Enigma Variations

Composers in the early twentieth century were remarkably unprepared for the shock of discovering that the market did not necessarily value their works as highly as they did, and this was especially true of the Variations. Elgar wrote: ‘really Jaeger it is a damned fine piece of work’, but Novello, so it seemed to him, had failed to acknowledge this in financial terms. He was cut down to size by the terms which Novello offered and his sense of outrage, disappointment and humiliation was reflected in his initial reaction to the offer and in the exchange of letters which ensued. One can, however, understand Novello's point of view.

When the Variations was first published in 1899, Elgar was not yet fully established as a composer with a national and international reputation and the success of the work was by no means assured. Also, it was notoriously difficult to make money out of large-scale orchestral works. Sheet music sales (the mainstay of the music publishing business) were likely to be minimal since no vocal scores could be sold, as with cantatas and oratorios. Full or miniature score sales were unlikely to bring in much revenue, although the market for piano arrangements could be favourable. Since it was Novello who took the initial financial risk through the heavy expenses of publishing the work, it would be as hard for Novello to make money out of publishing the Variations as it would be for Elgar to earn money from them.