ANOTHER PIECE IN THE JIGSAW?

A retrospective survey of past attempts at solving the 'Enigma' and some further thoughts on Elgar's XIIIth Variation.

Ever since their first performance at St. James's Hall, under the baton of Hans Richter, Elgar's Variations on an Original Theme have provided an enduring mystery for the musically curious. In the programme note to the premiere on 19 June 1899, Elgar is quoted:

. . . The Enigma I will not explain - its 'dark saying' must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent 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.

The mystery caught the public's imagination, yet, as the popularity of the piece gained strength, Elgar became more and more reticent about discussing his reference to its 'dark saying'. Obviously, keeping everyone guessing made for good publicity and, at the age of forty-two, the Variations had succeeded in putting him firmly on the musical map. Had the enigma been explained too soon then Elgar, with his characteristic life-long capacity for self-doubt, may have feared that the work as a whole might also have faded from the public mind. Professionally, he had had a long and, at times, bitter struggle. Far better to let them still try to guess its secret. However, as the musical treasure-hunters persisted in their attempts to reveal the hidden meaning, did Elgar fear that they might also uncover more in the Variations than he had intended? Once under the spotlight was the situation becoming a little too hot to handle? Had he perhaps used the work as a kind of personal 'note-pad' onto which he had jotted, in his own private musical shorthand, remembrances of certain past details of his life? If these secrets had been woven into the fabric of the work did he fear that persistent digging and delving might uncover them? If this were the case it could explain his otherwise unaccountable touchiness - even, on occasions, rudeness - to some of those who tried to tackle him on the subject. There is no doubt that the work was to become something of a bete noire with which he was to have a bitter-sweet relationship that would ultimately haunt him for the rest of his life.

Over the intervening years this musical mystery tour has resulted in the appearance, from time to time, of attempts at probing its secret, often heralded by headlines proclaiming: "Elgar's Enigma: The Solution!", or "Solved: the riddle of the Enigma". The only problem is that, as no-one is aware of exactly what form the enigma takes, so the acceptance of any proposed 'solution' requires the approach of both an open mind and a certain amount of tolerance. Nevertheless a survey of some of these past attempts makes a fascinating starting-point to any study of the Enigma and so forms the subject of the first part of this article.

The original idea behind the work presents little difficulty: 'Of whom is each variation a musical portrait?' Of course, this musical parlour-game could only be played if the subjects of the Variations were known personally to the listener - a fact which caused a minor grumble from the critic from the Times following the first performance of the work. We can sympathise that he was probably not alone in that first-night audience in feeling somewhat left out of the secret. Indeed, apart from Elgar and his wife, it is unlikely that even the variationees themselves knew personally all of their fellow subjects. Yet this is now of little importance and paradoxically, almost a century later, it is probable that the distinctive laugh of Richard Penrose Arnold, the stammer of Dorabella and the gruff bark of Sinclair's bull-dog Dan have been 'heard' by more people than was ever the case in the subjects' own lifetimes.

When it came to trying to untangle the 'enigma' the problem was further complicated by the many different interpretations placed on the actual musical content of some of the variations. A good example of this is Variation VII ('Troyte'). The music was thought by friends of Elgar's to represent a set of nine-pins being bowled over, 'Nine-pin' being Troyte's nick-name due to the shape of his profile when viewed in silhouette. Troyte himself was of the opinion that the rumbustious nature of the piece depicted an occasion when he and Elgar were caught out in a hailstorm and had to run for shelter. The matter was not resolved until years later when Elgar described this variation as being "suggested by some maladroit essays to play the pianoforte; later the strong rhythm suggests the attempts of the instructor [Elgar himself] to make something like order out of chaos, and the final despairing 'slam' records that the effort proved to be vain." Another example of confusion is that of Variation XI (G.R.S.). George Robertson Sinclair was organist at Hereford Cathedral which led many listeners to believe that his variation was a musical sketch on his style of pedalling on the organ. But, as Elgar later explained, it was "nothing to do with organs or cathedrals, or, except remotely, with G.R.S. The first few bars were suggested by his great bulldog Dan (a well-known character) falling down the steep bank into the river Wye; his paddling upstream to find a landing place; and his rejoicing bark on landing. G.R.S. said 'Set that to music.' I did; here it is."

So much for musical detectives!

