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 variations on an original theme. After its 1899 premiere in London, the variations quickly achieved popularity and helped establish Elgar's growing reputation in Britain and internationally. It is now a staple of the orchestral repertoire globally.
Elgar dedicated the work "to my friends pictured within", each variation being a musical sketch of – or a musical idea related to – one of his circle. Those musically sketched include Elgar's wife Alice, his friend and publisher August Jaeger and, in the final variation, Elgar himself.
In addition to the miniature depictions of his friends, Elgar said that the main theme, which he called "Enigma", referred in some way to a larger, unspecified theme. By doing so he posed a challenge that has generated much speculation but has never been conclusively answered. The Enigma theme is widely believed to involve a hidden melody, although some commentators have taken it to represent an abstract idea rather than a musical theme.
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.McVeagh, Diana. "Elgar, Sir Edward", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001 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.Moore, pp. 247–252
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.Moore, p. 252
The work was fully scored by 18 February 1899. While the full score was being made ready for the printers, Jaeger wrote "Enigma" above the opening andante theme, following the lead of the composer, who included the word in his original manuscript and later in his piano arrangement of the score – referring specifically to the theme and not to the whole work.Fallows, David and Michael Kennedy. "Nobilmente", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001
The variations were first performed at St James's Hall in London on 19 June 1899, conducted by Hans Richter.Moore, p. 271 Elgar was twice called onto the platform to acknowledge the enthusiastic applause."Music", The Queen, 24 June 1899, p. 1079 A few critics complained about the layer of mystification, but most praised the substance, structure and orchestration of the work,
Jaeger felt that the final variation – depicting Elgar himself – was too short to make its full effect, and persuaded the extremely reluctant composer, who prided himself on never having to alter any of his compositions, to enlarge it.Kennedy, p. 26; and Rushton, p. 4 Ninety-six bars and an organ part were added for the third performance of the variations.Anderson, p. 3 The new version (which is usually played today) was first heard at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival on 13 September 1899, with Elgar conducting. A reviewer wrote that after the London premiere "Mr Elgar received the compliment, rarely paid to a composer, that he had 'not written enough'". The reviewer continued:
The European continental premiere was given in Düsseldorf, Germany on 7 February 1901, under Julius Buths (who conducted the German premiere of The Dream of Gerontius in December of the same year).Moore, p. 350 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.Kennedy, p. 179
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.
Instrumentation
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) 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".Kennedy, Michael. "Elgar, Sir Edward William, baronet (1857–1934), composer and conductor", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2015
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".Elgar, I: CAE
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".Elgar, II: H.D.S.-P.
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".Elgar, III: R.B.T.
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.Elgar, IV: W.M.B.
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".Elgar, V: R.P.A 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".Elgar, VI: Ysobel
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.Elgar, VII: Troyte
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".Elgar, VIII: W. N.
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.Genesis 10:9 and Anderson, p. 3
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".Elgar, IX: Nimrod
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.Powell, pp. 110–111 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".