BBC Proms: Lazić, Lloyd Webber, BBC Philharmonic, Sinaisky

The secret melody to Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations is 'Ein feste Burg' (A Mighty Fortress) by Martin Luther. This famous theme is quoted in the works of Elgar's favorite composers: J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, and Wagner. Elgar’s secret friend in Variation XIII (***) is not a lady, but a lord – the Lord – and his initials are represented by the Roman Numerals (X = J, III = C). There are various musical ciphers embedded in the Variations confirming the identities of both the hidden Principal Theme and the hidden Friend. To learn more about these intriguing discoveries, visit enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com

I sincerely doubt David Nice's misinformed speculation that Elgar was a closeted atheist, particularly since the majority of Elgar's greatest musical works are inscribed with the initials A.M.D.G. Why someone would dedicate masterpiece after masterpiece to a deity he did not believe in defies the bounds of common sense. What is far more likely than Nice’s nebulous supposition is Elgar confessed to Reed the following five words: “My secret friend is Jesus.” This would go a long way towards explaining why shortly after his death Variation XIII was performed at Elgar’s memorial service. One of the many fetid fruits of England’s fading Christian faith, apart from an empty treasury and the streets of London going up in flames with rampaging mobs, is a collective failure to fully comprehend the works of one of that nation’s greatest composers. Then again, does not the scripture reveal a prophet is never accepted in his hometown?

David Nice is correct in pointing out Ernest Newman was the person Elgar spoke five short words to on his deathbed. It goes without saying my original research on the 'Enigma' Variations reflects my own opinion. Nice's contrived objection on this point is an obvious red herring. As for England's moral collapse, even David Cameron is now openly acknowledging the obvious. England is a morally dissolute nation that has failed to produce an intellect capable of penetrating the mysteries of Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations precisely because Elgar was a devout Roman Catholic, a man of character and strict morals.

David Nice is mistaken regarding the source of the musical quotations in Variation XIII, for Elgar's personal correspondence with his publisher confirms they are drawn from Mendelssohn’s concert overture ‘Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.’ The marine atmosphere permeating this movement should make this point obvious, but David Nice’s contorted analysis suggests he has mastered the unfortunate talent of overlooking the obvious. The source of Mendelssohn fragment bears directly on the hidden meaning of the ‘Enigma’ Variations it serves as a critical clue concerning the identity of the covert Principal Theme. Elgar quotes four Mendelssohn’s overture four times to allude to the fact Mendelssohn quotes the covert Principal Theme in the fourth movement one of his symphonic works. Indeed, Mendelssohn quotes ‘Ein feste Burg’ (A Mighty Fortress) as a series of variations in the fourth movement of his first major symphonic work, the Reformation Symphony. A musical checkerboard cipher in the opening six measures of the ‘Enigma’ Theme confirms this discovery. You may learn more at enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com

David Nice is correct in observing there is an allusion to the music of Schumann in Variation XIII, but not in the way he suspects. Three of the four Mendelssohn fragments are enclosed within quotations because like source melody they are in the major mode (two in A-flat major, and one in E-flat major). The fourth fragment is not in quotations because it veers into the minor mode (F minor), and it presented in an augmented version. The key letters for these fragments are F, A and E, a subtle reference to the famous F-A-E Sonata composed by Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich in honor of their friend, the great violinist Joseph Joachim. The composers used the initials for Joachim’s romantic motto ‘Frei aber einsam’ as the basis for the sonata’s enigmatic title. When it was presented to Joachim, he was playfully challenged to guess the composer of each of the movements. The translation for Joachim’s German motto is ‘Free but lonely’. It is remarkable Elgar said the Enigma Theme captured his ‘sense of the loneliness of the artist’. Was he hinting at this ingenious musical cryptogram in XIII, all but suggested by the three mysterious asterisks? More intriguingly, the two movements Schumann composed for the F-A-E Sonata are an Intermezzo and a Finale, the very same subtitles Elgar used for X and XIV of the ‘Enigma’ Variations. The sum of 10 plus 14 is 24, the same number of notes in the opening six measures of the Enigma Theme, and letters in the title ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott’. Joachim’s motto is in the German language and the same holds true for the original title for Mendelssohn’s concert overture and Elgar’s nickname in the subtitle of Variation XIV. E.D.U. is derived from the German spelling of Edward, i.e., Eduard. All of these clues collectively point towards the fact the title of the covert Principal Theme is also in German. Moreover, the three Mendelssohn fragments enclosed within quotations suggest the mystery theme’s title is three words in length. Martin Luther’s most famous hymn is six words in length, but is commonly known by its three word title, ‘Ein feste Burg’ (A Mighty Fortress). There are twelve notes enclosed within those three Mendelssohn fragments, and likewise there are twelve letters in the three word title ‘Ein feste Burg’. That is a rather striking coincidence. To learn more about my 'informed speculations' on the ‘Enigma’ Variations, please visit my blog at enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com