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Nimrod · 09-24-2010, 03:55 PM

Edward Elgar incorporated a line from a nursery rhyme in the first six bars of his Enigma Variations (Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36). Elgar enjoyed jokes, puzzles, puns, and nursery rhymes and he incorporated all of these in this work. Talk about eccentric! Read on to see how he did it. You can view the first six bars of the score at wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_Variations

Pi is a constant in a circle (circumference divided by diameter.) It is usually approximated by 3.142 as a decimal or 22/7 as a fraction. In 2007, **** Santa observed that the first four notes were scale degree 3-1-4-2, decimal Pi. 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.) Thus Pi fits all the clues given by Elgar in 1899. Elgar took the unusual step of putting a double bar between 6 and 7 which usually mean the end of the piece. In this case it meant the end of the enigma. 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, there is a Pi hint in each of the three sentences Elgar wrote in 1929 at the age of 72, when no one had guessed the enigma after 30 years. In the 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 the 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.”

He was eccentric and very clever.

09-24-2010, 03:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
Nimrod Groupie Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 9	Edward Elgar incorporated a line from a nursery rhyme in the first six bars of his Enigma Variations (Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36). Elgar enjoyed jokes, puzzles, puns, and nursery rhymes and he incorporated all of these in this work. Talk about eccentric! Read on to see how he did it. You can view the first six bars of the score at wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_Variations Pi is a constant in a circle (circumference divided by diameter.) It is usually approximated by 3.142 as a decimal or 22/7 as a fraction. In 2007, **** Santa observed that the first four notes were scale degree 3-1-4-2, decimal Pi. 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.) Thus Pi fits all the clues given by Elgar in 1899. Elgar took the unusual step of putting a double bar between 6 and 7 which usually mean the end of the piece. In this case it meant the end of the enigma. 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, there is a Pi hint in each of the three sentences Elgar wrote in 1929 at the age of 72, when no one had guessed the enigma after 30 years. In the 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 the 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.” He was eccentric and very clever.