Could this be the solution to Elgar's Enigma?

[dnlsanta]

"Solving Elgar's Enigma", co-written by C R Santa and Matthew Santa, is now printed in Current Musicology, a journal published by Columbia University.

In 2007, a retired engineer observed that the first four notes of Elgar's Enigma Variations were scale degree 3-1-4-2, decimal Pi. Pi is a constant in all circles (circumference divided by diameter.) It is usually approximated by 3.142 as a decimal or 22/7 as a fraction. Further research uncovered that fractional Pi can be found within the first four bars by observing that two “drops of a seventh” follow exactly after the first eleven notes, giving us 11 x 2/7 = 22/7. Elgar included a “dark saying” into his first six bars by using “Four and twenty blackbirds (dark) baked in a pie (Pi).” The first four and twenty black notes each have “wings” (ties or slurs,) and Elgar indicated that the enigma was contained only in the first six bars bar by inserting a double bar after the sixth bar. The double bar usually indicates the end of a section but Elgar inserted it before the end of the first phrase.

Pi fits all the clues given by Elgar in 1899. "The Enigma I will not explain - its 'dark saying' must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the connection 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 ... the chief character is never on the stage."

Viewing “theme” as the central idea/concept explains how Pi can be the “larger theme which 'goes', but is not played.” Pi “is never on the stage.” The 'dark saying' which must be left unguessed, turns out to be a pun from a familiar nursery rhyme.

As if to confirm Pi, Elgar wrote three sentences in a set of notes issued with the Aeolian Company pianola rolls published in 1929:

"The alternation of the two quavers and two crotchets in the first bar and their reversal in the second bar will be noticed; references to this grouping are almost continuous (either melodically or in the accompanying figures - in Variation XIII, beginning at bar 11 [503], for example). The drop of a seventh in the Theme (bars 3 and 4) should be observed. At bar 7 (G major) appears the rising and falling passage in thirds which is much used later, e.g. Variation III, bars 10.16. [106, 112] - E.E."

Each sentence contains a Pi hint. Elgar was 72 old and no one had guessed the enigma after 30 years. In his first sentence he referred to two quavers and two crotchets (hint at 22) and then in the third, he referred to bar 7 (hint at /7.) Putting them together yields another 22/7. In his second sentence he wrote, “The drop of a seventh in the Theme (bars 3 and 4) should be observed,” which leads us to find fractional Pi, 22/7, in the first four bars. Elgar said the solution was “well known.” Pi is taught to school children as part of a basic education.

Elgar wrote his Enigma Variations in the year following the very foolish Indiana Pi Bill of 1897 which attempted to legislate the value of Pi. Years later in 1910, Elgar wrote “the work was begun in a spirit of humour.” Elgar enjoyed such japes, as well as codes, puzzles and nursery rhymes. No other proposed “solution” has offered any relevance to Elgar’s 1929 hints including his “drop of a seventh in the 3rd and 4th bar.”

What do you think about this solution?

[pml]

Not convincing – the choice of terminating the expansion of pi after 3 decimal digits is completely arbitrary. Winged black notes? What have you guys been smoking?

The two sevenths follow after the tenth note of the theme, not the eleventh, so the construction of the fraction 22/7 seems more than a little forced, to be frank.

You claim "Each sentence contains a Pi hint." but where is the proof of any of the statements being significant? For example, what is the meaning of the reversal of the rhythm between bars 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6? This is the first phrase of the first sentence of the quote, which would appear to be the most important thing Elgar is trying to point out, but it has nothing to do with pi.

Regards, PML

[sidrockafeller]

I think this should be left to the Experts, who know ELGARS music.... But I ditto on the contrary to PML's post. No one knows Elgar's music but Elgar, its probably why he wrote as Cryptic Portraiture, as the Violin Concerto is another fine specimen of this Nature..

The concerto is dedicated to Kreisler, but the score also carries the Spanish inscription, "Aqui está encerrada el alma de ....." ("Herein is enshrined the soul of ....."), a quotation from the novel Gil Blas by Alain-René Lesage. The five dots are one of Elgar's enigmas.

And I presume everyone knows the Variations are those of Elgar's Personal Friendships.. But I too find it hard to believe that "Pi" has anything todo with it.

DRSRo

Ps. Looks like we'll all have to ask Elgar himself when we snoof it to the other side..

[sidrockafeller]

Are we talking about the 2 chords that are Sevenths? The 1st being iidim7 and the 2nd I7?

[pml]

DRSRo,

it's supposed to refer to the two melodic falling sevenths in bars 3 and 4 of the 1st violin part. PML

[dnlsanta]

Not convincing – the choice of terminating the expansion of pi after 3 decimal digits is completely arbitrary. Winged black notes? What have you guys been smoking?

The two sevenths follow after the tenth note of the theme, not the eleventh, so the construction of the fraction 22/7 seems more than a little forced, to be frank.

You claim "Each sentence contains a Pi hint." but where is the proof of any of the statements being significant? For example, what is the meaning of the reversal of the rhythm between bars 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6? This is the first phrase of the first sentence of the quote, which would appear to be the most important thing Elgar is trying to point out, but it has nothing to do with pi.

Regards, PML

Winged black notes- Curiously there are exactly "Four and twenty" black notes followed by an unexplained double bar. How would you explain the unusual placement of the double bar? Is not "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie (Pi) a pun based on a nursery rhyme? Elgar was noted for his fondness for puns, nursery rhymes, and japes. Perhaps his greatest jape is his enigma which he wrote in the year following another great jape, The Indiana Pi Bill of 1897, which attempted to legislate the value of Pi. There certainly are a lot of coincidences here.

The "drop of the seventh" in the third and fourth bars, occurs exactly after the first eleven notes. It is important to read Elgars words exactly as he wrote them (with a grain of salt of course as he was wont to be misleading on many points eg: the "dark saying."

Regards, Nimrod

[pml]

All of which proves precisely nothing. (Nice case of pareidolia you have going there…)

Cheers, Philip

[Jinky]

The Pi solution is now printed in the latest edition of Current Musicology published by Columbia University

1. Elgar never wrote that the enigma was a melody. He referred to it as a "Theme." Theme, in the literary sense, is the central concept or idea of a work. Hence, Pi is the theme which is "not played."
2. Elgar showed that his enigma was completely contained in the first six bars by using a double bar after the sixth measure. There are exactly "four and twenty" black notes in the first six bars which confirms his "dark saying" as "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie (Pi)." Elgar was well known to enjoy quoting nursery rhymes and puns. Here we have both.
3. Pi is taught to nearly everyone as part of a basic education. Dora was his only close friend who had recently completed her schooling. All of his other friends were in their forties. It had been 20 years since they learned about Pi. Elgar also signed to letters to Dora using the 3-1-4-2 scale degree first bar of the Enigma Variation.

[pml]

1. Proof? By assertion, rather than evidence. Skepticism? Not in evidence. Fail.
2. Again, instead of proof we have more assertion served up with an extra dollop of confirmation bias.
3. Argument by “people forget their schooling after 20 years”? How nice that you’ve invented a new logical fallacy.

In short, I call bulldust on this.

[dnlsanta]

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it could be a duck.

[pml]

"Exceptional claims demand exceptional evidence." (C. Hitchens)

Your claims are interesting, but not compelling, and a complete failure of skepticism has led you to over-egg the pudding.