Norrington caused controversy during the 2008 Proms season by conducting Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, and the Last Night of the Proms, in non-vibrato style, which he calls pure tone.

Norman Del Mar speculates that “ there would be considerable loss if the solution were to be found, much of the work ’ s attraction lying in the impenetrability of the riddle itself ”, that interest in the work would not be as strong had the Enigma been solved during Elgar's lifetime.

Of the musical themes suggested as the Enigma, one of the most frequently proposed is the Scottish song " Auld Lang Syne ", which has been favoured by Elgar's friend Richard Powell ( husband of Dorabella ), the musicologist Roger Fiske, and the writer Eric Sams.

Frederick Ashton's ballet Enigma Variations ( My Friends Pictured Within ) is choreographed to Elgar's score with the exception of the finale, which uses Elgar's original shorter ending ( see above ), transcribed from the manuscript by John Lanchbery.

The subjects of the Enigma Variations as portrayed in contemporary photographs and Elgar's manuscript.

" ' You of all people ' - Elgar's Enigma ".

* Leonard Slatkin introduced Elgar's Enigma Variations from BBC Proms 1995

These include accounts of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and Elgar's Enigma Variations.

" The first concert included Elgar's Enigma Variations, in which Cardus judged Monteux to be more faithful to Elgar's conception than English conductors generally were.

* June 19-Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations are premiered in London

One of the most famous programs, because it has never been definitively identified, is the secret non-musical idea or theme-the " Enigma "-which underlies Edward Elgar's Variations on an Original Theme ( Enigma ) of 1899.

Malvinha Fountain on Belle Vue Island not far from Elgar's statue and the Enigma Fountain

They include The Rio Grande, Walton's First Symphony, some outstanding Berlioz extracts and Elgar's Enigma Variations and Cello Concerto ( with W. H.

Dora Powell (" Dorabella " of the Enigma Variations ) suggested a third possible candidate, Elgar's American friend Julia " Pippa " Worthington: Powell recalled an occasion at the Elgars ' house, Plâs Gwyn, when she was looking at a copy of the score of the concerto:

The Elgar biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore suggests that the inscription does not refer to just one person, but enshrined in each movement of the concerto are both a living inspiration and a ghost: Alice Stuart-Wortley and Helen Weaver in the first movement ; Elgar's wife and his mother in the second ; and in the finale, Billy Reed and August Jaeger (" Nimrod " of the Enigma Variations ).

It gave the first broadcast performances of many famous English works, including Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and Enigma Variations and Holst's The Planets.

Not only were the four writing during the same era and in the same country, Vaughan Williams studied with both Stanford and Parry at the Royal College of Music, and his preparations for composing A Sea Symphony included study of both Elgar's Enigma Variations ( 1898 – 99 ) and his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius ( 1900 ).

There have been more than sixty recordings of the Variations since Elgar's first recording, made by the acoustic process in 1924.

The majority of these compositions are a cappella, but some are accompanied by organ, for example Edward Elgar's three motets Op.

The standardized version that was voted upon by these five musicians premiered at Carnegie Hall on December 5, 1917 in a program that included Edward Elgar's Carillon and Gabriel Pierné's The Children's Crusade.

Elgar's popular concerto, while written in the early 20th century, belongs to the late romantic period stylistically.

The music to which the words of the refrain " Land of Hope and Glory, & c " below are set is the " trio " theme from Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1.

Elgar's Oratorios: The Creation of an Epic Narrative.

Tertis composed several original works and also arranged many pieces not originally for the viola, such as Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto.

It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the enigmas behind it.

Elgar's account of the piece's genesis was that after a tiring day of teaching in 1898, he was daydreaming at the piano.

As was common with painted portraits of the time, Elgar's musical portraits depict their subjects at two levels.

: Caroline Alice Elgar, Elgar's wife.

She was also the recipient of another of Elgar's enigmas, the so-called Dorabella Cipher.

Lady Mary Lygon was a personal friend of Elgar and his wife, promoter of the Madresfield Music Festivals and interested in Elgar's music.

In July 1899, one month after the original version was finished, Elgar's friend Jaeger, the person depicted in Variation IX, urged Elgar to make the variation a little longer.

Determining which of Elgar's friends is represented in each variation is, surprisingly, not the " enigma " mentioned in the title.

The musical scholar Sir Jack Westrup insisted that according to Elgar's words it was clear that the theme was a melody: " Everyone who knew Elgar at the time is quite emphatic that he meant a tune.

Elgar's remark suggested that the ' enigma ' in fact pictured ' a friend ', just like the variations.

That recording has been remastered for compact disc ; the EMI CD couples it with Elgar's Violin Concerto conducted by the composer with Yehudi Menuhin as the soloist.

One of his Enigma Variations was inspired by a bulldog named Dan falling into the River Wye at Hereford, and the dog is similarly honoured with a wooden statue beside the river.

Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra (" Enigma "), Op.

36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898 – 1899.

The Enigma Variations has been given over sixty recordings since 1924.

Elgar eventually expanded and orchestrated these improvisations into the Enigma Variations.

: Theme of Enigma Variations

The pianist Joseph Cooper proposed the theory that the theme may be based on part of Mozart's " Prague " Symphony, which was on the programme at the " Enigma " Variations ' premiere in 1899.

Edwards wrote, " In connection with these much discussed Variations, 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.

The real theme of the Enigma Variations which is present everywhere throughout the work in different shapes, is rather short: it consists of only nine notes ( the first nine notes of Nimrod with added crotchet rests ) on the rhythm of Edward Elgar ’ s own name (" short-short-long-long ", and the reverse of it, " long-long-short-short " and an endnote ).

He composed his “ Elgar-theme ” as a countermelody to the beginning of the mysterious “ principal Theme ” which is “ not played ” in the Enigma Variations.

By doing so, the artist triumphs over depression and discouragement in the Finale, " E. D. U. " So, like some works of Elgar ’ s contemporaries Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, the Enigma Variations are about the artist himself: ( almost ) all the themes of the work are in fact derived from the ‘ Elgar theme ’.

Elgar wrote his Enigma Variations in the year following the Indiana Pi Bill of 1897, and noted in 1910 that the work was “ commenced in a spirit of humour ”.

The Enigma Variations inspired a drama in the form of a dialogue – original title " Variations Énigmatiques " ( 1996 ) – by the French dramatist Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

* Piano adaptation of Enigma Variations in MIDI file ( 104KB ) The theme and its 14 variations are located at ca.

* John Pickard, " Variations on an Original Theme (‘ Enigma ’) ( 1898 – 9 )" from BBC Radio 3

* Discovering Music Enigma Variations (. ram file )

fr: Variations Enigma

Edward Elgar attempts to use the timpani to imitate the engine of an ocean liner in his " Enigma " Variations by requesting the timpanist play a soft roll with snare drum sticks.