Theme And Variations Music Definition

Musical course

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or whatever combination of these.

Variation techniques [edit]

Mozart'southward Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" (1785), known in the English-speaking earth as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" exemplifies a number of common variation techniques. Here are the first eight bars of the theme:

Ah je vous dirai maman theme

Ah je vous dirai maman theme, bars 1-8

Melodic variation [edit]

Mozart'south showtime variation decorates and elaborates the plain melodic line:

Ah je vous dirai maman Var 1

Rhythmic variation [edit]

The fifth variation breaks upwardly the steady pulse and creates syncopated off-beats:

Ah je vous dirai maman Var v

Ah je vous dirai maman Var five

Harmonic variation [edit]

The seventh variation introduces powerful new chords, which supplant the simple harmonies originally implied by the theme with a prolongational series of descending fifths:

Ah je vous dirai maman Var 7

Ah je vous dirai maman Var vii

Minor manner [edit]

In the elaborate eighth variation, Mozart changes from the major to the parallel small-scale way, while combining three techniques: counterpoint, suspensions and simulated:

Ah je vous dirai maman Var 8

Ah je vous dirai maman Var eight

A complete performance can be heard by following this link: Mind.

Other examples [edit]

Variation techniques are frequently used within pieces that are non themselves in the form of theme and variations. For instance, when the opening two-bar phrase of Chopin'due south Nocturne in F modest returns later in the piece, it is instantly repeated as an elegant melodic re-working:

Chopin Nocturne in F small-scale

Debussy's piano slice "Reflets dans l'Eau" (1905) opens with a sequence of chords:

Debussy Reflets dans 50'Eau opening 2 confined

Debussy Reflets dans l'Eau, opening bars

These chords open up out into arpeggios when they render subsequently in the piece:

Debussy Reflets dans 50'Eau varied recapitulation of the opening

Debussy Reflets dans 50'Eau, varied recapitulation of the opening

Follow this link for a complete performance of "Reflets dans l'Eau". Sometimes melodic variation occurs simultaneously with the original. In Beethoven'due south "Waldstein" pianoforte sonata, the principal 2d-subject field theme of the opening movement, which is in sonata form, is heard in the pianist'south left hand, while the correct hand plays a decorated version. (Run into too heterophony.)

Beethoven Waldstein sonata 1st movement second subject

Beethoven Waldstein 1st movement, confined 204-8

While most variations tend to elaborate on the given theme or idea, there are exceptions. In 1819, Anton Diabelli commissioned Viennese composers to create variations on a waltz that he had equanimous:

Beethoven contributed a mighty set of 33 variations on this theme. The thirteenth of these stands out in its seemingly wilful eccentricity and determination to reduce the given material to its bare bones:

Beethoven, Diabelli Variation No. 13

Wilfrid Mellers describes this variation as "comically disruptive... The original tonal sequence is telescoped, the two-bar sequences beingness absorbed into the silences." ^[two]

In a like fashion, the first of the 24 variations of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for pianoforte and orchestra presents a terse summary of Paganini's original theme.

Variations on material originally past other composers [edit]

Many composers take taken pieces composed by others equally a basis for elaboration. John Dowland's Lachrimae was oft used by other composers equally a footing for sets of variations during the 17th century. Equanimous in 1700, the final move of Arcangelo Corelli'southward Violin Sonata Op. 5 No. ix opens with this rather thin melodic line:

Corelli Violin Sonata Op. 5 No. 9

Corelli Violin Sonata Op. five No. 9

Corelli's young man-composer and quondam student Francesco Geminiani produced a "playing version"^[three] as follows:

Corelli Violin Sonata Op. v No. 9, performing version past Geminiani

Corelli Violin Sonata Op. 5 No. 9, performing version by Geminiani

Co-ordinate to Nicholas Cook, in Geminiani'south version "all the notes of Corelli's violin line ... are absorbed into a quite new melodic organization. With its feature rhythmic blueprint, Geminiani'southward opening is a melody in a way that Corelli's is not... whereas in the original version the first iv bars consist of an undifferentiated stream of quarter-notes and make upwardly a single phrase, Geminiani's version has three sequential repetitions of a distinctive i-bar phrase and a contrasted endmost phrase, producing a strongly accented downwardly-beat quality."^[4]

Jazz arrangers frequently develop variations on themes by other composers. For case, Gil Evans' 1959 arrangement of George Gershwin's song "Summertime" from the opera Porgy and Bess is an case of variation through irresolute orchestral timbre. At the commencement, Evans presents a single variation that repeats five times in subtly differing instrumental combinations. These create a compelling background, a constantly-changing sonic tapestry over which trumpeter Miles Davis freely improvises his own gear up of variations. Wilfrid Mellers (1964) wrote that "[i]t called for an improviser of Davis's kind and quality to explore, through Gil Evans' organization, the tender frailty inherent in the 'Summer-fourth dimension' melody... Between them, solo line and harmonic colour create a music that is at once innocent and tense with anticipation".^[v]

