Editing Enigma Variations (section)

==The Enigma==
The word "Enigma", serving as a title for the theme of the ''Variations'', was added to the score at a late stage, after the manuscript had been delivered to the publisher. Despite a series of hints provided by Elgar, the precise nature of the implied puzzle remains unknown.

Confirmation that Enigma is the name of the theme is provided by Elgar's 1911 programme note ("... Enigma, for so the theme is called"){{efn|name=Turin}} and in a letter to Jaeger dated 30 June 1899 he associates this name specifically with what he calls the "principal motive" – the G minor theme heard in the work's opening bars, which (perhaps significantly) is terminated by a double bar.{{sfn|Young|1965|p=54}} Whatever the nature of the attendant puzzle, it is likely to be closely connected with this "Enigma theme".

Elgar's first public pronouncement on the Enigma appeared in Charles A. Barry's programme note for the first performance of the ''Variations'':

{{blockquote|The Enigma I will not explain – its "dark saying" must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the connexion between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture; further, through and over the whole set another and larger theme "goes", but is not played . . . . So the principal Theme never appears, even as in some late dramas – eg [[Maurice Maeterlinck|Maeterlinck]]'s ''[[Intruder (play)|L'Intruse]]'' and ''Les sept Princesses'' – the chief character is never on the stage.{{sfn|Turner|2007|p=46}}|}}

Far from clarifying matters, this utterance seems to envelop the Enigma in further mysteries. The phrase "dark saying" can be read straightforwardly as an archaic synonym for enigma but might equally plausibly be interpreted as a cryptic clue, while the word "further" seems to suggest that the "larger theme" is distinct from the Enigma, forming a separate component of the puzzle.

Elgar provided another clue in an interview he gave in October 1900 to the editor of the ''[[Musical Times]]'', F. G. Edwards, who reported:

{{blockquote|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. What that theme is no one knows except the composer. Thereby hangs the Enigma.{{sfn|Edwards|1900}}|}}

Five years later, Robert John Buckley stated in his biography of Elgar (written with the composer's close cooperation):<ref>In the introduction to his book, Buckley claims that he stayed as close as possible to the truth and to the actual words of the composer {{harv|Buckley|1905|p=ix}}.</ref> "The theme is a counterpoint on some well-known melody which is never heard."{{sfn|Buckley|1905|pp=54–55}}

Attempted solutions to the Enigma commonly propose a well-known melody which is claimed to be either a counterpoint to Elgar's theme or in some other way linked to it. Musical solutions of this sort are supported by Dora Penny and Carice Elgar's testimony that the solution was generally understood to involve a tune,<ref name=DPEnigma>{{harvnb|Powell|1947|pp=119–120}}</ref> and by the evidence from an anecdote describing how Elgar encoded the solution in a numbered sequence of piano keys.{{sfn|Turner|2007|p=50}}{{sfn|Atkins|1984|p=428}} A rival school of thought holds that the "larger theme" which "goes" "through and over the whole set" is an abstract idea rather than a musical theme. The interpretation placed on the "larger theme" forms the basis of the grouping of solutions in the summary that follows.

[[Julian Rushton]] has suggested that any solution should satisfy five criteria: a "dark saying" must be involved; the theme "is not played"; the theme should be "well known" (as Elgar stated multiple times); it should explain Elgar's remark that Dora Penny should have been, "of all people", the one to solve the Enigma;<ref name=DPEnigma/> and fifthly, some musical observations in the notes Elgar provided to accompany the pianola roll edition may be part of the solution. Furthermore, the solution (if it exists) "must be multivalent, must deal with musical as well as cryptographic issues, must produce workable counterpoint within Elgar's stylistic range, and must at the same time seem obvious (and not just to its begetter)".{{sfn|Rushton|1999|p=77}}

Elgar accepted none of the solutions proposed in his lifetime, and took the secret with him to the grave.

The prospect of gaining new insights into Elgar's character and composition methods, and perhaps revealing new music, continues to motivate the search for a definitive solution. But [[Norman Del Mar]] expressed the view 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", and that interest in the work would not be as strong had the Enigma been solved during Elgar's lifetime.<ref name="delmar">{{cite book|last=Del Mar|first=Norman|author-link=Norman Del Mar|title=Conducting Elgar|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0-19-816557-9}}</ref>

===Counterpoints===
Solutions in this category suggest a well-known tune which (in the proponent's view) forms a counterpoint to the theme of the ''Variations''.

