Elgar’s Variation XIII with Senta’s Redemption Motive

Edward Elgar cites a four-note melodic incipit from Felix Mendelssohn’s overture “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” in Variation XIII of the Enigma Variations. These Mendelssohn fragments replicate the opening four notes of Senta’s redemption motive in Richard Wagner’s opera “The Flying Dutchman” (Der Fliegende Holländer). Performing Senta’s redemption motive simultaneously with the first A-flat major Mendelssohn quotation produces an elegant counterpoint over bars 505-512, generating 8 melodic and 22 harmonic note conjunctions. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that Elgar covertly quotes Wagner in Variation XIII. To learn more, visit my blog at:

http://enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com/2020/05/on-scent-of-wagners-senta-in-elgars.html