Solving Elgar's Enigma in 6 Minutes 

so much passion for music is projected by this guy that makes me want to become a musician myself! thank you for having this channel, I really enjoy it.

Thank you so much for the mention! You’ve sent a lot of people to my video, which I throughly appreciate! It’s such a beautiful and interesting piece, so you can’t have too many videos about it.

"She is a bit flat" *cuts to playing a jaunty theme*

That makes perfect sense to me! One of the best "solutions" to the Enigma I've heard.

Here's the thing: It's no longer the "Enigma Variations" if the mystery is solved .

One of the things i love about Music Theory RU-vid is the fact that creators do not refrain from mentioning other channels

My jaw dropped when you presented your "Rule, Britannia" theory. Mind officially blown!

Knowing you, that piano is probably an antique from Venice but you're too humble to tell us.

As always, remember that your questions and requests inspire future video topics! Leave comments if you have any ideas or questions!

Rule Britannia has always been a proposed solution for the enigma, but it never looked more likely than any other theme/song/folktune. Pointing out the pun on NEVER really gives it a new light and makes it the best possible solution so far. Really great intuition! And now... Elgar's Dorabella Cipher? ;)

Thank you so much for the shout-out to Listening In! I've been watching a couple of his videos now and he really is a fantastic youtuber with really deep and beautiful analysis. Deserves much more views! Great to discover more content on youtube of such quality and passion! Greetings from Germany :)

It's like The avengers man, Listening in is one of my favorite youtube channels ever and sideways is high up there too

I am sure everyone here noticed the use of Nimrod at the end of "Dunkirk".

I got goosebumps watching this. Your explanation for the enigma is quite coherent! Definitely seems in line with somethng you would expect from a composer. Nimrod is one of my favorite pieces, and became so when I heard it in person for the first time. Thank you for your terrific content!

I like how you have presented this subject. I think that Nimrod's magic lies in the creative amalgamation of melodies (which you stated previously) and the virtuosic blending of Western European styles of melody, dissonance and counterpoint. The mystery therein is how the tonal centers suprise, satisfiy and contradict the audience's expectations. This outcome is a sheer joy of what it means to understand our own emotions and relate it to song and suffering. I studied music for 7 years, not that it means I am a master or expert but I can speak from a place of experience. This variation is always has so much to communicate to the heart.

I love this video! My favourite composer, one of my favourite pieces, and this was also true of my father who imparted his love for Elgar, the Variations and especially Nimrod to me. Music is so much more than a musicians, instruments and sound - it's about people's lives, passions and in this case character, humour and even friends. Thank you so much for making this. I rarely come across Elgar here in Switzerland, I don't think he's much known outside the UK. All the best, Rob

Can’t wait for the in-depth piano video :D

Excellent video. Extremely interesting, particularly for musicians that are not English. And I find your passion and love for music very stimulating and refreshing. Please keep doing videos like this.

What a wonderful video!! Thanks for all the dedication to create such a fun and at the same time informative video

This is my favorite piece ever written, and I love your discourse on the matter.

To seal this theory, remember also that Elgar said to ‘Dorabella’ - Dora Penny - that she of all people should solve the enigma. A British penny coin displayed a figure of Britannia.

I think the hidden theme is not of music but rather relates to the inspiration for this piece, true friendship.

Thanks so much for the video, I fell in love with this piece when I first came to America, then I started reading about till I found this. Very interesting. Thanks!!

I listened to my local orchestra performing this piece in their first concert after the lockdown. Such an amazing piece of art.

I'm so glad your pianola is working well! It sounds fine!

That is a very convincing explanation, and charmingly put.

Excellent and extremely inspiring! Thank you.

Wonderful. One can learn so much! I can only refer to a BBC Radio broadcast (I still have this on a Cassette!) from 1982(or 83) in which Auld Lang Syne was played as counterpart to the finale, and this made perfect sense to me, although I am not a musician at all, but I understand and can read music notes a bit. My passion for classical music is endless.

Love your videos. Keep up the great work!

I like this solution! Great video!

Very credible solution! Good thinking! (And listening, of course!)

Brilliant! Insight. Enthusiasm. And if I may; a really nice voice.

I really loved this video, thanks so much for sharing with the world :)!

Brilliant. I believe you found it. Well done!

She’s beautiful! I too own an antique piano, we embrace their lovely quirks!

Great job! Don't worry about some confirmation of your theory. You nailed it.