*After Elgar's death in 1934 Richard Powell (husband of Dorabella) published a solution proposing ''[[Auld Lang Syne]]'' as the countermelody.<ref>Powell, Richard C., "Elgar's Enigma", ''[[Music & Letters]]'', vol. 15 (July 1934), p. 203; quoted in {{harvnb|Portnoy|1985}}.</ref> This theory has been elaborated by [[Roger Fiske]],<ref>Fiske, Roger, "The Enigma: A Solution", ''The Musical Times'', vol. 110 (November 1969), 1124, quoted in {{harvnb|Portnoy|1985}}.</ref> [[Eric Sams]]<ref>Sams, Eric, "Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma)", ''The Musical Times'', vol. 111 (March 1970); quoted in {{harvnb|Portnoy|1985}}.</ref> and Derek Hudson.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hudson|first=Derek|title=Elgar's Enigma: the Trail of the Evidence|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|year=1984|volume=125|issue=1701|pages=636–9|doi=10.2307/962081|jstor=962081}}</ref> Elgar himself, however, is on record as stating "''Auld Lang Syne'' won't do".<ref name=westrup>Westrup, J. A., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/766020 "Elgar's Enigma"], ''Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 86th Sess. (1959–1960)'', pp. 79–97, Taylor & Francis for the Royal Musical Association, accessed 2 December 2010 {{subscription required}}</ref> [[Ernest Tomlinson]] revived the idea in 1976, providing his "proof" in the form of his set of variations ''[[Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne]]''.<ref name=g>Grant, M.J (2021). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=w8tUEAAAQBAJ&dq=Fantasia+on+Auld+Lang+Syne+Tomlinson&pg=PT134 Auld Lang Syne: A Song and its Culture]'', end of Section 7.3</ref>
*Reviewing published Enigma solutions in 1939, [[Ernest Newman]] failed to identify any that met what he considered to be the required musical standard.<ref name=Newman1939>
{{bulleted list|
{{cite news|last=Newman |first=Ernest |date=16 April 1939 |newspaper = The Sunday Times |location = London |department = The World of Music |title=Elgar and his Variations: What was the "Enigma"? |page=5 |issue=((6,053)) |ref=none}} |
{{cite news|last=Newman |first=Ernest |date=23 April 1939 |newspaper = The Sunday Times |location = London |department = The World of Music |title=Elgar and his Enigma—II: An Innocent Mystification |page=5 |issue=((6,054)) |ref=none}} |
{{cite news|last=Newman |first=Ernest |date=30 April 1939 |newspaper = The Sunday Times |location = London |department = The World of Music |title=Elgar and his Enigma—III: Some Snags |page=5 |issue=((6,055)) |ref=none}} |
{{cite news|last=Newman |first=Ernest |date=7 May 1939 |newspaper = The Sunday Times |location = London |department = The World of Music |title=Elgar and his Enigma—IV |page=7 |issue=((6,056)) |ref=none}}}}</ref>
*A competition organized by the American magazine ''The Saturday Review'' in 1953 yielded one proposed counterpoint – the aria ''Una bella serenata'' from Mozart's ''[[Così fan tutte]]'' (transposed to the minor key).<ref name=SatRev2>{{cite journal|title=What is the Enigma?|journal=Saturday Review|date=30 May 1953}}</ref>
*In 1993 [[Brian Trowell]], surmising that Elgar conceived the theme in E minor, proposed a simple counterpoint consisting of repeated semibreve E's doubled at the octave – a device occasionally used by Elgar as a signature, possibly due to his name starting with E.<ref>Trowell, B. ''Edward Elgar: Music and Literature'' in {{harvnb|Monk|1993|p=307}}</ref>
*In 1999 Julian Rushton{{sfn|Rushton|1999|pp=71–73}} reviewed solutions based on counterpoints with melodies including ''[[Home! Sweet Home!|Home, Sweet Home]]'', ''[[The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond|Loch Lomond]]'', a theme from Brahms's fourth symphony, the ''Meditation'' from Elgar's oratorio ''The Light of Life''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rollet|first=J. M. |title=New Light on Elgar's Enigma |journal=Elgar Society Journal|date=November 1997|volume=10|issue=3}}</ref> and [[God Save the Queen]] – the last being Troyte Griffith's suggestion from 1924, which Elgar had dismissed with the words "Of course not, but it is so well-known that it is extraordinary no-one has found it".<ref name=Newman1939 />
*In 2009, composer Robert Padgett<ref>{{cite web |url=http://enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com/2016/04/evidence-for-ein-feste-burg-as-covert.html |title=Evidence for "Ein feste Burg" as the Covert Theme to Elgar's Enigma Variations |date= 10 April 2016 |author=Padgett, Robert}}</ref> proposed [[Martin Luther|Martin Luther's]] "[[Ein feste Burg]]" as a solution, which was later described as "[lying] at the bottom of a rabbit hole of anagrams, cryptography, the poet [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]], the composer [[Mendelssohn]], the [[Shroud of Turin]], and [[Jesus]], all of which he believes he found hiding in plain sight in the music."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/139816/breaking-elgars-enigma | title=Breaking Elgar's Enigma |magazine=New Republic |date=1 February 2017 |author=Estrin, Daniel}}</ref>
*In 2019, Ed Newton-Rex<ref>{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/world-of-music/pergolesis-stabat-mater-the-solution-to-elgar-s-enigma-variations-5f1f7dd2158a |title=Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater: the solution to Elgar’s Enigma Variations? |date= 26 April 2019 |author=Newton-Rex, Ed}}</ref> proposed [[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi's]] ''[[Stabat Mater (Pergolesi)|Stabat Mater]]'' as a solution, pointing to the close contrapuntal fit between this and the Enigma theme.<ref>Roberts, Maddy Shaw: [https://www.classicfm.com/composers/elgar/news/young-composer-solves-enigma/ Young composer "solves" Elgar's Enigma – and it's pretty convincing.] [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]], 1 May 2019</ref><ref>Moore, Matthew: [https://www.thetimes.com/uk/history/article/composer-ed-newton-rex-solves-elgar-enigma-rnq98wf6x Composer Ed Newton-Rex ‘solves’ Elgar enigma] [[The Times]], 27 April 2019</ref> In a 2025 paper, he argued that the only criteria the hidden tune need meet are that it should fit with the Enigma theme, that it should have been well-known at the time, and that it should not have been unknown to Dora Penny; and that the ''Stabat Mater'' meets these.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ed.newtonrex.com/enigma |title=Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater: A Solution to Elgar’s Enigma |date= May 2025 |author=Newton-Rex, Ed |access-date=2025-05-07}}</ref>
*In 2021, architectural acoustician Zackery Belanger proposed Elgar's own "[[Like to the Damask Rose]]" as a solution, claiming that the fourteen deaths described in the song align with the fourteen variations. Belanger arrived at this conclusion in his attempt to solve Elgar's [[Dorabella Cipher]], which he proposes has a rose-shaped key assembled from the cipher's symbols.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Belanger |first=Zackery |date=2025-03-30 |title=An Enigma, a Cipher, and a Rose |url=https://www.dearcipher.space/enigma |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=Dear Cipher |language=en}}</ref>

