On July 14, 1897, the English composer Edgar Eldar (June 2, 1857 - February 23, 1934) sent a note to Dorabella - as he called his girlfriend Dora Penny.
Dora Penny (1874-1964) was the daughter of the Rev. Alfred Penny (1845-1935) in Wolverhampton. Dora's mother died in February 1874, 6 days after Dora's birth. The family's father had to work as a missionary in Melanesia for many years. In 1885, Alfred Penny married again. Dora's stepmother was a friend of Caroline Alice Elgar, wife of Edward Elgar. This is how the Penny family met the Elgar family. In 1887, the Penny family invited Edward and Alice Elgar to their estate in Wolverhampton for a few days.
Edward was a music teacher at the time. Dora and Edward became friends and spent a lot of time together. They flew kites, rode bicycles and played football, although the age difference was more than twenty years. Subsequently, Edward dedicated the tenth theme (Intermezzo: Allegretto ("Dorabella")) of his piece of music Enigma Variations to Dora.
Upon arriving home, Eldar Edgard wrote an encrypted letter and signed Miss Penny.
Miss Penny, it said on one side of the card, and on the other was a three-line code of 87 characters.
Each cipher symbol is a variation of one, two, or three semicircles located in eight different orientations. From this combination, 24 different symbols can be made, most of which resemble the letter E, which could somehow be related to the initials of Edward Elgar (EE)).
The girl was never able to decipher the message, and it lay for about 40 years in her desk drawer before it was reprinted in the book of Penny's memories of Elgar by Metuen. Unfortunately, the original letter has been lost.
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On this occasion, Kevin Jones put forward one idea:
Dora's father recently returned from Melanesia, where he worked as a missionary for many years. Fascinated by the local language and culture, he acquired several traditional talismans adorned with mysterious symbols. Perhaps these items were mentioned in conversations during Elgar's stay in Wolverhampton? And if Dora mentioned this in her memoirs, then this could explain the fact that the encrypted message was called "initiation" in a conversation with the director of SOAS many years later.
In deciphering the composer's letter, some tried to get by with the simplest method of replacing characters with letters, since all the characters in the letter resemble the English letter E. At the end of the 19th century there were no computers that could create complex coding systems, and it is unlikely that Edward Elgar forced Miss Penny to decipher that - anything complicated. In this case, each cipher character can represent one letter of the alphabet. Although there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and only 24 characters are possible in the cipher, the author could do without rarely used letters such as "Z", "X", or use one character for some letters "I" / "J", "U" / "V". Cryptanalysts typically use frequency analysis to find the most repetitive characters in a cipher to compare with the most commonly used letters of the alphabet (eg A, E, T). Others have concludedthat there are generally not words hidden here, but a melody.
One of the difficulties of decoding is also that, as many cryptanalysts believe, the letter also contains some phrases, possibly jokes, that only Dora and Edward could understand. It is almost impossible to decipher them. Others, meanwhile, think that the cipher does not carry mathematical aspects, since neither Miss Penny nor Edward Elgar were mathematicians. Thus, this cipher carries more historical significance.
In 1970, the British musicologist and literary critic Eric Sams presented one of the possible solutions to the Dorabell cipher. Although he made a number of educated guesses, his method of decryption is complex and confusing. Its version looks like this:
STARTS: LARKS! IT'S CHAOTIC, BUT A CLOAK OBSCURES MY NEW LETTERS, A, B [alpha, beta, ie Greek letters or alphabet] BELOW: I OWN THE DARK MAKES EE SIGH WHEN YOU ARE TOO LONG GONE."
The length of this text is 109 characters, excluding the clarification of Greek letters, while the length of the original letter is 87 characters. Eric Sams explained this by the fact that Elgar used shorthand.
In 2007, a community dedicated to Edward Elgar held a letter decryption competition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Eduard Elgar. Several attempts have been made to decipher the letter, but these have not been successful. One or two articles made an impressively ambitious and thoughtful analysis. These records, although they mapped Elgar's symbols to the letters of the alphabet, eventually ended up with an arbitrary sequence of letters. The result was a collection of incoherent words and letters.
1st Baronet Broadheath Sir Edward William Elgar was born to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music merchant, and his wife Anne, daughter of a farm worker.