Wonderful video and great musical detective work. Many thanks for posting. In my opinion, Parry’s tune for ‘Jerusalem’ also fits.

Sure, as good as any I've yet heard. I like that it comes from two angles.

This is the best video in the history of youtube and music.

Ever since I first played this at 16 I took it for granted that "...never, never, never" in Rule Brittania was behind it. Great concert piece- on one of the 2 concert programmes we took to the States in 1976 for the Bicentenery tour with the LSSO under a very youthful Simon Rattle. Audiences went wild for the Enigma Variations- seems hardly anyone had heard of it and so were blown away. As they were also by the Dvorak cello concerto, soloist Christine Jackson- still at school like the rest of us. N0 wait maybe that was the following year... but the Elgar was all over the USA though.

The first notes u played on that piano almost made me fell of the chair

It is a brilliant solution IMO. I need to go & listen to Enigma Variations again, now.

A brilliant theory and solution! Well done

Perfect solution bravo.

What's funny is that when I listened to Listening In's video (before this one), where he presented several solutions without highlighting one as the most plausible, I myself felt like the Britannia solution seemed by far the most compelling of the ones mentioned. And the additional "Penny" evidence for this solution only adds to the weight.

Thanks for the video. I would be interestet in a quick guide to shostakovich 9th symphonie

Wow! Thank you so much!

Brilliant. You've solved it.

He did it!

I liked this different video format. I had no idea that you were such a good pianist

Beautiful!

What I like most about this solution is that it is quite funny. The British sense of humor at play.

You're a great singer!

Fascinating!

Cool and all, but now I really want to see a video about your piano!

Damn! Amazing job!

Don’t worry about covering the same topic as others or others covering the same topics as you. Having dared to quote Roger Scruton in the past, it makes clear beyond any doubt your work is at a completely different level than other RU-vid musicians. Not to mention your analysis of The Lord of the Rings score (highlighting Flight from Edoras, the most underrated cue of the trilogy, in my opinion) and honestly everything else you’ve done. I don’t send Neely or Sideways to friends I hope to get into classical or orchestral music in general. I send your introductory videos, 14 pieces, etc.

I love player pianos. It's the kind of piano my Dad bought when it was time for me to start lessons. But, yeah, get her tuned up.

I agree and this also makes sense with why muse took inspiration from this in their song "The Globalist".

Brilliant vid. and I love the "never, never never" bit. One question that has always puzzled me is how Nimrod became the national piece it is, played at memorial services, funerals and at national gatherings, not necessarily sombre. When I play the piano reduction I get all teary but I don't know why. Can anyone explain?

When appointed conductor of the Worcestershire Philharmonic Society in late 1897, Elgar selected the chorus "Wach' Auf!" from Wagner's opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" as the musical motto for this new ensemble. The chorus opened their meetings and appeared on the society's letterhead. The significance of Elgar's choice of theme songs is that "Wach' Auf!" is a musical homage to Martin Luther who is likened to "a blissful nightingale" (ein wonnigliche Nachtigall) whose singing "rings out over hills and valley." The first concert given by Worcestershire Philharmonic Society occurred in May 1898, five months before Elgar began openly composing his 'Enigma' Variations. Elgar's choice of a Wagnerian chorus in praise of Luther as the signature song for the Worcestershire Philharmonic Society is consistent with the discovery of Luther's hymn 'Ein feste Burg' (A Mighty Fortress) as the covert Theme to the 'Enigma' Variations. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ELgmZMvHhLs.html

Ferdinand Ries wrote a variations on Rule Britannia in Eb major for what it’s worth

Someone suggested that the “hidden” theme is the opening melody to Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. Works for me!

I love the cut to the ragtime section on the piano 😂

With apologies for the plug, in the interests of adding to the discussion, I have suggested a different solution on my fledgling channel. I hope it at least brings a smile to your face. PS- love your videos!

that is both mighty and sweet.

Wonderful solution!

Inspired by your Parsifal video, I think something a bit populist like comparing the Tolkien/Shore Ring to Wagner’s would be very enjoyable. My teacher referred to Shore’s materials as “lite motifs” (thinking the ring’s theme is a rip off of Siegfried discovering Brünnhilde for the first time). Could be a clever way to expand the audience as Sideways has done without abandoning the integrity of your channel.

