SIR EDWARD ELGAR always hinted that a well-known tune lay hidden at the heart of his Enigma Variations (1899). What was the ‘Enigma’? In this book, BEVIS HILLIER puts forward a totally new theory.
Elgarado! How I Cracked Elgar’s Enigma, is published on 3 September 2020 by Secret Genius, ISBN: 978-1-5272-6757-2. £15 + p&p.
Elgarado! How I Cracked Elgar’s Enigma is available from enquiries@secretgenius.co.uk, from Amazon.co.uk or to order from your local bookstore.
Secret Genius publishes Bevis Hillier’s new book.
The art critic Bevis Hillier recently proposed that the secret melody to Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations is the Welsh tune ‘Men of Harlech.’ The most direct way to test this hypothesis is to play both melodies concurrently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqkk5d-aS-g&t=29s
Such a comparison shows that ‘Men of Harlech’ does not produce a credible horizontal or vertical fit with the Enigma Theme. To find out the secret melody to the Enigma Variations, visit http://enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com/2012/09/table-of-contents.html
Your theory about Luther’s hymn is mentioned on the first page of the book. But the whole point of Dr Hillier’s theory is that Elgar’s Enigma did NOT harmonize with the Variations’ theme: what Elgar did, in the first two bars of the Variations, was to jumble up the first seven notes of ‘Men of Harlech’ – the first seven notes of the Variations. This explains Elgar’s remark to Dora Penny that she of all people should recognize the hidden melody – she had relations in Harlech and spent a week’s holiday there in 1902.