Enigma variations
The Enigma Variations are an orchestral work (op. 36) by the British composer Edward Elgar . The 14 variations describe people from Elgar's environment.
The Enigma Variations were written in 1898 when Elgar played a random melody on the piano that his wife Alice liked. At the beginning of 1899 he sent the score, which he originally called Variations on an Original Theme (the current name Enigma was only given to the piece later), to the conductor Hans Richter . It was Hans Richter who performed the work on June 19 at St. James Hall in London . The Enigma variations made Elgar known internationally.
occupation
The line-up consists of 2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , contrabassoon , 4 horns , 3 trumpets , 3 trombones , tuba , timpani , snare drum , triangle , large drums , cymbals , organ , violin , viola , violoncello and double bass .
The individual variations
The variation names contain the initials of the persons concerned:
The 1st variation (CAE; L'istesso tempo) alludes to Elgar's wife Alice and describes the melody that Elgar whistled when he came home in the evening.
The 2nd variation (HDS-P; Allegro) contains scale cascades reminiscent of the piano style of Elgar's friend Hew David Stewart-Powell .
The 3rd variation (RBT; Allegretto) is dedicated to Richard Baxter Townshend , an eccentric actor who liked to ride a tricycle.
The 4th variation (WMB; Allegro di molto) is about William Meath Baker , who rushes into the room to loudly announce his orders and then to leave the room.
In the fifth variation (RPA; Moderato) muses Richard Arnold , son of the poet Matthew Arnold .
The 6th variation (Ysobel; Andantino) imitates Isabell Fitton's clumsy viola playing .
The 7th variation (Troyte; Presto), on the other hand, is reminiscent of the piano playing by Elgar's friend Arthur Troyte Griffith .
The 8th variation (WN; Allegretto) describes Winifred Norbury , who was the secretary of the Worcestershire Philharmonic Society .
The 9th variation (Nimrod; Adagio) is dedicated to August Jaeger , one of Elgar's closest friends and promoter of his music. The name of this variation goes back to a legend that describes Nimrod as a "mighty hunter before the Lord". It is not strictly his portrait, but the story of something that happened between them. In October 1898 Elgar, "very sick at the heart of music", was about to give up everything and stop writing music. His friend Jaeger tried to cheer him up by talking about Ludwig van Beethoven , who had many worries but wrote more and more beautiful music. “And that's exactly what you have to do,” said Jaeger, and then sang the theme of the second movement of the Sonate Pathétique . Elgar later revealed to Dora that Nimrod's first bars had been performed to suggest the subject. “Can't you hear it in the beginning? Just a hint, not a quote ”.
The 10th variation (Dorabella; Allegretto) is reminiscent of Dora Penny , another close friend of Elgar.
The 11th variation (GRS; Allegro di molto) describes the organist Dr. George Robertson Sinclair and his bulldog Dan, who fell into the river while walking and was able to escape to the bank.
In the 12th variation (BGN; Andante) Elgar describes his friendship with a "serious and devoted friend", the cellist Basil Nevinson .
The 13th variation (Romanza; Moderato) describes, according to Elgar, the name of a lady "who was on a sea voyage at the time of the composition" and contains a quote from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's calm and happy journey .
The 14th variation (EDU; Allegro-Presto) finally describes Elgar himself.
The Enigma
The "Enigma" from the title does not refer to the assignment of which variation is dedicated to which friend, but to another puzzle. According to Elgar, a "different and larger theme" runs through the whole composition, but it is not played. He composed the actual theme of the Enigma Variations as a counter melody to it. Various theories have been proposed so far. According to Francis Maes, the most plausible today is that of the Dutch lexicographer Hans Westgeest. In 2007 he discovered a connection between the riddle and what Elgar later told Dora Penny about his Nimrod Variation (see Variation 9 above).
According to Westgeest, the actual theme of the Enigma Variations, which can be heard in all sorts of forms throughout the work, consists of just nine tones. This short melody is based on the rhythm of Edward Elgar's own name ("short-short-long-long" and the retrograde of it: "long-long-short-short" and a final note) and one could therefore call it the "Elgar- Topic ". The - most important, but not played - theme of the work, to which the Elgar theme was composed as a counter-melody, turns out to be the familiar theme of the second part of the Sonate pathétique by Ludwig van Beethoven, a melody that is indeed in Elgar's words , "Bigger" and "known".
The Elgar theme contains exactly the notes from (the beginning of) Beethoven's melody, in exactly the same order. And when both melodies are played at the same time, these notes always sound first in the Beethoven theme and then, a beat later, in the Elgar melody (on the G of Beethoven therefore the same note from Elgar, on the F from Beethoven, the F by Elgar etc.). This symbolizes in a musical way that the artist Elgar “follows” Beethoven: he acts like Beethoven. And that was exactly what Jaeger had encouraged the composer to do (see variant 9 above). In this way the artist triumphs over his depression and dejection (expressed in the minor melody at the beginning of the work) in the powerful, optimistic finale EDU
"Enigma" as film music
The variations achieved notoriety primarily through the title Clubbed to Death by Rob D , in which the theme was incorporated. The short string introduction of the title is the beginning of the first Enigma variation and the piano solo was also improvised around the Enigma variations. The Kurayamino variation of the title was used as the soundtrack to the films Matrix and Lola im Technoland (original title: Clubbed to Death (Lola) ), the piece even gave its name to the latter. The Enigma variations are also used and addressed in the German film Enigma - An Unacknowledged Love , the film adaptation of Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt's play Enigma ( Variations énigmatiques ).
The 9th variation "Nimrod" in particular is often used in film scores. For example, it can be heard at the end of the feature film Australia (20th Century Fox, 2008) by Baz Luhrmann with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, in the period film Elizabeth (1998) by Shekhar Kapur with Cate Blanchett or in the multi-part documentary about the Second World War The War ( 2006) by Ken Burns. "Nimrod" was performed by the youth orchestra of the London Symphonic Orchestra, LSO On Track, at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. For his soundtrack for the film "Dunkirk" (2017), Hans Zimmer used the Nimrod variation in the track "Variation 15" in an extremely slowed-down form.
literature
- Julian Rushton: Elgar. 'Enigma' Variations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-521-63637-X .
- Patrick Turner: Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations. A centenary celebration. Thames Publishing, London 1999, ISBN 0-905211-01-4 .
- Hans Westgeest: Elgar's Enigma Variations. The Solution. Corbulo Press, Leidschendam-Voorburg 2007, ISBN 978-90-79291-01-4 (hardcover), ISBN 978-90-79291-03-8 (paperback).
Web links
- Enigma Variations : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ For solutions up to 1999 see Rushton (1999).
- ↑ “De meest plausible theory tot nu toe is van Hans Westgeest. Hij toont aan dat het thema de contouren bezit van de melodie uit het tweede deel van Beethoven's Sonate pathétique. De Verwantschap is inderdaad aantoonbaar en de connectie met de anecdote about Augustus Jaeger maakt het verband geloofwaardig ”. Prof. Dr. Francis Maes (Univ. Gent) Program note Concertgebouw Brugge June 3 2018 (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Martyn Brabbins).
- ↑ See Westgeest 2007. A review appeared in the Elgar Society Journal , Vol. 15, no. 5, p. 37-39 and no. 6, p. 64 (July and Nov. 2008).
- ↑ See also Hans Westgeest: Elgar put kracht uit Beethovens voorbeeld.