I've worked with a few Nimrods in my day.

that's amazing! unfortunately as a Brazilian this NEVER song means nothing to me, but this discovery feels amazing! hehe

So maybe we have Mr. Jaeger to thank for 3 of the greatest musical compositions of all time - The Enigma Variations, Symphony no l in A flat major and Symphony no 2 in E flat major.

This is an amazing "solution" 🙂 Elgar however writes in the programme notes that the theme "goes but is not played". Do you perhaps think that this goes against this "solution", as techincally in this explanation, the "Never" theme is played, just not in its original form. I'd love to hear what you think...and either way, this is one of the best solutions out there. Amazing work! 👍

If the theme "never appears", does anyone tried to see which notes ARE NOT appearing at once in the variations ?

unusual mysticMeg approach? what if the 'theme never appears' just means that even from Measure 1, they are all variations? A good comparative look at harmonic progression in ALL these vars should give a nutshell of harmony, at least. Does that harmonic progression, which outlines ALL the vars, also outline Rule Brittania?

Very convincing

Nice explanaition

bravo...another musician that broke the enigma

What if Beethoven's pathetique was the actual theme?

Clever!

I'm not British, but I agree with your opinion that "Rule, Britannia" is the strongest candidate for the solution to the puzzle. I also think that the "Nimrod" variation contrapuntally alludes to "Ein feste Burg".

I'd heard the "never" theory some time ago but I can't remember where though I now know Theodore van Houten came up with it. It certainly makes sense as presented here. One can imagine it being the source of something floating inside EE's head that eventually became the Enigma theme, the first bar of which has of course the additional advantage of having the rhythm of "Edward Elgar". Funny how themes evolve sometimes. However, 11 mins into the "Mystery Behind Elgar's Enigma" video reminds us of the bigger picture. Jaeger (along with Hans Richter) was responsible also for prompting the end of the last Variation as we know it, from the moment the organ comes in. (The original ending has ben recorded by the Hallé.) The word "Enigma" pencilled into the MS first page is in Jaeger's writing, obviously with Elgar's approval. We have a lot to thank Nimrod for.

Isn’t the mystery tune a theme from one of Bach’s fugues?

The first performance, conducted in London by Hans Richter, took place on 19 June 1899 in a concert that concluded with Mozart's 'Prague' Symphony. Listen to the trio of the 2nd movement. The exact 5 note theme is there in plain sight. Coincidence........I think not !

Pedant alert! Surely Elgar and Jaeger were walking in the Malvern Hills not the Cotswolds? Or am I wrong? However, great piece of work! Thank you.

The Nimrod variation was also played at the BBC proms, following a minute of silence, on the night princess Diana died (was not part of that night’s official program).

Fun solution

I think you've cracked it

Tuning/retuning the piano can be done with the tuning wrench and an app on your PC.

It is said that during your last hours you will hear the most beautiful music imaginable, to which I would simply say: “I’ve already heard it.” Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

Ultra cool 🙏🙏🏿🦄👏👏🎩 you blade lunner

My vote is for Stabat Mater. You played the notes from Rule Britannia, and if you were correct then the theme would appear in the enigma variations. The correct theme is one where the enigma theme is a full counterpoint. I recall Elgar said that somewhere?

Is he the one who composed pomp and circumstance?

If it is a little flat, it may have been tuned to A=432Hz, which is said to be better than A=440Hz.

No link to the video you mentioned "bear you to the punch"? :( But anyway, I wouldn't let that kind of thing worry you too much. We saw a spate of similar occurrences in the Edutuber community a little while back. It happens. Usually people just appreciate more variety in voices and approaches to the subject.

I had an advanced theory professor in my last year of undergrad musical studies who thought the theme was "Happy Birthday to You" which had made it across the pond by the time this work was composed. I can't hear any part of this without hearing it. Don't blame me. Blame Dr. Wong, my professor.

Dora Penney's father's church in Wolverhampton when I last saw it wasn't even a Sainsbury's any more and the penny coin is a thing of the past. But Rule Britannia crops up in EDU too. And bits of the Pathetique sonata in other variations - so perhaps the enigma - if decoded - is a message to the German Jaeger about Elgar's own struggle as a composer. And the next generation of British composers reacted with their own Brexit. Which makes the Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphpny and Job equally interesting - Britannia doesn't come out of World War I very well.

Did Elgar hint that there are two themes? Any idea about that larger theme he mentions?

Sideways is fun but tends to get things...not quite right. He often betrays a somewhat limited education when he can’t properly diagnose musical structures and allusions.

does your piano have a recording system such as ampico ?

U have solved enigma