Talk:Violin Concerto (Elgar)

Recordings
Maybe Elgar's v.c.is one of the relatively known longest concertos, and the recordings are few. But to me the real "classic" version is not Lord Menuhin's but Albert Sammons, and this one is much better IMO. Probably the longest v.c.ever composed is Reger's. Last more than 63' in my version. And this one NOBODY ever plays. Oisfetz

Musical analysis
That section (in which the music itself is dealt with) is pretty weak. Specially the 3rd movement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.57.200.89 (talk) 18:40, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

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A Dedication Cipher
Elgar was an expert in devising and decoding secret messages. This undeniable fact of his psychological profile invites a search for cryptograms in the cryptic Spanish dedication to his violin concerto: "Aqui está encerrada el alma de ....." His translation of this fragmentary Spanish epitaph drawn from Lesage's popular 18th-century novel Gil Blas reads, "Herein is enshrined the soul of ....." Elgar's unconventional dedication shrouds his secret friend's identity using five dots in place of a name.

When treated as an acrostic anagram, the initials of Elgar's six-word translation (HIETSO) may be rearranged as IHSOTE. The first three letters of this acrostic anagram (IHSOTE) comprise a well-known Christogram drawn from the first three letters of the Greek spelling for Jesus (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ). Those same three letters also convey the Latin phrase "Jesus Hominum Salvator" meaning "Jesus, Savior of Men." Consistent with Elgar's dedication, the name "Jesus" has precisely five letters. The last four letters of this acrostic anagram (IHSOTE) are a virtual spelling of Soter, the Greek word for Savior. The absent "r" may be reasonably interpolated based on the Latin translation of IHS that ends with the word "Salvator" (Savior).

A second possible anagram of the initials HIETSO is "IETHOS." "I" is the Roman numeral for one, and "ETHOS" is the Greek word for "Spirit." Consequently, "IETHOS" may be decoded as "One Spirit." A third possible acrostic anagram is "ITHEOS." This may be interpreted as "One God" as "THEOS" is the Greek word for "God." According to Roman Catholicism, Jesus is the incarnation of God. The pairing of Greek and Latin terms persists with all three acrostic anagrams, a pattern that defies a haphazard formation. The three decryptions of the initials HIETSO as "Jesus, Savior" (IHSOTE[R]), "One Spirit" (IETHOS), and "One God" (ITHEOS) encapsulate the Trinitarian doctrine of Elgar's Roman Catholic faith. Elgar's Violin Concerto is written in three movements, implying one for each member of the Trinity.

Three languages are employed in the construction of this dedication cipher: English, Latin, and Greek. The initials of those three languages are an acrostic anagram of ELG, the first three letters in Elgar. This outcome mimics the abbreviation IHS that represents the first three letters from the Greek spelling of Jesus. The missing "r" that completes Soter may likewise be appended to ELG to produce a phonetic rendering of Elgar as "ELG-R." This second tier of encryption is only revealed by successfully decoding the first layer, and conveniently furnishes a stealth signature from the author. The identification of Jesus as Elgar's secret friend is wholly consistent with his Roman Catholic faith. The precision and ingenuity of this multilayered cipher demonstrates Elgar’s gift for cryptography, a neglected field of study deserving of more rigorous investigation and analysis.—comment added by (talk) 16:39, 11 April 2021 (UTC)Robert W. Padgett (talk) 21:57, 14 September 2021 (UTC)