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63-440: Elgar dedicated the work "to my friends pictured within", each variation being a musical sketch of one of his circle of close acquaintances (see musical cryptogram ). Those portrayed include Elgar's wife Alice , his friend and publisher Augustus J. Jaeger and Elgar himself. In a programme note for a performance in 1911 Elgar wrote: This work, commenced in a spirit of humour & continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of

126-928: A Toccata , but chromatic beyond H.D.S-P.'s liking." Richard Baxter Townshend, Oxford don and author of the Tenderfoot series of books; brother-in-law of the W.M.B. depicted in Variation IV. This variation references R.B.T's presentation of an old man in some amateur theatricals ‒ the low voice flying off occasionally into "soprano" timbre. William Meath Baker , squire of Hasfield , Gloucestershire and benefactor of several public buildings in Fenton , Stoke-on-Trent , brother-in-law of R.B.T. depicted in Variation III, and (step) uncle of Dora Penny in Variation X. He "expressed himself somewhat energetically". This

189-677: A "dark saying" must be involved; the theme "is not played"; the theme should be "well known" (as Elgar stated multiple times); it should explain Elgar's remark that Dora Penny should have been, "of all people", the one to solve the Enigma; and fifthly, some musical observations in the notes Elgar provided to accompany the pianola roll edition may be part of the solution. Furthermore, the solution (if it exists) "must be multivalent, must deal with musical as well as cryptographic issues, must produce workable counterpoint within Elgar's stylistic range, and must at

252-464: A 'piece of music' apart from any extraneous consideration. In naming his theme "Enigma", Elgar posed a challenge which has generated much speculation but has never been conclusively answered. The Enigma is widely believed to involve a hidden melody. After its 1899 London premiere the Variations achieved immediate popularity and established Elgar's international reputation. Elgar described how on

315-496: A Variation . This variation features a melody for solo viola. George Robertson Sinclair , the energetic organist of Hereford Cathedral . In the words of Elgar: "The variation, however, has 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 (bar 1); his paddling upstream to find

378-693: A cryptogram for the last name " Boulez " in his piece Réflexions (2004) and a sonic symbol of the first name "Pierre". Cryptograms were less common in England, but Edward Elgar , who was also interested in general cryptography and puzzles, wrote an early Allegretto for his pupils the Gedge sisters using G-E-D-G-E and part of the 'enigma' in the Enigma Variations involves cryptograms. In 1947 Friedrich Smend suggested that Bach enciphered significant numbers through methods including repetitions of

441-780: A farcical business which would make us a laughing stock in the German musical world." The many-to-one mapping of this method makes it more difficult to extract possible motifs from the musical score than the one-to-one correspondence (apart from 'As') of the German system. A French tradition of celebratory uses developed from the Haydn centenary, with tributes to Gabriel Fauré by Maurice Ravel , Florent Schmitt , Charles Koechlin and others in 1922 (added to later by Arnold Bax , 1949 ) and to Albert Roussel by Francis Poulenc , Arthur Honegger , Darius Milhaud and others (using various ciphering schemes) in 1929. Honegger's system involved placing

504-411: A landing place (bars 2 and 3); and his rejoicing bark on landing (second half of bar 5). G.R.S. said, 'Set that to music'. I did; here it is." Basil George Nevinson, an accomplished amateur cellist who played chamber music with Elgar. The variation is introduced and concluded by a solo cello. This variation leads into the next without pause. Possibly, Lady Mary Lygon of Madresfield Court near Malvern,

567-416: A lot of worries, but wrote more and more beautiful music. "And that is what you must do", Jaeger said, and he sang the theme of the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 Pathétique . Elgar disclosed to Dora that the opening bars of "Nimrod" were made to suggest that theme. "Can't you hear it at the beginning? Only a hint, not a quotation." This variation has become popular in its own right and

630-416: A motif, word , or phrase ; the notes played on the continuo ; the use of sequence ; and the notes played by the accompaniment . However, Ruth Tatlow has presented evidence questioning the plausibility of Smend's claims. During the first quarter of the 20th century, American author and occultist Paul Foster Case established an esoteric musical cryptogram for the purposes of ceremonial magick. The system