Those directly involved in the enigma are no longer alive, so they cannot be called upon to give their own account of the matter, nor to answer any questions which we might like to put to them. Therefore the evidence on which we have to base our investigations is, at best largely hearsay, and at worst greatly circumstantial. Nevertheless, if the problem is going to be tackled then a start has to be made somewhere - and this must be by a thorough examination of this evidence. Much of this material is probably already familiar to most keen Elgarians, but the present author makes no apology for going over some of this territory again, nor for repeating other existing sources concerning the Variations, especially where these have a relevance to some tying-up of loose ends which will be made later in this article where new evidence will be presented concerning the identity of the person behind the XIIIth Variation.

The legacy of clues that has been handed down concerning the Enigma in general comes from three principal sources:

(i) information attributed to Elgar himself,

(ii) ideas expressed during his lifetime by those who knew the composer personally and had spoken to him about it,

and, by far the most prolific,

(iii) the various theories that have been published by the generations of musical detectives who have taken up the challenge in more recent years.

Space does not permit more than the briefest mention of most of this material but the principal published sources have been summarised in the following list, which also gives the relevant references for readers wishing to make a full study for themselves of the points raised. The list is arranged chronologically according to the dates on which the information was published, not necessarily the order in which the various views were first expressed:

1905 R.J.Buckley. States 'the theme is a counterpoint on some well-known melody which is not heard' Edward Elgar Bodley Head.

1928 Edward Elgar. Elgar gives an account of the 'friends pictured within' (originally published to accompany a set of pianola rolls in which he describes the musical significance of each Variation). My Friends Pictured Within Novello.

1934 Richard Powell. Richard Powell, the husband of Dora Penny, gives Auld Lang Syne as the hidden melody and 'friendship' as the theme. Music & Letters, vol XV, July 1934 pp 203-208

1937 Dora Penny (Mrs Richard Powell). Publishes memoirs. Gives background to Variations but offers no opinions. Admits she is not convinced by her husband's solution (above). Edward Elgar: Memories of a Variation, 1st Edition. Oxford University Press.

1939 Ernest Newman. Considers the possibility of a 'leg-pull' and that there is no hidden melody. Suggests evidence of an abstract theme for the enigma such as 'love', 'friendship' etc. Gives possible link with Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici. Sunday Times. 16th April-7th May 1939 inclusive.

1939 Troyte Griffith. Account of visit to Elgar in 1924. Guesses at God Save the King and is told 'No, of course not, but it is so well known that it is extraordinary that no-one has found it.' Letter to Ernest Newman quoted in Sunday Times 30th April 1939

1947 Dora Penny. 2nd edition of Memoirs containing additional material and an extra chapter on the Variations. Edward Elgar: Memories of a Variation, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.

1947 Carice Elgar-Blake (Elgar's daughter). Letter to Dora Penny written in 1942 in which Carice Elgar-Blake states: 'We know there was a tune'. Quoted by Dora penny in the second edition of her book.

1953 Miscellaneous American suggestions. 'Una Bella Serenata' from Cosi fan Tutte, Bach's Agnus Dei, Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, Purcell's 'When I am Laid in Earth', and Sullivan's 'None shall part us from each other'. Saturday Review. Quoted by J.A. Westrup.

1955 Diana Mc Veagh. Shares Ernest Newman's views (1939) that the theme may represent 'friendship'. Also supports the link with Browne's Religio Medici. Edward Elgar: His Life and Music. Dent.

1956 Percy M. Young. Mentions 'Braut' and quotes Elgar's letter mentioning 'Helen' (see text). Letters of Edward Elgar, Geoffrey Bles.

1956 Ernest Newman. Debunks Lady Mary Lygon dedication of the XIIIth Variation. Reviews Percy Young's book (above) and infers, but does not specify, the identity of Variation XIII is to be found therein. (i.e. Helen Weaver). Sunday Times 18th November 1956

1959 Jerrold Northrop Moore. Suggests that the 'enigma' represents Elgar's 'search for self-discovery and self expression through his art'. Musical Review February 1959 pp 38-44.

