Enigma

Enigma (pronounced uh-nig-muh)

(1) A puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation; mysterious.

(2) A person of puzzling or contradictory character.

(3) A saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.

(4) A German-built enciphering machine developed for commercial use in the early 1920s and later adapted and appropriated by German and other Axis powers for military use through World War II (initial capital letter).

(5) In music, an orchestral work in fourteen parts, Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 (popularly known as the Enigma Variations) by Edward Elgar.

1530–1540: From the Late aenigmaticus, from aenigmat-, stem of aenigma (riddle), from the Ancient Greek verbal noun αἴνιγμα (aínigma) (dark saying; speaking in riddles), the construct being ainik- (stem of ainíssesthai (to speak in riddles), derivative of aînos (fable) + -ma, the noun suffix of result.  The sense of a "statement which conceals a hidden meaning or known thing under obscure words or forms" emerged in the 1530s although enigmate had been in use since the mid 1400s, under the influence of the Latin aenigma (riddle), the ultimate root of all being the ainos (tale, story; saying, proverb), a poetic and Ionic word, of unknown origin.  The modern sense of "anything inexplicable to an observer" is from circa 1600, the meaning also absorbing the earlier (1570s) enigmatical & enigmatically.  The derived forms are the adjectives enigmatic & enigmatical, adjective and the adverb enigmatically; enigmatic the most frequently used.  In modern English, the plural is almost always enigmas although some writing in technical publications continue to use enigmata although the once common alternative spelling ænigma is now so rare as to be probably archaic.  An enigma is something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable although use with the older meaning (a riddle) is still seen, indeed in some contexts the words are used interchangeably.  In idiomatic use in Spain, the character of an enigmatic soul is illustrated by by suggesting he’s the sort of fellow who “were one to meet him on a staircase, one wouldn’t be sure if he was going up or coming down”.  Enigma is a noun, enigmatic is an adjective and enigmatically is an adverb; the noun plural is enigmas.

Elgar’s Enigma Variations

English composer Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) wrote Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 during 1898-1899.  An orchestral work in fourteen parts, it’s referred almost always as the Enigma Variations, the enigma being the linkage to a certain piece of music is the theme.  Elgar famously wrote a dedication for the work "to my friends pictured within", each of the variations a sketch in musical form of some friend or acquaintance, including himself.  An enigma it remained, Elgar always secretive about the mysterious theme and the work has always defied the attempts of musicologists and other composers to deconstruct things to the point where a thematic agreement ensued although there have been theories and suggestions.

Lindsay Lohan in Enigma Magazine.

Mozart’s ‘Prague’ Symphony was one, the idea attractive because the slow movement fluctuates between G minor and G major, as does Enigma’s theme.  There were those who thought it might reference Auld Lang Syne as a veiled reference to a farewell to the nineteenth century, the variations completed in 1899.  The list went on, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; God Save The Queen; Martin Luther’s hymn tune Ein Feste Burg; Home, Sweet Home; Rule Britannia; the theme of the slow movement of Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’ Sonata; various passages of scripture, Pop Goes The Weasel; a Shakespeare sonnet and, most recently added, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.  To add more mystery, the title "Enigma" didn’t appear on Elgar’s original score, added only after the papers had been delivered to the publisher and despite enquiries, the nature of the enigma he declined to discuss, saying only it was a "dark saying" which “must be left un-guessed”.  His reticence didn’t discourage further questions but his answers, if not cryptic, added little and the conclusion remained the theme was a counterpoint on some well-known melody which is never heard.

A fine recording is by the London Symphony Orchestra under Adrian Boult (1889-1983), (1970; Warner Classics 764 0152).

For over a century, just which tune has drawn the interest of musicians,  mathematicians & madmen for Elgar died without revealing the truth.  It’s been suggested artificial intelligence might be used to find the answer but there’s also the suspicion Elgar preferred the enigma to remain one and even if someone during his lifetime had cracked the code, he may have be disinclined to kill the mystique attached to the piece.  He had good reason to be fond of the fourteen variations.  It was the work which cemented his reputation internationally as a first rate composer and even today, some of the popularity probably lies in the impenetrability of the riddle.