693-404: A musical reference to a specific characteristic or event, such as a laugh, a habit of speech or a memorable conversation. The sections of the work are as follows. The unusual melodic contours of the G minor opening theme convey a sense of searching introspection: A switch to the major key introduces a flowing motif which briefly lightens the mood before the first theme returns, now accompanied by

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756-518: A rainy night. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery . The anthologist Francis Turner Palgrave , in his work, The Golden Treasury declared that of the modern poets, despite his limited output, O'Shaughnessy had a gift that in some ways was second only to Tennyson and "a haunting music all his own". O'Shaughnessy's translations of Parnassian poetry, and the influence of French decadence on his own work, were crucial in setting

819-405: A series of notes. Sandzer-Bell's project involves the conversion of the common and Latin names of plants, trees, and mushrooms into melodies. Each song was composed by consuming the plant in tea or tincture form, then using the physical effects of the plant to determine what kind of rhythm, harmony, instruments, and dynamics to use. A lengthy demonstration and proof concept is publicly available on

882-479: A ship bound for New Zealand. Elgar himself, nicknamed Edu by his wife, from the German Eduard . The themes from two variations are echoed: "Nimrod" and "C.A.E.", referring to Jaeger and Elgar's wife Alice, "two great influences on the life and art of the composer", as Elgar wrote in 1927. Elgar called these references "entirely fitting to the intention of the piece". The original version of this variation

945-400: A sponsor of a local music festival. "The asterisks take the place of the name of a lady who was, at the time of the composition, on a sea voyage. The drums suggest the distant throb of the engines of a liner, over which the clarinet quotes a phrase from Mendelssohn's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage ." If it is Lady Mary, Elgar may have withheld her initials because of superstition surrounding

1008-491: A sustained bass line and emotionally charged counterpoints. In a programme note for a 1912 performance of his setting of Arthur O'Shaughnessy 's ode The Music Makers , Elgar wrote of this theme (which he quoted in the later work), "it expressed when written (in 1898) my sense of the loneliness of the artist as described in the first six lines of the Ode, and to me, it still embodies that sense." Elgar's personal identification with

1071-482: A title for the theme of the Variations , was added to the score at a late stage, after the manuscript had been delivered to the publisher. Despite a series of hints provided by Elgar, the precise nature of the implied puzzle remains unknown. Confirmation that Enigma is the name of the theme is provided by Elgar's 1911 programme note ("... Enigma, for so the theme is called") and in a letter to Jaeger dated 30 June 1899 he associates this name specifically with what he calls

1134-478: A tune, and by the evidence from an anecdote describing how Elgar encoded the solution in a numbered sequence of piano keys. A rival school of thought holds that the "larger theme" which "goes" "through and over the whole set" is an abstract idea rather than a musical theme. The interpretation placed on the "larger theme" forms the basis of the grouping of solutions in the summary that follows. Julian Rushton has suggested that any solution should satisfy five criteria:

1197-485: Is built a pensive and, for a moment, romantic movement." Arthur Troyte Griffith, a Malvern architect and one of Elgar's firmest friends. The variation, with a time signature of 1 , good-naturedly mimics his enthusiastic incompetence on the piano. It may also refer to an occasion when Griffith and Elgar were out walking and got caught in a thunderstorm. The pair took refuge in the house of Winifred and Florence Norbury (Sherridge, Leigh Sinton, near Malvern), to which

1260-600: Is described in the Old Testament as "a mighty hunter before the Lord", Jäger (which can also be spelt Jaeger ) being German for hunter. In 1904 Elgar told Dora Penny ("Dorabella") that this variation is not really a portrait, but "the story of something that happened". Once, when Elgar had been very depressed and was about to give it all up and write no more music, Jaeger had visited him and encouraged him to continue composing. He referred to Ludwig van Beethoven , who had