1960 J.A. Westrup. Doubts that *** is Lady Mary Lygon. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association. 23rd April 1960 pp 79-97

1960 John Horton. Shows similarity between final cadence of Variation VI ('Ysobel') and the end of the Schumann Piano Quartet, op.47 Musical Times, August 1960. pp490-492

1968 Michael Kennedy. Supports dedication to Lady Mary Lygon but considers the possibility of a 'Leipzig girl' who is not identified. Portrait of Elgar, 1st edition. Oxford University Press.

1969 Roger Fiske. Gives account of meeting with Dora Penny in 1950's and her belief that Auld Lang Syne was the theme and that Elgar's denial of it had been a lie. Musical Times, November 1969 pp 1124-1126

1970 Eric Sams. Supports Auld Lang Syne and link with Religio Medici.Musical Times March 1970 pp 258-262

1971 Ian Parrott. Gives link with quotation from Vulgate version of I Corinthians xiii.12 - Videmus nunc speculum in aenigmate - 'For now we see through a glass darkly'. Elgar, from 'Master Musicians' Series. Dent.

1971 Geoffrey Poole. Links the Enigma firmly with Alice Elgar by means of a cypher derived from the letters of her name. Music and Musicians, August 1971 pp 26-29

1972 Rosa Burley. Claims to know the identity of *** (which is not Lady Mary Lygon) but does not name the lady concerned. This account was written in 1948 but not published until 1972. Edward Elgar: The Record of a Friendship. Barrie and Jenkins

1973 Ian Parrott. Suggests that variations were influenced by Bach and that Elgar's reference to 'Dan's rejoicing bark' (in his account - My Friends Pictured Within, was a play on words. Music and Letters, vol LIV 1973 pp57-60

1976 Theodore van Houten. Puts forward the idea of a 'multiple' nature to the enigma suggesting a that number of different 'clues' are concealed in the work (see text). Elgar Society Newsletter, January 1976 and Music Review May 1976

1977 Raymond Leppard. Shows the similarity between the Enigma theme and the opening of the Benedictus from C.V. Stanford's Requiem. The Times 20th August 1977

1979 Ben Kingdon. Suggests that the Variations are based on the Dies Irae. Elgar Society Journal May 1979

1982 Ulrik Skouenborg. Discusses the influence of Brahms' songs Vier ernste Gesånge, op. 121, one of which is a setting of I Corinthians xiii (as suggested by Ian Parrott in 1971). Music Review, vol 43 pp 161-168

1982 Michael Kennedy. Quotes Newman and Burley. Throws doubt on Lady Mary Lygon and suggests possibility rather than probability that *** may be Helen Weaver. Portrait of Elgar 2nd edition. Oxford University Press

1984 E. Wulstan Atkins. Claims that *** is Helen Weaver, who is also the soul enshrined in the Violin Concerto. The Elgar-Atkins Friendship. David and Charles

1984 Nicholas Reed. Rules out Helen Weaver and says Julia Worthington is *** and also the 'soul' of the Violin Concerto. Musical Times August 1984 pp 430-434

1984 Derek Hudson. Demonstrates the possibility of Auld Lang Syne being concealed throughout the variations - aspecially the 'revised' finale. Musical Times November 1984 pp 636-639

1986 K. Kemsey Bourne. Supports possibility of link with the Dies Irae. Elgar Society Journal September 1986

1987 Michael Kennedy. Repeats text of 2nd edition of his book and gives additional information on Helen Weaver. Portrait of Elgar 3rd edition. Oxford University Press

1988 Cora Weaver. Gives the full biography of Helen Weaver, the relationship with Elgar and her life in New Zealand. The 13th Enigma? Thames.

1991 Joseph Cooper. Illustrates that the 'enigma' theme may be based on part of Mozart's Prague Symphony. Idea supported by Jerrold Northrop Moore. Sunday Telegraph 3rd November 1991

In trying to find some clues to the mystery we have to study the circumstantial evidence of the case. It is a well-known fact that Elgar was a great lover of puzzles in general. He had a fascination for secret codes, cryptograms and cyphers, as well as having an interest in crosswords and various other forms of wordplay such as puns, rebuses, anagrams and acrostics. This characteristic trait reveals itself in a number of known examples, for instance in the name given by Elgar to the house in Malvern into which the family moved just as he was completing composition of the Variations. This name was 'Craeg Lea', and is an anagram of (C)arice, (A)lice and (E)dward ELGAR. Later in life he created the palindromic word 'Siromoris' for his telegraphic address - a word which contains reference to two of his honours - the knighthood and the Order of Merit. And, of course, his daughter's name, Carice, was an arrangement of the first and last syllables of Caroline Alice, his wife's Christian names.

