Editing Enigma Variations (section)

===Variation XIII (''Romanza: Moderato'') " * * * "===
Possibly, [[Lady Mary Trefusis|Lady Mary Lygon]] of Madresfield Court near Malvern, a sponsor of a local music festival. "The asterisks take the place of the name of a lady{{efn|Elgar's original text names Lady Mary Lygon. She sailed for Australia after the completion of the ''Variations'' but before the work's first performance.}} who was, at the time of the composition, on a sea voyage. The drums suggest the distant throb of the engines of a liner, over which the clarinet quotes a phrase from Mendelssohn's ''[[Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Mendelssohn)|Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage]]''."
<score sound="1">
  \relative c'' { \clef treble \time 3/4 \key g \major \tempo "Moderato." 4 = 76 r4^"Solo" r c~(\pp | c^"molto espress." bes4. aes8) | aes4~ aes8 }
</score>

If it is Lady Mary, Elgar may have withheld her initials because of superstition surrounding the number 13,{{sfn|Kennedy|1987|p=96}} or he may have felt uneasy about publicly associating the name of a prominent local figure with music that had taken on a powerful emotional intensity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moore|first=Jerrold Northrop|author-link=Jerrold Northrop Moore|date=November 1999|title=The Return of the Dove to the Ark – "Enigma" Variations a Century on|journal=Elgar Society Journal|volume=11|issue=3|url=http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.11-No.3-November-1999-Compressed.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://elgar.org/elgarsoc/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.11-No.3-November-1999-Compressed.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> There is credible evidence to support the view that the variation's atmosphere of brooding melancholy and its subtitle "Romanza" are tokens of a covert tribute to another woman, the name most frequently mentioned in this connection being that of Helen Weaver, who had broken off her engagement to Elgar in 1884 before sailing out of his life forever aboard a ship bound for New Zealand.{{sfn|Burley|Carruthers|1972|pp=125–127}}{{sfn|Atkins|1984|pp=477–480}}{{sfn|Kennedy|1987|pp=96–97, 330}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Blamires|first=Ernest|date=July 2005|title='Loveliest, Brightest, Best': a reappraisal of 'Enigma's' Variation XIII (Part I)|pages=19–34|url=https://elgarsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.-14-No.-2-July-2005-Compressed.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://elgarsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.-14-No.-2-July-2005-Compressed.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Elgar Society Journal|volume=14|issue=2|ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Blamires|first=Ernest|date=November 2005|title='Loveliest, Brightest, Best': a reappraisal of 'Enigma's' Variation XIII (Part II)|pages=25–38|url=https://elgarsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.-14-No.-3-November-2005-Compressed.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://elgarsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vol.-14-No.-3-November-2005-Compressed.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Elgar Society Journal|volume=14|issue=3|ref=none}}</ref>