Variation course [edit]

Variation forms include ground bass, passacaglia, chaconne, and theme and variations.^[6] Ground bass, passacaglia and chaconne are typically based on brief ostinato motifs providing a repetitive harmonic basis and are also typically continuous evolving structures. Theme-and-variation forms are, however, based specifically on melodic variation, in which the primal musical idea, or theme, is repeated in contradistinct form or accompanied in a different manner. Theme-and-variation structure more often than not begins with a theme (which is itself sometimes preceded by an introduction), typically betwixt eight and thirty-2 bars in length; each variation, particularly in music of the eighteenth century and earlier, will be of the same length and structure every bit the theme.^[7] This class may in office have derived from the practical creativity of musicians; "Courtroom dances were long; the tunes which accompanied them were curt. Their repetition became intolerably slow, and inevitably led the actor to indulge in extempore variation and ornamentation";^[viii] however, the format of the dance required these variations to maintain the same duration and shape of the tune.

Variation forms can be written as complimentary-continuing pieces for solo instruments or ensembles, or can constitute a movement of a larger slice. Near jazz music is structured on a bones pattern of theme and variations.^[ix]

Examples include John Bull's Salvator Mundi, Bach's Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her, Passacaglia and Fugue in C small-scale, Violin Chaconne, and (D pocket-sized solo violin suite), Corelli's La Folia Variations, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, the Finale of Brahms'southward Quaternary Symphony, Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56, Elgar's Enigma Variations, Franck's Variations Symphoniques, and Richard Strauss's Don Quixote.^[10] Both Schubert'due south Death and the Maiden Quartet and Trout Quintet have their titles from his songs used as variation movements.^[10]

Chopin's Berceuse for piano, Op. 57, was first called Variantes, and consists of 16 continuous variations on a basis bass.

History of variations [edit]

Although the outset isolated example emerged in the 14th century, works in theme-and-variation form first emerge in the early sixteenth century.^[11] Possibly the earliest published example is the diferencias for vihuela past Luis de Narváez (1538).^[seven] A favorite form of variations in Renaissance music was divisions, a type in which the bones rhythmic beat is successively divided into smaller and smaller values. The basic principle of beginning with unproblematic variations and moving on to more elaborate ones has always been present in the history of the variation form, since it provides a fashion of giving an overall shape to a variation fix, rather than letting information technology just grade an capricious sequence.

Keyboard works in variation grade were written past a number of 16th-century English language composers, including William Byrd, Hugh Aston and Giles Farnaby. Outstanding examples of early on Baroque variations are the "ciaccone" of Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz.^[12] 2 famous variation sets from the Baroque era, both originally written for harpsichord, are George Frideric Handel's The Harmonious Blacksmith ready, and Johann Sebastian Bach'due south Goldberg Variations, BWV 988.

In the Classical era, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a nifty number of variations, such as the first motility of his Pianoforte Sonata in A, K. 331, or the finale of his Clarinet Quintet. Joseph Haydn specialized in sets of double variations, in which two related themes, usually minor and major, are presented and so varied in alternation; outstanding examples are the slow movement of his Symphony No. 103, the Drumroll, and the Variations in F minor for pianoforte, H XVII:6.^[7]

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote many variation sets in his career. Some were independent sets, for instance the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120, and the Eroica Variations in Eastward ♭ major, Op. 35. Others class single movements or parts of movements in larger works, such as first movement of the Pianoforte Sonata No. 12, Op. 26, or the variations in the final movement of the Third Symphony (Eroica). Variation sets also occur in several of his tardily works, such every bit the slow movement of his Cord Quartet No. 12, Op. 127, the second movement of his final Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, and the slow tertiary movement of the 9th Symphony, Op.125.

Franz Schubert wrote 5 variation sets using his own lieder as themes. Amid them is the slow motion of his string quartet Death and the Maiden D. 810, an intense ready of variations on his somber lied (D. 531) of the same title. Schubert's Piano Quintet in A (The Trout, D. 667) likewise includes variations on his vocal The Trout D. 550. The 2d movement of the Fantasie in C major comprises a gear up of variations on Der Wanderer; indeed the work as a whole takes its pop name from the lied.

In the Romantic era, the variation course was developed further. In 1824, Carl Czerny premiered his Variations for piano and orchestra on the Austrian National Hymn Gott erhalte Franz der Kaiser, Op. 73.^[13] Frédéric Chopin wrote four sets for solo piano, and also the Variations on "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, Op. two, for piano and orchestra (1827). A farther example of the class is Felix Mendelssohn'due south Variations sérieuses.