Nowhere was this trait for wordplay more evident than in his correspondence with close friends. There are many examples which show that it was not uncommon for him to embellish his letters with abbreviations, condensations, cartoons, musical sketches and even invented words, to amusing effect. To Ivor Atkins he wrote:

..... mark ye, Firapeel, I waxe olde & dulle & glumme & sourmooded, bilious, excursive and dispertinent.

and

I wot well you are in merrie wise fallen on yr feste in Rams-hys-gate: albeit a fear, a parlous fear, holdes me, yr. true Friend, that you behave not altogether seemly in ye town. ..... I finde ye annciente moode wearinge to ye penne, ye braine & to ye reader.

To Dora Penny he wrote:

Being a pennytential week, ..... This is Xmas sirloinidly frivolous ..... & it put Dorabellissima so sweetly prettily.

and

Oh! the fickleality of you.

and

Whether you are as nice as

or only as unideal as

Eh? No. Perhaps??

The last example, containing two musical quotations from the Variations, is to be found in a letter dated 25 October 1901 and is often quoted as an instance of where he uses the enigma theme as a reference to himself - the spoken words 'Edward Elgar' fitting the rhythm of the musical notation. Two weeks earlier, also in a letter to Dora Penny, he had actually used this same quotation in place of his signature. Can these methods of expression give us a clue as to how he could have constructed the enigma? Just as the compiler of cryptic crossword puzzles will leave characteristic fingerprints in his puzzles, can we detect any similar Elgarian prints in the Variations?

As we have observed, Elgar said very little about his secret and so consequently everything that he did say (or write) has been carefully held up for inspection and has been thoroughly interpreted and re-interpreted and, on occasions, possibly mis-interpreted. Of course, it may be that the very scarcity of material leads us into looking for hidden meanings which do not exist - or at least, were not intended. One of the few snippets known to have originated from Elgar is found in the programme note to the first performance, which was referred to earlier. He wrote:

It is true that I have sketched for their amusement and mine, the idiosyncrasies of fourteen of my friends, not necessarily musicians; but this is a personal matter and need not have been mentioned publicly. The Variations should stand simply as a piece of music. 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 late dramas - e.g., Maeterlinck's L'Intruse and Les sept Princesses the chief character is never on the stage.

If one wanted to be pedantic one could argue that there are only thirteen friends represented, not fourteen, (the last being Elgar himself) - unless this constitutes some other mystery which no-one else has so far spotted. However, the main result of this programme note was the assumption that the 'larger theme' referred to was a well-known, but unplayed, melody which would 'go', in counter-point or in some other way, with the theme and with each of the variations. Many ideas were put forward but Elgar remained suitably evasive and non-committal about all of them - and even avoided any direct reply as to whether there was any such tune in the first place. Nevertheless, adherents to this school of thought have come up with enough suggestions to fill a complete concert programme! Contenders for the honours have included, at various times, God Save the King, Auld Lang Syne, Home Sweet Home, All Through the Night, For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, Pop Goes the Weasel, Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay, and Chopin's G minor nocturne - to name but a few. It has been oft-repeated that Elgar himself never used the word 'tune' at all - the term that he did use was 'theme' - and this has led some interpreters into believing that the enigma was not a musical theme at all but something more abstract such as friendship, love, the personality of the composer, or even the outline of the Malvern Hills.

One of those who asked Elgar directly about a hidden tune was Troyte Griffith (of Variation VII). He relates: "One day at Kempsey, about 1924, I asked if I could have one guess at it. Elgar said 'Yes'. After my ridiculous shot [God Save the King] he said 'Of course not, but it is so well-known that it is extraordinary no-one has found it'".

As a general example of the way in which Elgar's comments have been carefully scrutinised for clues, we must turn to another of the Variations, X - the Intermezzo. The subject of this was Miss Dora Penny, who later published her memoirs of the friendship that she shared with Elgar (Edward Elgar: Memories of a Variation). At the time of their composition she was a frequent visitor to the Elgar household in her role as 'girl-Friday'. In her book she recalls one occasion on which she tackled Elgar on the subject: