Chris Nicholson is a former human rights lawyer and high court judge whose latest book, "Elgar’s Secret Lover", explores the hidden life of Sir Edward Elgar.
Image: Supplied
South African author Chris Nicholson’s new novel, “Elgar’s Secret Lover”, revisits the life of famed English composer Sir Edward Elgar through a fictional detective story that explores claims of hidden romances, coded musical messages and the possibility that Elgar fathered a secret child.
“It is a musical detective story which investigates the secret life of a very famous personality,” Nicholson told “Independent Media Lifestyle”.
The novel follows retired Norwegian judge Christofferson after he receives a faded manuscript marked only with the initials “G.B.”
The discovery leads him into an investigation surrounding Elgar’s celebrated Enigma Variations and rumours that the composer concealed both a lover and an illegitimate child throughout his life.
Nicholson said that his fascination with Elgar began in childhood after joining his school music society. He credited his mother for encouraging his interest in classical music by helping him build a record collection.
“I date my love for the music of Edward Elgar to those early days,” he said.
Over the years, he collected Elgar’s music and read biographies and articles in an attempt to understand the source of the composer’s talent.
“I have always wrestled with the causes of genius, and with Elgar it was no different,” Nicholson explained. He stressed that his book is not a traditional biography but an investigation into the hidden emotional life behind Elgar’s music.
The composer is widely known for Pomp and Circumstance Marches and the patriotic anthem “Land of Hope and Glory”. Nicholson argues that beneath Elgar’s public image was a man who deliberately left clues about his private relationships in his music.
One of the central mysteries in the book surrounds the thirteenth movement of the Enigma Variations.
While the other sections include initials or references identifying friends and acquaintances, the thirteenth variation contains only five dots. Nicholson believes this was Elgar pointing toward a concealed muse.
Another key piece of evidence involves Elgar’s Violin Concerto, which carried a secret Spanish dedication translating to “Here is enshrined the soul of...”
Nicholson said that this hidden message has fascinated scholars and audiences for decades.
Drawing on his experience as a lawyer and former high court judge, Nicholson approached the story like a courtroom investigation.
“Investigations through thickets of conflicting evidence into seemingly impenetrable cases have always most appealed to me,” he said. “I regard clarity and truth, when they are hard won, as the summit of my achievement.”
He believes Elgar carefully protected aspects of his personal life.
“Elgar was a man of passion who needed female inspiration to coax music out of him,” Nicholson said. “There was a great love, one love above all, and this is the one that he had to suppress.”
"Elgar’s Secret Lover" explores the hidden life of Sir Edward Elgar through a fictional detective story written by Chris Nicholson.
Image: Supplied
Nicholson’s investigation led him to repeated references to the initials “DAN” in Elgar’s manuscripts. At first, he believed the letters referred to musical works, but he later concluded that they pointed to Dora Adeline Nelson, whom he describes as Elgar’s secret muse.
“With great excitement, I realised that they did not refer to the name of the piece but Dora Adeline Nelson, his secret love and muse,” he said.
Nicholson also points to an incident in 1916 when a student reportedly presented Elgar with a score of the Violin Concerto.
In the blank space following the secret dedication, Elgar allegedly wrote the initials “DN”, which Nicholson claims stood for Dora Nelson.
The novel further explores the role of music critic and biographer Ernest Newman, whom Nicholson believes knew the truth about Elgar’s hidden relationship and possible child.
Newman, a close friend of the composer, allegedly struggled with whether to reveal what he knew after Elgar’s death in 1934.
Nicholson said that Newman once admitted that he questioned whether the public had the right to know intimate details about famous figures. In a letter published in “The Listener" in 1959, Newman wrote: “I doubt whether the public has the right to know certain things about the lives of great men.”
According to Nicholson, this was evidence that those close to Elgar deliberately concealed parts of the composer’s life. He argues that Newman’s silence was not accidental but a conscious choice to protect Elgar’s reputation.
What separates “Elgar’s Secret Lover" from earlier biographies, Nicholson said, is its legal approach. Rather than presenting theory alone, he examines letters, diaries, reviews and musical scores as evidence.
He structures the narrative like a court case, asking readers to weigh contradictions and decide whether the allegations against Elgar can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Nicholson believes that the mystery surrounding Elgar continues because the composer intentionally encouraged speculation while hiding the truth.
“One memorably remarked that he particularly enjoyed bamboozling posterity,” Nicholson said of Elgar. “Another said that Elgar hid himself and his intimate affairs behind a mask of respectability.”