Elgar: Enigma Variations - An Analysis

Vince Sheehan explores this orchestral masterpiece, looking at how the theme and each variation is put together. Musical illustrations are played on both the violin and piano. Numbers refer to rehearsal marks followed by bars after those points:

Theme: A,B (7), A1 (1:1), Transition (2:1)
Variation 1 (C.A.E.): A (2:3), B (3:1), A1 (3:5), Coda (4:4)
Variation 2 (H.D.S-P.): A (5:1), A1 (6:1), A2 (7:1)
Variation 3 (R.B.T.): A (8:1), B (9:1), A1 (10:7) (B & A1 repeated)
Variation 4 (W.M.B.): A (11:1), B (12:1), A1 (13:1)
Variation 5 (R.P.A.): A (15:1), B (16:1), A1 (17:1), B1 (18:1), Coda (18:4)
Variation 6 (Ysobel): A (19:1), B (20:1), A1 (21:1), Coda (22:1)
Variation 7 (Troyte): A (23:1), B (25:1), A1 (26:1), B1 (28:1), Coda (29:1)
Variation 8 (W.N.): A (30:1), B (31:1), A1 (32:1)
Variation 9 (Nimrod): A (33:1), B(35:1), A1 (36:1), Coda (37:1)
Variation 10 (Dorabella): A (38:1), B (39:1), A1 (41:1), C (42:1), A2 (44:1), C1 (45:1), Coda (46:1)
Variation 11 (G.R.S.): A (47:1), B (49:1), A1 (50:1); Transition (52:1)
Variation 12 (B.G.N.): A (52:3), B (53:4), A1 (54:1); Transition (54:9)
Variation 13 (***): A (55:1), B (56:2), A1 (59:1), Coda (60:2)
Variation 14 (E.D.U.): A (61:1), B (65:1), A1 (70:1), C (72:2), B1 (74:1), Coda (76:1)