A few more solutions of this type have been published in recent years. In the following three examples the counterpoints involve complete renditions of both the Enigma theme and the proposed "larger theme", and the associated texts have obvious "dark" connotations.

*In his book on the ''Variations'' Patrick Turner advanced a solution based on a counterpoint with a minor key version the nursery rhyme ''[[Twinkle, twinkle, little star]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Turner|2007|pp=111–116}} (reviewed in [http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.11-No.1-March-1999-Compressed.pdf The Elgar Society Journal, March 1999] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201022257/http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.11-No.1-March-1999-Compressed.pdf |date=1 February 2015 }}).</ref>
*Clive McClelland has proposed a counterpoint with [[Sabine Baring-Gould]]'s tune for the hymn ''Now the Day Is Over'' (also transposed to the minor).<ref>{{cite journal|last=McClelland|first=Clive|title= Shadows of the evening: new light on Elgar's "dark saying"|journal=The Musical Times |year=2007|volume=148|issue=1901|pages=43–48|doi=10.2307/25434495|jstor=25434495}}</ref>
*''[[Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter|Tallis's canon]]'', the tune for the hymn ''Glory to Thee, my God, this night'', features as a [[cantus firmus]] in a solution which interprets the Enigma as a [[Canon (music)#Puzzle canon|puzzle canon]]. This reading is suggested by the words "for fuga", which appear among Elgar's annotations to his sketch of the theme.<ref>[http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.-18-No.-1-April-2013-Compressed.pdf {{cite journal|last=Gough|first=Martin |title=Variations on a Canonical Theme – Elgar and the Enigmatic Tradition|journal=Elgar Society Journal|date=April 2013|volume=18|issue=1|ref=none}} ]</ref>

