Edward Elgar

Enigma Variations

Edward Elgar composed his Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, popularly known as the Enigma Variations, between October 1898 and February 1899. It is an orchestral work comprising fourteen

Background#

Elgar was a largely self-taught composer with no influential patrons or sponsors and from the 1870s to the late 1890s he struggled for artistic recognition and financial success. He supplemented the modest income from his early compositions by giving violin lessons. During the 1890s he composed the concert overture Froissart and a Serenade for Strings, but such modest fame as he acquired by the end of the decade derived mainly from four large-scale works for chorus and orchestra: The Black Knight, The Light of Life, King Olaf and Caractacus.

Composition and premiere#

Elgar described how, on 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. In a letter to his close friend, his publisher at Novello and Co, August Jaeger, Elgar wrote: Elgar considered including variations portraying Arthur Sullivan and Hubert Parry, but was unable to assimilate their musical styles without pastiche and dropped the idea. The work was fully scored by 18 February 1899. The variations were first performed at St James’s Hall in London on 19 June 1899, conducted by Hans Richter. Elgar was twice called onto the platform to acknowledge the enthusiastic applause. A few critics complained about the layer of mystification, but most praised the substance, structure and orchestration of the work, Ninety-six bars and an organ part were added for the third performance of the variations. 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 work quickly achieved many international performances: from Saint Petersburg, where it delighted Alexander Glazounov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1904; to New York, where Gustav Mahler conducted it in 1910. The French premiere took place on 17 December 1916 at the Concerts Colonne-Lamoureux at Paris’s Salle Gaveau, under the baton of Gabriel Pierné.

Orchestration#

The work 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.

Structure#

The theme is followed by 14 variations. The variations spring from the theme’s melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements, and 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 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.

Theme (Enigma: Andante)#

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. In a programme note for a performance in Turin in 1911, Elgar wrote: The unusual melodic contours of the G minor opening theme convey a sense of searching introspection: Elgar later said that the theme symbolised “the loneliness of the artist”. \relative c \clef treble \time 4/4 \tempo “Andante” 4 = 63 \key g \minor r4^“legato e sostenuto” bes8–\p_“molto espress.” g– c4( a) r d(^“ten.” bes) a8– c– r4 bes8–\ a,!) r\pp f’>( g,)! a8– bes– r4 a8–“cresc.” g– d'4( bes) r bes(^“ten.”“dim.” g) a8– g– \bar " " b4 A switch to the major key introduces a flowing motif which briefly lightens the mood before the first theme returns, now accompanied by a sustained bass line and emotionally charged counterpoints. The theme leads into Variation I without a pause.

Variation I (L’istesso tempo) “C.A.E.”#

Caroline Alice Elgar, Elgar’s wife. After her death, Elgar wrote, “The variation 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”. \relative c \clef treble \key g \minor \time 4/4 \tempo “L’istesso tempo.” 4 = 63 r4\f^“largamente”_“espress.” \times 2/3 d8( bes d) c4. r8

Variation II (Allegro) “H.D.S-P.”#

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 a Toccata, but chromatic beyond H.D.S-P.’s liking”. \relative c \clef treble \key g \minor \time 3/8 \tempo “Allegro.” r16 g-. \p_“stacc.” d’-. gis,-. cis-. a-. c!-. a-. bes-. g!-. es-. c!-. cis-. d-. Variation III (Allegretto) “R.B.T.” 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. According to Elgar, the variation “has a reference R.B.T’s presentation of an old man in some amateur theatricals ‒ the low voice flying off occasionally into ‘soprano’ timbre. The oboe gives a somewhat pert version of the theme, and the growing grumpiness of the bassoons is important”.

Variation IV (Allegro di molto) “W.M.B”.#

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. This is the shortest of the variations. Elgar wrote that it depicts Baker hurriedly leaving a room with an inadvertent bang of the door and the teasing attitude of some of his guests.

Variation V (Moderato) “R.P.A”.#

Richard Penrose Arnold, the son of the poet Matthew Arnold, and an amateur pianist, who, according to Elgar, played in “a self-taught manner, evading difficulties but suggesting in a mysterious way the real feeling”. Arnold’s serious conversation “was continually broken up by whimsical and witty remarks”. The theme is given by the basses “with solemnity and in the ensuing major portion there is much light-hearted badinage among the wind instruments”. This variation leads into the next without pause.

