English composer Edward William Elgar (1857-1934) had a habit to improvise on the piano in the evening. After a long day of teaching violin lessons, he began noodling away at the keyboard when he happened upon a particularly pleasing melody. “Whom does that remind you of?” he asked his wife, and Alice replied, “Billy Baker [a good friend of the couple] going out of a room.” And so were born Elgar’s Enigma Variations in 1898.
Elgar dedicated the work “to my friends pictured within”. The theme is followed by 14 variations, each variation being a musical sketch of one of his circle of close acquaintances. Some variations represent characteristics of the individuals:
Enigma no. 10, “Dorabella,” includes a staccato woodwind section intended to imitate his friend’s laugh.
Elgar wrote the program note below for a performance of the Enigma Variations in 1911:
“This work, commenced in a spirit of humour & continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of 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 a ‘piece of music’ apart from any extraneous consideration.”
Here are all the variations and who they represent.
Variation I. “C.A.E.”: L’istesso tempo
Caroline Alice Elgar, the composer’s wife. They were happy together, and he relied on her. when she died in 1920, he mostly stopped composing.
Variation II. “H.D.S-P”: Allegro
Hew David Steuart-Powell was a pianist Elgar often played chamber music with. His variation is perky and excited.
Variation III. “R.B.T.”: Allegretto
Richard Baxter Townshend was an Oxford classicist who also performed in amateur theater productions and rode a bicycle around town.
Variation IV. “W.M.B.”: Allegro di molto
William Meath Baker, a country squire, in a brief, bombastic variation.
Variation V. “R.P.A.”: Moderato
Richard Penrose Arnold was the son of the poet Matthew Arnold and also a pianist.
Variation VI. “Ysobel”: Andantino
A respelling instead of initials for Isabel Fitton, an amateur violist he played chamber music with.
Variation VII. “Troyte”: Presto
Arthur Troyte Griffith, a Malvern architect and one of Elgar’s firmest friends.
Variation VIII. “W.N.”: Allegretto
Winifred Norbury, one of the secretaries of the Worcester Philharmonic Society who was more connected to music than others in the family.
Variation IX. “Nimrod”: Moderato
Augustus J. Jaeger is a music editor and close friend with Elgar.
Variation X. “Dorabella”: Intermezzo: Allegretto
Dora Penny, a friend whose stutter is gently parodied by the woodwinds.
Variation XI. “G.R.S.”: Allegro di molto
George Robertson Sinclair is an energetic organist of Hereford Cathedral.
Variation XII. “B.G.N.”: Andante
Basil George Nevinson, an accomplished amateur cellist who played chamber music with Elgar.
Variation XIII. “***” Romanza: Moderato
The asterisks possibly represents Lady Mary Lygon, a sponsor of a local music festival and was on a sea voyage at the time.
Variation XIV. “E.D.U.” Finale: Allegro
Elgar himself. 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.