No. 1: Variations on a Theme by the Composer

Jeremy has put together a day of music celebrating and exploring Themes and Variations.

You take the theme, you take the original idea and you begin to alter it or add things to it. And then you explore the theme in any number of facets — you begin to re-hear the theme in many different ways. Sometimes that can just be like a pack of cards, a bunch of different pictures: And then sometimes, as often happens in Bach or Beethoven, Brahms, the variations take on a cumulative meaning, each new variation adds to the last.

Variations are about that mysterious power of music, to do the same thing differently. Each composer approaches them in their own way.

Variation is one of those genres that everybody feels a need to deal with. 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:. Many composers have taken pieces composed by others as a basis for elaboration. Jazz arrangers frequently develop variations on themes by other composers.

At the outset, 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 set of variations. Wilfrid Mellers wrote that "It called for an improviser of Davis's kind and quality to explore, through Gil Evans' arrangement, the tender frailty inherent in the 'Summer-time' tune Between them, solo line and harmonic colour create a music that is at once innocent and tense with apprehension".

Variation forms include ground bass , passacaglia , chaconne , and theme and variations.

Their repetition became intolerably wearisome, and inevitably led the player to indulge in extempore variation and ornament"; [8] 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 'free-standing' pieces for solo instruments or ensembles, or can constitute a movement of a larger piece. Most jazz music is structured on a basic pattern of theme and variations. Chopin's Berceuse for piano, Op.

Although the first isolated example emerged in the 14th century, works in theme-and-variation form first emerge in the early sixteenth century. The basic principle of beginning with simple variations and moving on to more elaborate ones has always been present in the history of the variation form, since it provides a way of giving an overall shape to a variation set, rather than letting it just form an arbitrary sequence.

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Keyboard works in variation form were written by a number of 16th-century English composers, including William Byrd , Hugh Aston and Giles Farnaby. Joseph Haydn specialized in sets of double variations , in which two related themes, usually minor and major, are presented and then varied in alternation; outstanding examples are the slow movement of his Symphony No. Ludwig van Beethoven wrote many variation sets in his career. Some were independent sets, for instance the Diabelli Variations, Op.

Others form single movements or parts of movements in larger works, such as first movement of the Piano Sonata No. Variation sets also occur in several of his late works, such as the slow movement of his String Quartet No. Franz Schubert wrote five variation sets using his own lieder as themes. Amongst them is the slow movement of his string quartet Death and the Maiden D. The second movement of the Fantasie in C major comprises a set of variations on Der Wanderer ; indeed the work as a whole takes its popular name from the lied.

In the Romantic era, the variation form was developed further. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

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Arranger Ludwig Stark This file is from the MIT archive project. Arranger Harold Bauer Andante B-flat major, bars. The second movement of which is based on an old Burgenland chant entitled "Chorale St. The two settings are identical in length despite some repeats being written out in the 2-piano score , but tempo indications have some interesting differences in places.

Overtures, Dances, Serenades, Variations: Academic Festival Overture, Op.