The Elgar Enigma series celebrates the 150th anniversary of
Elgar's birth, the countryside that so inspired him and his first
widely recognised work, Variations on an Original Theme, more
commonly known as The Enigma Variations.
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Variation XIII (Romanza: Moderato) *.*.*. was dedicated to...
well we do not know for sure. As Elgar put it: The asterisks take
the place of the name of a lady who was, at the time of the
composition, on a sea voyage. The drums suggest the distant throb
of the engines of a liner, over which the clarinet quotes a phrase
from Mendelssohn's "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage."
This has led to a number of ideas. The name of Lady Mary Lygon
has long been suggested and Elgar himself had supported that idea,
but Lady Mary was not a close friend of the Elgars. The name of
Helen Weaver has also been mentioned as a much more likely
candidate; she was a former fianceé of Elgar who broke the
engagement (possibly in part due to a difference of religion) and
emigrated to New Zealand in 1884.
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Lady Mary Lygon
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The Birthplace Museum, Broadheath
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There is a house in the small village of Broadheath (there
is some debate whether the house is in Lower or Upper
Broadheath) to the southwest of Worcester. It was here in a
small upstairs room on 2nd June 1857 that Edward Elgar was born.
The family lived here for a further two years before the imminent
arrival of another child forced them to move to live above their
shop premises in Worcester. Throughout his life Elgar often
returned to the place of his birth and it was bought by Worcester
City and set up as the Elgar Birthplace Museum.
In the museum there are many items displayed that are associated
with Elgar: his desk as he had it, his gramaphone, an ordinance
survey map of the areas he cycled around Malvern, the silver casket
containing the scroll of the Freedom of the City of Worcester which
was conferred in September 1905 and, outside, the small graves of
two of his dogs.
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To find the cache follow these instructions from the
coordinates. Walk south along road for 60 m and then through the
gate (which used to be a stile) on the west side of the road.
Follow path bearing right along the trees. After 300 m you come to
a gap and a line of trees to the left. Do not pass through the gap,
walk 10 m left to find the cache in the base of a tree.
This being a letterbox hybrid there is also a stamp in the box
which you can take a pressing of but please do not remove from the
box. H had a go at carving it from an eraser: it could be better
but it was her first attempt.
Parking coordinates are those above.