1323-463: Is gently parodied by the woodwinds. Dora, later Mrs. Richard Powell, was the daughter of the Revd (later Canon) Alfred Penny. Her stepmother was the sister of William Meath Baker, the subject of Variation IV. She was the recipient of another of Elgar's enigmas, the so-called Dorabella Cipher . She described the "Friends Pictured Within" and "The Enigma" in two chapters of her book Edward Elgar, Memories of

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1386-512: Is linked to the next by a single note held by the first violins. The name of the variation refers to Augustus J. Jaeger , who was employed as a music editor by the London publisher Novello & Co. He was a close friend of Elgar's, giving him useful advice but also severe criticism, something Elgar greatly appreciated. Elgar later related how Jaeger had encouraged him as an artist and had stimulated him to continue composing despite setbacks. Nimrod

1449-490: Is nearly 100 bars shorter than the one now usually played. In July 1899, one month after the original version was finished Jaeger urged Elgar to make the variation a little longer. After some cajoling Elgar agreed, and also added an organ part. The new version was played for the first time at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival , with Elgar himself conducting, on 13 September 1899. At the end of

1512-472: Is really a prolongation of the theme with what I wished to be romantic and delicate additions; those who knew C.A.E. will understand this reference to one whose life was a romantic and delicate inspiration." (In these notes Elgar's words are quoted from his posthumous publication My Friends Pictured Within which draws on the notes he provided for the Aeolian Company's 1929 pianola rolls edition of

1575-428: Is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo ), 2 oboes , 2 clarinets in B ♭ , 2 bassoons , contrabassoon , 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in F, 3 trombones , tuba , timpani , side drum , triangle , bass drum , cymbals , organ ( ad lib ) and strings . The theme is followed by 14 variations. The variations spring from the theme's melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements, and

1638-627: Is sometimes used at British funerals, memorial services, and other solemn occasions. It is always played at the Cenotaph , Whitehall in London at the National Service of Remembrance . A version was also played during the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997, at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games , and during the 2022 BBC Proms after the season was cut short due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II . The "Nimrod" variation

1701-483: Is the root, which we now call 'do'). Thus the Latin name of the dedicatee 'Hercules Dux Ferrarie' ( Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara ) becomes re-ut-re-ut-re-fa-mi-re, which translates as D-C-D-C-D-F-E-D in modern notation with C as 'ut'. This is used as the cantus firmus of the mass setting. Josquin's method was imitated by several of his contemporaries and successors, including Adrian Willaert and Costanzo Festa . Since

1764-400: Is the shortest of the variations. Richard Penrose Arnold, the son of the poet Matthew Arnold , and an amateur pianist. This variation leads into the next without pause. Isabel Fitton, a viola pupil of Elgar. Elgar explained, "It may be noticed that the opening bar, a phrase made use of throughout the variation, is an 'exercise' for crossing the strings – a difficulty for beginners; on this

1827-460: The Musical Times , F. G. Edwards, who reported: Mr Elgar tells us that the heading Enigma is justified by the fact that it is possible to add another phrase, which is quite familiar, above the original theme that he has written. What that theme is no one knows except the composer. Thereby hangs the Enigma. Five years later, Robert John Buckley stated in his biography of Elgar (written with

1890-401: The Variations .) Hew David Steuart-Powell. Elgar wrote, "Hew David Steuart-Powell was a well-known amateur pianist and a great player of chamber music. He was associated with B.G.N. (cello) and the composer (violin) for many years in this playing. His characteristic diatonic run over the keys before beginning to play is here humorously travestied in the semiquaver passages; these should suggest

1953-479: The specific name , oshaughnessyi , of four new species of lizards described by Albert Günther and George Albert Boulenger . However, O'Shaughnessy's true passion was for literature. He published his first collection of poetry, Epic of Women , in 1870, followed two years later by Lays of France in 1872, and then Music and Moonlight in 1874. He is now best remembered for the first poem in his collection Music and Moonlight , entitled "Ode", which begins with

