Elgar, Sir Edward.

including the unique surviving sketch for the complete Variation XIII 'Romanza' (***), the only anonymous variation, thought to have been written in memory of his lost fiancée Helen Weaver



notated in short score, including substantially complete drafts of three variations (numbers XIII (***), X (Dorabella) and III (R.B.T.), an incomplete draft of ''Dorabella'' for two pianos and a briefer sketch of variation IV (W.M.B.), with many deletions, revisions and additions, some indicated with cues, the music frequently diverging from the final versions, written in black ink with additions and sketches in pencil, on up to twelve staves per page (mainly on two-stave systems; one draft on four stave-systems), titles to each variation (numbered in blue crayon), and a  few indications of instrumentation ("tim[pani] side drum sticks" and "CB.")



9 pages in all, with another page under a pasted-down leaf, folio (30.5 x 24cms), 12-stave paper, annotated at the head by the collector Edward Speyer, to whom Elgar gave the manuscripts, no place or date, [1898-1899]



 

This is the most important series of composition drafts by Elgar ever to have been offered for sale.  The ''Enigma'' Variations op.36 was the first orchestral materpiece by any English composer and remains one of Elgar’s best-loved works.  It ranks aboung the most famous and oft-performed pieces of English music and is the work which established Elgar's role as the leading composer of his day, raising him to national eminence. 

These manuscripts complement the sketches in the British Library (BL Add Ms 58003). Included here are substantial drafts of Variations XIII and III, movements which do not feature among the sketches in Add Ms 58003.

These drafts represent the Variations at an early stage of composition, before the sequence of movements was fixed.  Elgar renumbered them in blue crayon several times, particularly 'Dorabella'. Variation XIII bears Elgar's mysterious titles "xxx" and "L", perhaps referring to Lady Mary Lygon (however, see below). The briefest draft, that for Variation IV ('WMB'), perhaps recalls the very earliest stage in the genesis of the "Enigma" Variations in October 1898, where Alice Elgar indentified the tune with William Meath Baker.

The manuscripts are arranged as follows:
1) a bifolium comprising 
i) "Var." [= Variation XIII, 'Romanza'], being a continuous composition draft (Figure 55 to the end), in black ink and pencil, marked "grazioso", with tempo and dynamic markings, the reprise notated more sketchily (from figure 59), with Elgar's additional titles ("xxx" and "L[ygon]") and numbering (''XII'' and ''13'') in blue crayon, 2 pages, with, on the same bifolio:
ii) ''RBT'' [Variation III], a largely complete draft, lacking only the last six bars, the opening in black ink, continued in pencil, comprising 28 bars in all, deleted  in blue crayon and marked ''K'', 1 page
iii) ''Var. W.M.B'' [Variation IV], a short draft in ink of the first 10 bars (Figure 11), marked “Presto strepitoso”, deleted in crayon and marked ''K''), 1 page

2) a bifolium
[Variation X 'Dorabella'], a early draft of the variation for two pianos, containing many differences from the final version, written in black ink on four systems of four staves each (Figures 38-39), marked ''Primo'' and ''Secondo'', with additions in pencil, the whole deleted in ink; followed by a pencil sketch of the middle section (Figures 42-44), notated on two-stave systems, deleted in blue crayon and marked ''K'', 2 pages, with two blank pages

3) 2 leaves, containing
''Var D'' [= Variation X (Dorabella)], a series of drafts, written in ink and in pencil, comprising:
leaf i): an ink draft of 8 bars, numbered successively XI, IX and VIII in blue crayon, with expression (“grazioso”), articulation and dynamic markings in pencil, (Figures 38-39), the continuation lacking, followed by related sketches in pencil, marked ''?coda see over'', with on the verso: a draft in ink and pencil of 15 bars (Figure 45 to the end), and 
leaf ii):  an ink draft of 12 bars (Figures 42-44), leading to the reprise marked ''come prima'', with another ink sketch on the verso (laid down and obscured),  4 pages in all

If 'Nimrod' is the emotional centre of the work, the penultimate variation marked "***" is at once the most mysterious and elusive.  It is the variation preceding his own, and although ostensibly recording Lady Mary Lygon's departure to Australia, it is now regarded as representing a more poignant parting, that of his first fiancée Helen Weaver for New Zealand.  Elgar had been engaged to her for eighteen months during 1883-1884.  With its representations of the sound of the departing boat and quotation from Mendelssohn's overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (on the clarinet), the mood of the work deepens and darkens and surely relates to the loss of a beloved person forever, rather than the regret of a departing friend.  Elgar later deleted Lady Mary's initials and contemplated removing the Mendelssohn phrase altogether.

The Dorabella sketches relate to Elgar's friend Dora Penny, to whom the composer is known to have played the sketches of the Enigma Variations at an early stage of composition.  She was a friend of Richard Baker Townshend (R.B.T.), the subject of the third Variation.