By Cora Weaver
Published Sep 16, 2015
Elgar: Variations and EnigmasMusician Rodney Baldwyn made an interesting observation in 1989 while looking through his copy of Elgar’s memorial service. The service in March 1934 had been arranged by Ivor Atkins to whom, late in life, Elgar had disclosed his feelings about his first fiancée, Worcester-born Helen Weaver. Atkins chose three ‘Enigma Variations’ for the London Symphony Orchestra to play at the service: Variation I, dedicated to CAE (Alice) and to whom Elgar had been devoted for over thirty years; Variation IX evoked Nimrod (August Jaeger), whom Elgar described as ‘my dearest and truest friend’; Variation XIII was dedicated to ***. To most people, the first two Variations might seem obvious choices, being two people to whom Elgar was very close for many years, but only Atkins knew the truth behind his third choice. He believed that the unnamed, and therefore mysterious, Enigma XIII was in memory of Helen Weaver.Elgar: Variations and Enigmas examines why Elgar’s engagement to Helen ended and why she left Worcester. It investigates Helen’s enigmatic friend from Bradford, Annie Groveham. Annie stayed with Elgar and Helen at the Hotel Sedan in Leipzig in 1883 and, nearly fifty years later, following a rather tangled life, she re-entered Elgar’s life. This book reveals new information about Helen Weaver as a musician and includes previously unpublished photographs of her family. The sad tale is also related of one more enigmatic person in Elgar’s life: his brother-in-law Stanley Napier Roberts, whose personal misfortunes, particularly in the carefree hands of actress Lady Gipsy Rodgers, are notable and readable.