Variations on an Original Theme, “Enigma,” Op. 36

• Variations on an Original Theme, “Enigma” op.36 was composed in 1898-9. The work’s premiere in London in 1899 brought Elgar lasting and international fame.
• The Enigma Variations began as piano improvisations Elgar created on one theme, each improvisation inspired by a friend he had recently seen.¹
• Elgar asked that the word “Enigma” be written abve the Theme in his score, after he had sent it to his publisher. Ever since, listeners have been confused about what exactly he meant by this.²

“The Enigma I will not explain – its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture…Furthermore, 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 septs princesses – the chief character is never on stage.”

From a letter from Elgar to C.A. Barry. Barry wrote the program notes for one of the earliest performances of the Enigma Variations, and he quoted this passage in his notes.³

Suggestions about what Elgar meant by his “Enigma” (or Enigmas) include (but are not limited to):

• The fact that each of the variations is a portrait of one of Elgar’s friends, as he later revealed. Here is a list of the friends.

“This work, commenced in a spirit of humour & continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of its composer’s friends. It may be understood that these personages comment on or reflect on the original theme & each one attempts a solution of the Enigma, for so the them is called.”

From Elgar’s program notes to a performance of the Enigma Variations in Turin in October 1911.⁴

• That the “Enigma” Theme represents Elgar himself (the theme’s four opening notes sound suspiciously like the rhythm of the name “Edward Elgar”)⁵
• Regarding the larger theme that “‘goes’ but is not played,” some think that Elgar embedded the rhythm, or harmony, or some other structure of another tune into the work in some way. (Elgar was a fan of crossword puzzles, by the way)⁶
  • “Auld Lang Syne” is a common suggestion.⁷
• That there is no “larger theme” at all, but that Elgar was pranking us with the suggestion for a publicity stunt.⁸

Variation 9: “Nimrod”

• This variation is a coded tribute to Elgar’s friend and music publisher, August Jaeger. “Jaeger” is German for “hunter,” and Nimrod is a hunter who is mentioned in the book of Genesis.
• The specific inspiration for this variation was a conversation between Jaeger and Elgar at a time when the composer was suffering from depression. The two had a talk about Beethoven‘s music which helped lift Elgar out of his bout of melancholy.⁹

1. Diana McVeagh, “Elgar, Sir Edward,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed September 18, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008709.
2. Michael Kennedy, The Life of Elgar (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 66.
3. Quoted in Ibid., 67
4. Quoted in Ibid., 67
5. Eric Sams, “Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma).” The Musical Times 111, no. 1525 (1970): 260, accessed February 20, 2021, www.jstor.org/stable/957491.
6. Ibid., 68
7.  Eric Sams, “Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma).” The Musical Times 111, no. 1525 (1970): 258, accessed February 20, 2021, www.jstor.org/stable/957491.
8. Michael Kennedy, The Life of Elgar (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 68.
9. “Enigma Variations by Elgar,” The British Library, accessed September 2, 2021, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/enigma-variations-by-elgar.