Another theory has been published in 2007 by Hans Westgeest.<ref>"The most plausible theory so far is by Hans Westgeest. He demonstrates that the theme has the same contours as the melody from the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique. The link can indeed be demonstrated and the connection with the anecdote of Augustus Jaeger gives the link credibility." (transl.) Prof. Dr. Francis Maes (University Ghent). [https://www.concertgebouw.be/media/eventpage/programmeBook/180603_bbcscottishsymphonyorchestra_lr.pdf Program note] Concertgebouw Brugge (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Martyn Brabbins, 3 June 2018).</ref> He has argued that the real theme of the work consists of only nine notes: G–E{{music|flat}}–A{{music|flat}}–F–B{{music|flat}}–F–F–A{{music|flat}}–G.<ref>See {{harvnb|Westgeest|2007}}. The book has been reviewed in the ''Elgar Society Journal'', vol. 15, no. 5 (July 2008), pp. 37–39, and no. 6 (November 2008), p. 64.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hanswestgeest.nl/uk_elgarsenigma.html |title=Hans Westgeest – Biografie |publisher=Hanswestgeest.nl |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> The rhythm of this theme (in {{music|time|4|4}} time, with a crotchet rest on the first beat of each bar) is based on the rhythm of Edward Elgar's own name ("Edward Elgar": short-short-long-long, then reversed long-long-short-short and a final note). Elgar meaningfully composed this short "Elgar theme" as a countermelody to the beginning of the hidden "principal Theme" of the piece, i.e. the theme of the slow movement of Beethoven's ''[[Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)|Pathétique]]'' sonata, a melody which indeed is "larger" and "well-known".
[[File:Music_example.gif|thumb|right|482x145px|alt=Music Example.|The opening notes of the Beethoven theme (top) are repeated in the "Elgar theme" (bottom).]]

When the two themes are combined each note of (the first part of) the Beethoven theme is followed by the same note in the Elgar theme. So musically Elgar "follows" Beethoven closely, as Jaeger told him to do (see above, Var. IX) and, by doing so, in the vigorous, optimistic Finale the artist triumphs over his sadness and loneliness, expressed in the minor melody from the beginning. The whole piece is based on this "Elgar theme", in which the Beethoven theme is hidden (and so the latter "goes through and over the whole set, but is not played"). Dora Penny could not solve the enigma. Elgar had expected she would: "I'm surprised. I thought that you of all people would guess it." Even later she could not when Elgar had told her in private about the Beethoven story and the ''[[Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)|Pathétique]]'' theme behind the Jaeger/Nimrod-variation (see above, Var. IX) because she did not see the connection between this and the enigma.

===Other musical themes===
If Robert John Buckley's statement about the theme being "a counterpoint to some well-known melody" (which is endorsed by what Elgar himself disclosed to F. G. Edwards in 1900) is disregarded or discounted the field opens up to admit other kinds of connection with well-known themes.