Elgar often listened to his father playing the organ at St. George's Church, and soon followed in his father's footsteps. At the age of eight, he began taking piano and violin lessons. The violin was of primary interest to him, and he wrote his first music specifically for this instrument.
After spending his childhood in his father's shop on the main street of Worcestershire, surrounded by scores, musical instruments and music textbooks, young Elgar studied musical theory on his own.
At the age of 15, Elgar hoped to leave Leipzig (Germany) to study music, but without funds, he dropped out of school and began working for a local solicitor. During this time, he first appeared in public as a violinist and organist. After a few months, he left a solicitor and took up a career as a musician, giving piano and violin lessons, and from time to time working in his father's shop.
He accompanied singers, played the violin, composed music, made arrangements and even acted as a conductor for the first time. At the age of 22, he accepted the position of Kapellmeister at the Worcester Mental Hospital for the Poor in Pavik, three miles southwest of Worcester, a progressive institution that believed in the healing power of music. Here he also composed music; in 1896 some of the works written for the orchestra of the asylum (mainly dances) were discovered and performed there.
He played first violin at the Worcester and Birmingham festivals, playing the 6th symphony, as well as "Stabat Mater" under the baton of their author, Antonín Dvořák, was invaluable experience. As a member of the wind instruments quintet, as well as commissioned by his musician friends, he made many arrangements of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and other masters. This helped him hone the composition and arrangement skills that he applied in his early compositions. Despite his withdrawn nature, Elgar did well in Worcester's musical circles.
On his first trips abroad, in 1880-1882, Elgar visited Paris and Leipzig, attended concerts of first-class orchestras, and heard the music of Richard Wagner for the first time. Returning to a provincial setting sharpened his desire for wider recognition. He often traveled to London, trying to get his work published, but during this period of his life he was often depressed and in dire need of money.
At the age of 29, through his teaching career, he met Ellis (Caroline) Roberts, the daughter of the late Major General Sir Henry Roberts and a publishing writer. She was eight years older than Elgar. Three years later, Ellis Roberts became his wife, against the wishes of her family. They married on May 8, 1889 at Bromton Chapel. Ellis's faith in him, as well as the fact that she had the courage to marry a "lower class member," greatly supported Elgar in his career. She calmly handled his mood swings and was a benevolent critic. She also took over the management of his affairs and became his personal secretary. Ellis tried her best to attract the attention of influential people to him, however, without much success. For the sake of her husband's career, she gave up some of her own aspirations. Subsequently, in her diary, she admitted: "Caring for a genius is already in itself the work of a lifetime for any woman." As an engagement gift, Elgar gave her a short piece for violin and piano "Salut d'Amour". At the suggestion of Ellis, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the center of UK musical life; and Elgar took up composition seriously. However, their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration."Caring for a genius is already a lifelong work in itself for any woman." As an engagement gift, Elgar gave her a short piece for violin and piano "Salut d'Amour". At the suggestion of Ellis, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the center of UK musical life; and Elgar took up composition seriously. However, their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration."Caring for a genius is already a lifelong work in itself for any woman." As an engagement gift, Elgar gave her a short piece for violin and piano "Salut d'Amour". At the suggestion of Ellis, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the center of UK musical life; and Elgar took up composition seriously. However, their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration. As an engagement gift, Elgar gave her a short piece for violin and piano "Salut d'Amour". At the suggestion of Ellis, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the center of UK musical life; and Elgar took up composition seriously. However, their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration. As an engagement gift, Elgar gave her a short piece for violin and piano "Salut d'Amour". At the suggestion of Ellis, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the center of UK musical life; and Elgar took up composition seriously. However, their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration.their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration.their stay in the capital did not add to their success, and they were forced to return to the town of Great Molvern, where Elgar could earn a living teaching and conducting in local musical groups. Despite the disappointment of the London period, returning to the province, closer to nature and friends, was good for Elgar's health and was a source of inspiration.
Some of his major orchestral works, including Enigma Variations and Pomp and Ceremonial Marches, are widely recognized. He is also the author of oratorios, symphonies, chamber music, instrumental concerts and songs. In 1924 he was appointed Master of Royal Music.
Sir Edward William Elgar - 1st Baronet Brodheath, member of the Order of Merit, Knight Grand Cross.