a number-to-letter key (1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, etc.), the sum of five whole notes in bar 492b produces E. The letter E is the initial for Elgar and Enigma. The intervals of the double stops in the viola and cello section staves are a perfect fourth and a perfect fifth. Transcribing those intervals into their corresponding letters yields the plaintext D and E. Those two letters may be combined to spell Ed. Based on this analysis, the optional ending bar enciphers two iterations of Elgar’s forename as Ed, and the initial E.

The optional ending bar encodes three sets of three initials for the covert Theme (EFB, ASS, and AFS) and two single initials (L and E) for Luther and Elgar. Five discrete sets of initials hint at Elgar’s initial E, the fifth letter of the alphabet. Why would Elgar encode those particular initials in the optional ending bar of Variation XII? His fascination with anagrams leads to a credible explanation. When treated as an anagram, those five sets of initials may be reshuffled to form the phrase “Baffles asses.”

Merriam-Webster defines the verb baffle as “to defeat or check (someone) by confusing or puzzling: to confuse or frustrate completely: disconcert.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines baffle as “to cause someone to be completely unable to understand or explain something.” These definitions of baffle complement the meaning of enigma as “something that is mysterious and seems impossible to understand completely.” It was previously mentioned that in a letter to Jaeger written in late October 1898, Elgar employs the phrase “asses enough to compose” to characterize his friends’ imagined attempts at writing their respective variations. Elgar’s use of the word ass is a clever wordplay on two English translations of the hidden melody’s title that form the acronym A. S. S. The anagram “Baffles asses” is an apt description of how the covert Theme confounds Elgar’s friends who only manage to vary the exterior original Theme while struggling in vain to unmask its interior melodic undercarriage.

Summation

A cryptanalysis of the optional ending for Variation XII (B. G. N.) uncovered six coded references to three different acronyms for four versions of the covert Theme’s title. Two are given in German as “EFB” (Ein feste Burg). Two are presented in English as “ASS” (A Safe Stronghold and A Stronghold Sure). Two more are framed in English as “AFS” (A Fortress Sure). Luther’s initial “L” is encoded twice by the ends of the L-shaped brackets in the optional ending bar. The initial for Elgar and Enigma is encoded by five whole notes in bar 492b using a number-to-letter key (5 = E).  These five discrete sets of initials (EFB, ASS, AFS, L, and E) point to the fifth letter of the alphabet, the initial E for Elgar and Enigma. This profusion of initials for the covert Theme, its composer Luther, and Elgar comports with most of the titles in the Enigma Variations which also consist of initials.

The breakdown of these enciphered acronyms for the hidden melody in Variation XII’s optional ending bar emphasizes the numbers three, four, and six. There are three pairs of three-letter initials for a total of six acronyms associated with four different titles of the covert Theme. Pairing three and three together (33) generates the mirror image of Elgar’s initials of two capital cursive Es. Uniting three with six (36) yields the opus number of the Enigma Variations. Blending four with six (46) produces the chapter from the Psalms known as “Luther’s Psalm” that served as the scriptural catalyst for Ein feste Burg.

This analysis also showed how the optional ending bar encodes three sets of three-letter initials for the covert Theme (EFB, ASS, and AFS), and two single initials (L and E) for Luther and Elgar. These five discrete sets of initials yield the anagram “Baffles asses.” The verb baffle means to totally bewilder or perplex, a definition that echoes the meaning of enigma. In an October 1898 letter, Elgar likened his friends to “asses” when describing their imagined attempts at composing the Enigma Variations. The decryption “Baffles asses” synchronizes with Elgar’s account of the creative genesis of the Enigma Variations and his audience who “nose nuffin.”

Some cryptograms in the Enigma Variations bear the composer’s initials, forename, or surname. The Optional Ending Initials Ciphers in Variation XII continue this pattern as it is tagged by his initials and two coded spellings of his forename Ed. The encoding of three pairs of three-letter acronyms furnishes two threes (33), the mirror image of Elgar’s initials. The double bar line and end bar line that encloses the optional ending bar spell Ed as a reverse acrostic. The intervals of a perfect fourth and perfect fifth in the optional ending’s G minor triad encode Ed using a number-to-letter key (4 = D, 5 = E). These two coded references to Elgar’s forename are a stealth form of his signature, an insight affirmed by the title of Elgar’s musical self-portrait in Variation XIV (E. D. U.) which begins with those identical two letters. Elgar initialed and autographed his optional ending ciphers as an internal form of authentication.

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