Elgar: Enigma Variations
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
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The Enigma of Alice Elgar
We are taken without warning out onto the sea. The timpani quietly plays a drum roll while the strings play an undulating figure suggesting waves. Elgar didn't say her name directly, but Elgar says that the asterisks take the place of the name of a lady who was on the sea voyage at the time of composition. There is speculation that Elgar is actually describing Helen Weaver, his fiancé for 18 months in 1884.
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