Johannes Brahms wrote a number of sets of variations; some of them rely on themes past older composers, for example the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel (1861; piano), and the Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1873; orchestra). The latter piece of work is believed to be the first set of variations for orchestra lonely that was a piece of work in its own right, rather than part of a symphony, suite or other larger work.^[14] Karl Goldmark's Rustic Nuptials Symphony (1875) starts out with a set of variations every bit its first movement. Antonín Dvořák's Symphonic Variations (1877) and Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations (1899) are other well-known examples. Anton Arensky's Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky (1894) is amongst his nearly popular compositions.

Variation sets take also been composed by notable twentieth-century composers, including

Sergei Rachmaninoff (Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra, and his variations for solo piano on themes by Chopin and Corelli),
Charles Ives (Variations on "America", 1891),
Ernő Dohnányi (Variations on a Nursery Melody for piano and orchestra, Op. 25, 1914),
Arnold Schoenberg (Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31, and Theme and Variations, Opp. 43a and 43b),
Igor Stravinsky (Pulcinella: XV Gavotta con due variazioni, 1920; Octet: II Tema con variazioni, 1922; Ebony Concerto: 3, 1945; and Variations: Aldous Huxley in memoriam, 1963–64),
Alban Berg (Act ane, Scene four and the first of Human activity iii scene i of Wozzeck),
Olivier Messiaen (Thème et variations for violin and piano, 1932),
Miklós Rózsa, Theme, Variations, and Finale (1933),
George Gershwin (Variations on "I Got Rhythm" for piano and orchestra, 1934),
Anton Webern (Variations, Op. 27 for piano, and Variations, Op. 30 for orchestra),
Reinhold Glière (Harp Concerto in E ♭ : II, 1938),
Paul Hindemith (Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, 1943),
Benjamin Britten (including the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, 1937, and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra [Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Purcell], 1946),
William Walton (second motility of the Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1947–49, and Variations on a Theme by Hindemith, 1963),
Leonard Bernstein (office i of his Symphony No. 2: The Age of Anxiety, 1949, is a Prologue and xiv variations),
Luigi Nono (Variazioni canoniche sulla serie dell'op. 41 di A. Schönberg, 1950),
John Cage, Variations I–8 (1958–67), Hymns and Variations, for twelve amplified voices (1979),
Ben Johnston, String Quartet No. 4 "Ascent" (Variations on "Amazing Grace", 1973),
Frederic Rzewski, The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (1975),
Frans Geysen, De grote variatie for organ (1975),
Cristóbal Halffter, Variaciones sobre la resonancia de united nations grito, for 11 instruments, record, and live electronics (1976–77),
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Variations for cello and rock ring (1977),
Steve Reich (Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards, 1979),
John McGuire, Forty-eight Variations, for ii pianos (1976–eighty), and
John Williams, Variations on "Happy Birthday" for orchestra (1995).

An unusual option was taken in 1952 with the Variations on an Elizabethan Theme, a ready of six variations on Sellenger'southward Round for string orchestra, in which each variation was written by a different composer: Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Oldham, Humphrey Searle, Michael Tippett, and William Walton.

Graham Waterhouse equanimous a trio Gestural Variations in 1997 and Variations for Cello Solo in 2019, and Helmut Lachenmann composed a trio Sakura-Variationen on the Japanese song in 2000.

A significant sub-set of the above consists of variations on a theme by some other composer.

Improvised variations [edit]

Skilled musicians can often improvise variations on a theme. This was commonplace in the Baroque era, when the da capo aria, peculiarly when in slow tempo, required the singer to be able to improvise a variation during the render of the principal material. During this menses, co-ordinate to Nicholas Cook, it was ofttimes the instance that "responsibility for the most highly elaborated stage in the compositional process fell not upon the composer simply upon the executant. In their instrumental sonatas composers like Corelli, Geminiani, and Handel sometimes supplied the performer with only the skeleton of the music that was to be played; the ornamentation, which contributes crucially to the music's result, had to be provided by the performer." Cook cites Geminiani'southward elaboration of Corelli (run across above) as an example of an instance "in which the composer, or a performer, wrote down a version of one of these movements as it was meant to exist played."^[iii]

Musicians of the Classical era also could improvise variations; both Mozart (see Mozart'south compositional method) and Beethoven made powerful impressions on their audiences when they improvised. Modern listeners tin become a sense of what these improvised variations sounded like by listening to published works that evidently are written transcriptions of improvised performances, in particular Beethoven's Fantasia in G Minor, Op. 77,^[fifteen] and Mozart'south Variations on an Aria by Gluck, K. 455.^[xvi]

