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Welcome to Intermezzo from Interlochen Public Radio, where we take a few minutes to bounce some ideas around about classical music.
This week, Christy L'Esperance and her co-host Quinn celebrate this Thursday's National Puzzle Day with a musical puzzle — “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside of an enigma," Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
Today we'll talk about the 10th variation. Conveniently landing on National Puzzle Day, this one is about the person in Elgar's life who was able to figure out most of the ciphers: Dora Penny — or Dorabella. Dora had a stutter, which Elgar imitated in the repeated opening notes.
Dora, like Elgar, loved puzzles. When the Enigma variations were being premiered, he found time to send her a mysterious note. It was the Dorabella Cipher, a series of 87 seemingly random symbols arranged in three lines. They look like cursive capital E's turned in every direction. The Dorabella Cipher has tantalized codebreakers and puzzle enthusiasts for over 100 years, spawning a multitude of theories.
Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations: Variation X. "Dorabella"
This week's Mystery Melody
It's time to test your ears. Each week we have a mystery melody that we have to figure out together. It relates to our topic. (We'll make the melody less mysterious each day.)
If you know the mystery melody, text your name and the title and we’ll give you a shout out on Friday. The number to text is (833) 490-4718.