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2016-540: The "principal motive" – the G minor theme heard in the work's opening bars, which (perhaps significantly) is terminated by a double bar. Whatever the nature of the attendant puzzle, it is likely to be closely connected with this "Enigma theme". Elgar's first public pronouncement on the Enigma appeared in Charles A. Barry's programme note for the first performance of the Variations : The Enigma I will not explain – its "dark saying" must be left unguessed, and I warn you that

2079-552: The A-flat minor organ fugue, and the mixed language Gis-E-La ( G-sharp, E, A ) for Gisela von Arnim , among many examples. The 'French' method of generating cryptograms arose late in the 19th century and was more akin to normal encipherment . The most popular version involved writing out the letters H-N, O-U and V-Z in lines under the original diatonic notes A-G, as follows: so that A, H, O, and V are enciphered by note 'A', B, I, P and W by 'B' (flat or natural) and so on. This scheme

2142-463: The Enigma in further mysteries. The phrase "dark saying" can be read straightforwardly as an archaic synonym for enigma but might equally plausibly be interpreted as a cryptic clue, while the word "further" seems to suggest that the "larger theme" is distinct from the Enigma, forming a separate component of the puzzle. Elgar provided another clue in an interview he gave in October 1900 to the editor of

2205-505: The Romantic period. From the mid-19th century it has become quite common. Sporadic earlier encipherments used solmization syllables. It is believed that this method was first used by Josquin des Prez in his Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie . It was named Soggetto cavato by the later theorist Zarlino . Under this scheme the vowel sounds in the text are matched to the vowel sounds of the solmization syllables of Guido of Arezzo (where 'ut'

2268-435: The author's website. Solfa Cipher, invented in 2013, uses a combination of scale degrees and rhythms to represent letters of the alphabet with the goal generating encrypted texts which sound like relatively normal singable melodies. As such, it has been used by musicians to create longer pieces with hidden messages. It has also been featured as a plot device in mysteries such as Gary McAvoy's Vivaldi Cipher . and purportedly

2331-424: The composer's close cooperation): "The theme is a counterpoint on some well-known melody which is never heard." Attempted solutions to the Enigma commonly propose a well-known melody which is claimed to be either a counterpoint to Elgar's theme or in some other way linked to it. Musical solutions of this sort are supported by Dora Penny and Carice Elgar's testimony that the solution was generally understood to involve

2394-428: The composer's friends. It may be understood that these personages comment or reflect on the original theme & each one attempts a solution of the Enigma, for so the theme is called. The sketches are not 'portraits' but each variation contains a distinct idea founded on some particular personality or perhaps on some incident known only to two people. This is the basis of the composition, but the work may be listened to as

2457-529: 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 – eg Maeterlinck 's L'Intruse and Les sept Princesses – the chief character is never on the stage. Far from clarifying matters, this utterance seems to envelop

2520-409: The daughter of author John Westland Marston and the sister of the poet Philip Bourke Marston . Together, he and his wife wrote a book of children's stories, Toy-land (1875). They had two children together, both of whom died in infancy. Eleanor died in 1879, and O'Shaughnessy himself died in London two years later at the age of 36 from the effects of a "chill" after walking home from the theatre on

2583-488: The evening of 21 October 1898, after a tiring day's teaching, he sat down at the piano. A melody he played caught the attention of his wife and he began to improvise variations on it in styles which reflected the character of some of his friends. These improvisations, expanded and orchestrated, became the Enigma Variations . Elgar considered including variations portraying Arthur Sullivan and Hubert Parry , but

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2646-434: The extended fourteenth variation forms a grand finale. Elgar dedicated the piece to "my friends pictured within" and in the score each variation is prefaced the initials, name or nickname of the friend depicted. As was common with painted portraits of the time, Elgar's musical portraits depict their subjects at two levels. Each movement conveys a general impression of its subject's personality. In addition, many of them contain

2709-762: The final variation, adding 96 new bars and an organ part. The new version (which is usually played today) was first heard at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival on 13 September 1899, with Elgar conducting. The European continental premiere was performed in Düsseldorf , Germany on 7 February 1901, under Julius Buths (who would also conduct the German premiere of The Dream of Gerontius in December 1901). The work quickly achieved many international performances, from Saint Petersburg, where it delighted Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1904, to New York, where Gustav Mahler conducted it in 1910. The work