Improvisation of elaborate variations on a popular theme is one of the cadre genres of jazz. According to William Austin, the practice of jazz musicians "resembles the variations on pop songs composed for the keyboard at the end of the 16th century by Byrd, Bull, Sweelinck and Frescobaldi, more than the cumulative variations of Beethoven and Brahms."^[17] Generally, the theme used is stated quite explicitly at the outset. However, some jazz musicians employ a more oblique approach. According to Hazard, "Charlie Parker's operation of Embraceable You tin can be appreciated fully only if we are familiar with the tune, for dissimilar many jazz performances in which the theme is stated at the start, followed by improvisations on the theme, Parker launches near immediately into improvisation, stating but a fragment of the melody at the end of the piece."^[18] Coleman Hawkins' famous interpretation of "Trunk and Soul" shows a similar approach. "On xi October 1939, Coleman Hawkins went into New York's RCA studios with an viii-piece band to record the 1930 composition Body and Soul. It was already a favourite amongst jazz musicians, but nobody had ever played it similar this. Pianist Gene Rodgers plays a direct 4-bar introduction before Hawkins swoops in, soloing for 3 minutes without playing a single annotation of the tune, gliding over the chord changes with such harmonic logic that he ends up inventing bebop."^[19]

Improvisation by means of spontaneous variations, ornaments, embellishments and/or alterations to a melody is the basis of about sub-Saharan African music (traditional and pop) extending from melody and harmony to form and rhythmic embellishments.

Run into also [edit]

Composer tributes (classical music)
Developing variation
Inversion
Matrix (music)
Strophic form
Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony
Tune-family unit

Notes [edit]

^ White 1976, p. 63.
^ Mellers 1983, p. 386.
^ ^a ^b Cook 1990, p. 189.
^ Melt 1990, p. 190.
^ Mellers 1964, p. 356.
^ Copland 2002, p. 115.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sisman 2001.
^ Raymar 1931, p. 5.
^ Hodeir and Pautrot 2006, p. 8. sfn mistake: no target: CITEREFHodeir_and_Pautrot2006 (help)
^ ^a ^b White 1976, p. 64–65.
^ Apel 1962, p. 784.
^ Drebes 1992, p. 25–55.
^ Biba.
^ McCorkcle 1976, p. v. sfn fault: no target: CITEREFMcCorkcle1976 (assistance)
^ Irmer 1985, p. 4. sfn error: no target: CITEREFIrmer1985 (help)
^ Braunbehrens 1990, p. 198.
^ Austin 1966, p. 185.
^ Gamble 1984, p. 13.
^ Lewis 2011.

References [edit]

Apel, Willi (1962), Harvard dictionary of music .
Austin, William (1966), Music in the 20th Century, London: Dent .
Biba, Otto, American Symphony Orchestra: Dialogues and Extensions, archived from the original on 5 March 2009, retrieved 21 December 2008
Braunbehrens, Volkmar (1990), Mozart in Vienna, New York: Grove Weidenfeld, ISBN0-8021-1009-6 .
Cook, North (1990), Music, Imagination and Culture, Oxford: Clarendon Printing .
Copland, Aaron (2002), What to Heed for in Music, Revised edition of an authorized reprint of a hardcover edition published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York: Signet Classic., ISBN0-451-52867-0 .
Drebes, Gerald (1992), "Schütz, Monteverdi und die "Vollkommenheit der Musik" – "Es steh Gott auf" aus den "Symphoniae sacrae" II (1647)", Schütz-Jahrbuch, fourteen: 25–55, archived from the original on iii March 2016 .
Gamble, T. (1984), "Imagination and Agreement in the Music Curriculum", British Journal of Music Instruction, Cambridge University Press, 1 (i) .
Hodeir, André (2006), Pautrot, Jean-Louis (ed.), The André Hodeir Jazz Reader, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, ISBN978-0-472-09883-5 .
Irmer, Otto von (1986), "Preface", Beethoven: Klavierstücke, Munich: One thousand. Henle .
Lewis, J. (17 June 2011), "Coleman Hawkins records Body and Soul: Number xiv in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music", The Guardian .
McCorkle, Donald M., Variationen uber ein Thema von Joseph Haydn (Norton Scores ed.), ISBN0-393-09206-2 .
Mellers, Wilfred (1964), Music in a New Institute Land: Themes and Developments in the History of American Music, London: Barrie and Rockliff .
Mellers, Wilfred (1983), Beethoven and the Vox of God, London: Faber .
Raymar, Aubyn (1931), "Preface", in Bowen, York (ed.), Mozart: Miscellaneous Pieces for Pianforte, London: Associated Board of the Imperial Schools of Music .
Sisman, Elaine (2001), "Variations", in Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.), The New Grove Lexicon of Music and Musicians (2d ed.), London: Macmillan Publishers .
White, John David (1976), The Assay of Music, Englewood Cliffs, Northward.J.: Prentice-Hall, ISBN0-xiii-033233-10 .

External links [edit]

Classical Music Pages: Variation
Variations on Greensleeves