Variation VI (Andantino) “Ysobel”#

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 is built a pensive and, for a moment, romantic movement”. \relative c \clef treble \time 3/4 \key g \major \tempo “Allegretto.” 4 = 80 r4 r4 32 \pp ( 32 32 ) r32 r8 32 ( 32 32) r32 r8 16– -. -. -.

Variation VII (Presto) “Troyte”#

Troyte Griffith, a Malvern architect and one of Elgar’s firmest friends. The variation, with a time signature of , 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 the next variation refers.

Variation VIII (Allegretto) “W.N”.#

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 is linked to the next by a single note held by the first violins.

Variation IX (Adagio) “Nimrod”#

The name of the variation refers to August Jaeger, who was employed as a music editor by the London publisher Novello & Co. Nimrod is described in the Old Testament as “a mighty hunter before the Lord”, (or ) being German for hunter. Jaeger was a close friend of Elgar’s, giving him useful advice and sometimes severe criticism, something the composer greatly appreciated. Elgar later related how Jaeger had encouraged him as an artist and had stimulated him to continue composing despite setbacks, and wrote of him as “for years the dear friend, the valued adviser and the stern critic of many musicians besides the writer; his place has been occupied but never filled”. In 1904, Elgar told Dora Penny (“Dorabella”) that this variation is not really a portrait, but “the story of something that happened”, as she wrote later in her book. 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 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”. The musical direction (nobly, majestically) is much associated with the music of Elgar, but although it appears on a sketch for “Nimrod” and on the published score (1899) of Elgar’s piano transcription, it is not in the orchestral full score published some months later.

Variation X (Intermezzo: Allegretto) “Dorabella”#

Dora Penny, a friend whose stutter is gently parodied by the woodwinds. Dora, later Mrs Richard Powell, was the daughter of the Rev 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 a Variation. This variation features a melody for solo viola. Elgar called it an intermezzo and wrote, “The pseudonym is adopted from Mozart’s Così fan tutte … The movement suggests a dance-like lightness. The inner sustained phrases at first on the viola and later on the flute should be noted”.

Variation XI (Allegro di molto) “G.R.S”.#

George Robertson Sinclair, the energetic organist of Hereford Cathedral. In the words of Elgar, the variation “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 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”.

Variation XII (Andante) “B.G.N.”#

Basil George Nevinson, an accomplished amateur cellist who played chamber music with Elgar (violin) and Steuart-Powell (piano). The variation is introduced and concluded by a solo cello. The composer wrote, “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”. This variation leads into the next without pause.

Variation XIII (Romanza: Moderato) “* * *”#

Elgar wrote, “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 Mendelsson’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. \relative c \clef treble \time 3/4 \key g \major \tempo “Moderato.” 4 = 76 r4^“Solo” r c~(\pp c^“molto espress.” bes4. aes8) aes4~ aes8 This is generally understood to refer to Lady Mary Lygon of Madresfield Court near Malvern, a sponsor of a local music festival. Elgar’s sketches for the variations show that Elgar originally planned to refer to her as “L.M.L.”. The Elgar scholar Michael Kennedy surmises that Elgar substituted the asterisks for her initials because he was superstitious about the number thirteen and wished to avoid identifying anyone with this thirteenth variation. In a 1999 study Jerrold Northrop Moore suggests that the composer may have felt uneasy about publicly associating the name of a prominent local figure with music that had taken on a powerful emotional intensity. Lady Mary’s Family have a letter from Elgar to her dated July 25th 1899 in which he writes “The Variations, especially " * * * No. 13 , have been a great triumph for me under Richter & he is going to play them everywhere including Vienna”. At that time she was returning by sea from New South Wales. In another letter to her dated November 25t 1899 he writes “We are very glad to have you back & please do not begin to talk of returning to N.S.W or even to think of it.” He goes on to write “The Variations were repeated by Richter at his first concert in October - an honour never before accorded to an English piece of music: he is playing them at many big towns - Birmingham early next year & I hope you will very soon hear them”

Composer: Edward Elgar