h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Honorary President of the Elgar Society was convinced that Rule Britania! was the 'solution' to Elgar's 'Enigma'. In 1984 before conducting the Variations at Cernegie Hall he adressed the audience and said so. See: Tim Page, Music Notes, The New York Times, Sunday November 3, 1985, p. H 23.

I also am convinced, but not everybody is. The Elgar Society do not support this theory at present.

In order for "Rule Britannia" to be the solution to Elgar's Enigma, it should fit the clues he gave us. What is the "dark saying" and how does it relate? What is the connection to the "drop of the seventh in the third and fourth measures should be observed" that Sir Edward hinted about in 1929? Was Dora the only one who had access to the duodecimal penny? Unless these questions are answered it is difficult to accept this as the solution.

Was Dora the only one who had access to the duodecimal penny?

No, but Dora's name was Dora Penny.

That is an interesting point about Dora's maiden name.

As I was struggling with the clues, my first thought was to relate Dora Penny's name with a penny's being circular. That cirle could be related to Pi, but I discarded that interpretation in favor of what I considered to be a better answer; the two letters signed by Sir Edward using the opening four notes of his Enigma Variation, the 3-1-4-2 on a musical scale. If you just play the 3-1-4-2 on the keyboard, you certainly hear the Theme that "goes" throughout the piece without (Pi) ever being "on the stage."