2772-448: The formal sense, but more like musical monograms. The methods used historically by composers were either too incomplete (i.e., did not include all of the letters of the alphabet) or too simplistic to meaningfully encrypt long text messages. There is a separate history of music ciphers utilizing music notation to encode messages for reasons of espionage or personal security that involved encryption and/or steganography . Because of

2835-448: The full score he inscribed the words "Bramo assai, poco spero, nulla chieggio". This is a quote from Torquato Tasso 's Jerusalem Delivered , Book II, Stanza 16 (1595), albeit slightly altered from third to first person. It means: "I long for much, I hope for little, I ask nothing". Like Elgar's own name, this sentence too can be fitted easily into the Enigma theme. Arrangements of the Variations include: The word "Enigma", serving as

2898-525: The letters after 'H' under sharpened and flattened notes, an example of how chromatic cryptograms could be more easily accommodated in 20th-century music . Olivier Messiaen developed his own full cipher, involving pitches and note lengths, for his organ work Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité (1969). Dmitri Shostakovich used the German scheme for his personal motto D-Es-C-H ( D, E-flat, C, B-natural ), representing D.SCH , which appears in many of his works. Elliott Carter featured both

2961-476: The library of the British Museum , reportedly through the influence of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton . According to Sir Edmund Gosse , O'Shaughnessy was one of Bulwer Lytton's many children born out of wedlock. Two years later, he became a herpetologist in the museum's zoological department. From 1874 to his premature death, he described six new species of reptiles , and after his death, he was honoured in

3024-411: The multitudinous ways in which notes and letters can be related, detecting hidden ciphers in music and proving accurate decipherment can be difficult. From the initial assignment by Western music theorists of letter names to notes in the 9th century it became possible to reverse the procedure and assign notes to the letters of names. However, this does not seem to have become a recognized technique until

3087-505: The next variation refers. Winifred Norbury, one of the secretaries of the Worcester Philharmonic Society. "Really suggested by an eighteenth-century house. The gracious personalities of the ladies are sedately shown. W.N. was more connected with the music than others of the family, and her initials head the movement; to justify this position a little suggestion of a characteristic laugh is given." This variation

3150-470: The note names only cover letters A to G (reflecting the octave repetition of these names), the problem arises as to how to cipher the rest of the alphabet. Historically there have been two main solutions, which may be labelled for convenience the 'German' and the 'French' methods. Because the development of note names took place within the framework of modes , in the German-speaking world B-flat

3213-523: The number 13, or he may have felt uneasy about publicly associating the name of a prominent local figure with music that had taken on a powerful emotional intensity. There is credible evidence to support the view that the variation's atmosphere of brooding melancholy and its subtitle "Romanza" are tokens of a covert tribute to another woman, the name most frequently mentioned in this connection being that of Helen Weaver, who had broken off her engagement to Elgar in 1884 before sailing out of his life forever aboard

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3276-554: The result of toil rather than the consequence of a moment's frenetic inspiration. In his influential 1957 essay, T. S. Eliot gives O'Shaughnessy as an example of "poets who have written just one, or only a few good poems," and says that, despite his uneven output, "We Are the Music Makers" belongs in any 19th century verse anthology. The artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown were among O'Shaughnessy's circle of friends, and in 1873, he married Eleanor Marston,

3339-648: The same time seem obvious (and not just to its begetter)". Elgar accepted none of the solutions proposed in his lifetime, and took the secret with him to the grave. Musical cryptogram A musical cryptogram is a cryptogrammatic sequence of musical symbols which can be taken to refer to an extra-musical text by some 'logical' relationship, usually between note names and letters. The most common and best known examples result from composers using musically translated versions of their own or their friends' names (or initials) as themes or motifs in their compositions. These are not really rigorous cipher algorithms in

3402-403: The theme is evidenced by his use of its opening phrase (which matches the rhythm and inflection of his name) as a signature in letters to friends. The theme leads into Variation I without a pause. Caroline Alice Elgar , Elgar's wife. The variation repeats a four-note melodic fragment which Elgar reportedly whistled when arriving home to his wife. After Alice's death, Elgar wrote, "The variation