*Entries in this category submitted to the ''Saturday Review'' competition included the suggestions: ''[[When I am laid in earth]]'' from Purcell's ''[[Dido and Aeneas]]'', the [[Mass in B minor structure#Agnus Dei|Agnus Dei]] from Bach's [[Mass in B minor]], the song ''None shall part us'' from ''[[Iolanthe]]'' and the theme from the slow movement of Beethoven's ''[[Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)|Pathétique]]'' sonata.<ref>"What is the Enigma?", ''Saturday Review'', 30 May 1953. The arguments which J. F. Wohlwill gave to sustain his Pathétique-solution are very vague and seem to be inspired just by what Elgar had written in the programme notes for the pianola rolls (1929); see {{harvnb|Westgeest|2007|pp=48–49}}.</ref> Elgar himself affirmed that this Beethoven theme is alluded to in variation IX.{{sfn|Powell|1947|p=111}}
*In 1985 Marshall Portnoy suggested that the key to the Enigma is Bach's ''[[The Art of Fugue]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Portnoy|first=Marshall A.|jstor=948136|title=The Answer to Elgar's 'Enigma'|journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]|volume=71|number=2|year=1985|pages=205–210|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/mq/LXXI.2.205}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Contrapunctus XIV of that work contains the [[BACH motif]] (in English notation, B{{music|b}}–A–C–B{{music|natural}}) which, in Portnoy's view, can also be found in the ''Variations''. Moreover, the Art of Fugue consists of 14 individual fugues on the same subject (just as the Enigma variations are 14 variations on the same subject), and Bach signed his name "B-A-C-H" within the 14th fugue (just as Elgar signed his name "EDU" on the 14th variation), as well as other clues.
*Theodore van Houten proposed in 1975 ''[[Rule, Britannia!]]'' as the hidden melody on the strength of a resemblance between one of its phrases and the opening of the Enigma theme. The word which is sung to this phrase – a thrice-repeated "never" – appears twice in Elgar's programme note, and the figure of Britannia on the [[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|penny coin]] provides a link with Dora Penny.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hierck|first=Hans|newspaper=de Volkskrant|title=Geheim van Edward Elgar ontraadseld|date=30 December 1975|page=9}}<br>{{cite journal|last=Reichenfeld|first=J.|journal=Cultureel Supplement JRC Handelsblad|title=The Theme Never Appears|date=16 January 1976}}<br>{{cite journal|title=The Enigma – A Solution from Holland|journal=Elgar Society Newsletter|date=January 1976|pages=28–32}}<br>{{cite journal|last=van Houten|first=Theo|title=Het Enigma van Edward Elgar|journal=Mens&Melodie 31|date= 1976|pages=68–78}}<br>{{cite journal|last=van Houten|first=Theodore|title="You of all people": Elgar's Enigma|journal=The Music Review|date=May 1976|volume=37|issue=2|pages=132–142}}<br>{{cite journal|title="Correspondence"|journal=The Music Review|date=November 1976|pages=317–319}}<br>{{cite journal|last=van Houten|first=Theodore|title=The enigma I will not explain|journal=Mens & Melodie|year=2008|volume=63|issue=4|pages=14–17}}</ref> The credibility of the hypothesis has received a boost from a report that it was endorsed by Elgar himself.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walters|first1=Frank|first2=Christine |last2=Walters|title=Some Memories of Elgar: and a note on the Variations|journal=Elgar Society Journal |date=March 2010|volume=16|issue=4|pages=23–27 | ref=none|url=https://www.elgarsociety.org/project/vol-16-no-4-march-2010/ }}</ref>
*Other tunes which have been suggested on the basis of a postulated melodic or harmonic connection to Elgar's theme include [[Chopin]]'s Nocturne in G minor,<ref>[[Eric Blom]]'s suggestion. See {{harvnb|Reed|1939|p=52}}: "For a few bars it fits in counterpoint with Chopin's G minor Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 1. – E. B."</ref> [[John Dunstable]]'s ''Ave Maris Stella'',<ref>{{cite journal|last=Laversuch|first=Robert|journal=Elgar Society Newsletter |year=1976|pages=22}}</ref> the Benedictus from [[Charles Villiers Stanford|Stanford]]'s Requiem,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Times |location=London |title=Enigma of Elgar's debt to a fellow composer: Comparisons show that much-admired theme may not be original |last=Berlins |first=Marcel |pages=1–2 |date=20 August 1977 |issue=((60,087))}}</ref> ''[[Pop Goes the Weasel]]'',<ref>"Pop Goes the Enigma", letter in ''Music and Musicians'', XXVI (1977), pp. 4–5.</ref> Brahms's "[[Vier ernste Gesänge|Four Serious Songs]]",<ref>{{cite journal |last=Skouenberg |first=Ulrik |journal=Music Review|year=1984|volume=43|pages=161–168}}</ref> William Boyce's ''[[Heart of Oak]]'' (transposed to the minor),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ross |first=Charles |title=A Key to the Enigma|journal=Elgar Society Journal|date=September 1994|volume=8|issue=6}}</ref> the [[Dies irae#Musical settings|Dies irae]] plainchant<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kingdon |first=Ben|title=The 'Enigma' – A Hidden 'Dark Saying'|journal=Elgar Society Journal|date=May 1979|volume=1|issue=2}}</ref> and [[Gounod]]'s ''March to Calvary''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Edgecombe |first=Rodney|title= A Source for Elgar's Enigma|journal=Elgar Society Journal|date=November 1997|volume=10|issue=3}}</ref>