3465-439: The video game Fortnite . The following list includes only motifs which are known to have been used in published works. Arthur O%27Shaughnessy Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (14 March 1844 – 30 January 1881) was a British poet and herpetologist . Of Irish descent, he was born in London. He is most remembered for his poem " Ode ", from his 1874 collection Music and Moonlight , which begins with

3528-399: The words "We are the music makers, / And we are the dreamers of dreams", and which has been set to music by several composers including Edward Elgar (as The Music Makers ) , Zoltán Kodály , Alfred Reed and, more recently, 808 State ( ex:el : nephatiti) and Aphex Twin ( Selected Ambient Works 85-92 ). In June 1861, at age 17, Arthur O'Shaughnessy received the post of transcriber in

3591-437: The words: "We are the music makers, / And we are the dreamers of dreams". O'Shaughnessy's most quoted poem is his ode to the place of art, beginning We are the music-makers. And we are the dreamers of dreams. Wandering by lone sea-breakers. And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers. On whom the pale moon gleams Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems When he

3654-459: Was 30, he married and did not produce any more volumes of poetry for the last seven years of his life. His last volume, Songs of a Worker , was published posthumously in 1881. O'Shaughnessy was both formally and aesthetically cutting-edge. For example, he is one of the few Pre-Raphaelite poets to have needed a steady income, and his corpus often explores the relationship between art and work. Unlike other Pre-Raphaelites, O'Shaughnessy saw poetry as

3717-820: Was a derivative of a cipher used by an affiliated magical order called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . Each note of the 12 tone system was assigned a set of correspondences including colors, planets, zodiacal signs, and Hebrew letters. The holy names of biblical characters were translated letter by letter into a linear sequence of musical notes, so that each letter could be sung by the congregation in unison. Ezra Sandzer-Bell has written and published two books on this subject, describing how Paul Foster Case's system of musical cryptography could be applied to songwriting. Any word can be translated phonetically into Hebrew and converted using Case's cryptogram to generate

3780-891: Was named 'B' and B-natural was named 'H'. The most common musical cryptogram is the B-A-C-H motif , which was used by Johann Sebastian Bach himself, by his contemporaries and by many later composers. Other note names were derived by sound, for example E-flat , 'Es' in German, could represent 'S' and A-flat the digraph 'As'. Composers less fortunate than Bach usually seem to have chosen to ignore non-musical letters in generating their motifs. For example, Robert Schumann , an inveterate user of cryptograms, has just S-C-H-A ( E-flat, C, B-natural, A ) to represent himself in Carnaval . Sometimes phonetic substitution could be used, Schumann representing Bezeth by B-E-S-E-D-H. Johannes Brahms used B-A-H-S ( B-flat, A, B-natural, E-flat ) for his surname in

3843-487: Was the final orchestral composition (before the national anthem) played by the Greek National Orchestra in a televised June 2013 concert, before the 75-year-old Athenian ensemble was dissolved in the wake of severe government cutbacks to televised programming. An adaptation of the piece appears at the ending of the 2017 film Dunkirk in the score by Hans Zimmer . Dora Penny, a friend whose stutter

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3906-422: Was unable to assimilate their musical styles without pastiche and dropped the idea. The piece was finished on 18 February 1899 and published by Novello & Co. It was first performed at St James's Hall in London on 19 June 1899, conducted by Hans Richter . Critics were at first irritated by the layer of mystification, but most praised the substance, structure and orchestration of the work. Elgar later revised

3969-426: Was used by Jules Écorcheville , editor of the journal S.I.M. , to solicit centenary commemorations of Joseph Haydn in 1909, except that he diverted the 'H' to B-natural, presumably to avoid too many repeated notes. Writing to Gabriel Fauré about the invitation, Camille Saint-Saëns said he was writing to Écorcheville asking him to prove that Y and N could signify D and G as "it would be annoying to get mixed up in

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