===Non-musical themes===
*[[Ian Parrott]] wrote in his book on Elgar{{sfn|Parrott|1971|pp=46–49}} that the "dark saying", and possibly the whole of the Enigma, had a biblical source, [[1 Corinthians]] 13:12, which in the [[Authorised Version]] reads, "For now we see through a glass, darkly (''enigmate'' in the Latin of the [[Vulgate]]); but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." The verse is from St. Paul's essay on love. Elgar was a practising Roman Catholic and on 12 February 1899, eight days before the completion of the ''Variations'', he attended a Mass at which this verse was read.<ref>Alice Elgar's diary, 12 February 1899: "E. to St. Joseph's"</ref>
*Edmund Green suggested that the "larger theme" is Shakespeare's sixty-sixth sonnet and that the word "Enigma" stands for the real name of the [[The Dark Lady#The Dark Lady|Dark Lady of the Sonnets]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Green |first=Edmund |title=Elgar's "Enigma": a Shakespearian solution |journal=Elgar Society Journal |date=November 2004|volume=13|issue=6|ref=none | url=https://www.elgarsociety.org/project/vol-13-no-6-november-2004/ | pages=35–40 }}</ref>
*Andrew Moodie, casting doubt on the idea of a hidden melody, postulated that Elgar constructed the Enigma theme using a cipher based on the name of his daughter, Carice.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moodie|first=Andrew |title=Elgar's 'Enigma': the solution?|journal=Elgar Society Journal |date=November 2004 |volume=13 |issue=6|ref=none | url=https://www.elgarsociety.org/project/vol-13-no-6-november-2004/ | pages=31–34 }}</ref>
*In 2010 Charles and Matthew Santa argued that the enigma was based on [[pi]], following the misguided attempt by the Indiana House of Representatives to legislate the value of pi in 1897. Elgar created an original melody containing three references to Pi based on this humorous incident. The first four notes are scale degree 3–1–4–2, decimal pi, and fractional pi is hidden in the "two drops of a seventh" following the first 11 notes leading to {{frac|2|7}} × 11 = {{frac|22|7}}, fractional pi. His "dark saying" is a pun set off by an unexplained double bar after the first 24 notes (all black notes)..."Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie (pi)". Shortly before his death, Elgar wrote three sentences about the variations and each sentence contains a hint at pi.<ref name="pi">{{cite journal|last1=Santa|first1=Charles Richard|first2=Matthew | last2=Santa|title=Solving Elgar's Enigma|journal=Current Musicology|date=Spring 2010|issue=89}}</ref>
*Some writers have argued that the "larger theme" is friendship, or an aspect of Elgar's personality, or that the Enigma is a private joke with little or no substance.<ref name="Newman1939" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Moore|first=Jerrold Northrop|author-link=Jerrold Northrop Moore|journal=Music Review|date=February 1959|pages=38–44}}{{incomplete short citation|date=October 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Kennedy|1987|p=85}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ling|first=John|title= The Prehistory of Elgar's Enigma|journal=Elgar Society Journal|date=July 2008|volume=15|issue=5|ref=none | url=https://www.elgarsociety.org/project/vol-15-no-5-july-2008/ | pages=8–10 }}</ref> 
*Inspector Mark Pitt has recently suggested (as reported by the ''Sunday Telegraph'') that the larger theme is 'Prudentia' which in turn is related to the initials from the variation titles which then forms the Principal 'Enigma' Variations theme.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/12/police-inspector-claims-has-solved-mystery-behind-elgars-enigma/|title=Police inspector claims he has solved the mystery behind Elgar's Enigma Variations|last=Bird|first=Steve|date=2019-01-12|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2019-01-20|language=English |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>