Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
Encyclopedia
The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, is a work for solo piano
written by Johannes Brahms
in 1861. It consists of a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel
's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-flat Major, HWV 434.
The great music writer Donald Francis Tovey
has ranked it among "the half-dozen greatest sets of variations ever written." Biographer Jan Swafford describes the Handel Variations as "perhaps the finest set of piano variations since Beethoven
," adding, "Besides a masterful unfolding of ideas concluding with an exuberant fugue with a finish designed to bring down the house, the work is quintessentially Brahms in other ways: the filler of traditional forms with fresh energy and imagination; the historical eclectic able to start off with a gallant little tune of Handel's, Baroque ornaments and all, and integrate it seamlessly into his own voice, in a work of massive scope and dazzling variety."
, widow of Robert Schumann
, Brahms's musical and personal mentor. It was presented to her on her 42nd birthday, September 13. At about the same time, his interest in, and mastery of, the piano also shows in his writing two important piano quartets, in G minor and A major. Barely two months later, in November 1861, he produced his second set of Schumann Variations, Op. 23, for piano four hands.
From his earliest years as a composer, the variation
was a musical form of great interest to Brahms. Before the Handel Variations he had written a number of other sets of variations, as well as using variations in the slow movement of his Op. 1, the Piano Sonata in C major, and in other chamber works. As he appeared on the scene, variations were in decline, "little more than a basis for writing paraphrases of favorite tunes". In Brahms's work the form once again became restored to greatness.
Brahms had been emulating Baroque models for six years or more. In particular, between the time he wrote his previous Two Sets of Variations for piano, (No. 1, Eleven Variations on an Original Theme, in D major (1857) and No. 2, Fourteen Variations on a Hungarian Melody, in D major (1854)), Op. 21, and the Handel Variations, Op. 24, Brahms did a careful study of "more rigorous, complex and historical models, among others preludes, fugues, canons and the then obscure dance movements of the Baroque period. Two gigue
s and two sarabande
s that Brahms wrote in order to develop his technique are extant today. The results of these historical studies are seen in, obviously, his choice of Handel for the theme, as well as his use of Baroque forms, including the Siciliano dance form (Var. 19) from the French school of Couperin
and, in general, the frequent use of contrapuntal techniques in many variations.
One aspect of his approach to variation writing is made explicit in a number of letters. "In a theme for a [set of] variations, it is almost only the bass that has any meaning for me. But this is sacred to me, it is the firm foundation on which I then build my stories. What I do with a melody is only playing around ... If I vary only the melody, then I cannot easily be more than clever or graceful, or, indeed, [if] full of feeling, deepen a pretty thought. On the given bass, I invent something actually new, I discover new melodies in it, I create." The role of the bass is critical.
Brahms also took into careful account the character of the theme, and its historical context. Unlike the great model of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations
, where the variations departed widely from the character of the theme, Brahms's variations expressed and developed the character of the theme. Because the theme for the Handel variations originated in the Baroque era, Brahms included forms such as a siciliana
, a musette, a canon
and, of course, a fugue
.
Still not fully established in his career in 1861, Brahms had to struggle to get the work published. He wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel
," I am unwilling, at the first hurdle, to give up my desire to see this, my favourite work, published by you. If therefore, it is primarily the high fee that stops you taking it, I will be happy to let you have it for 12 Friedrichsdors
or, if this still seems too high, 10 Friedrichsdors. I very much hope you will not think I plucked the initial fee arbitrarily out of the air. I consider this work to be much better than my earlier ones; I think it is also much better adapted to the demands of performance and will therefore be easier to market ..."
The theme
of the Handel Variations is taken from an aria
in the third movement of Handel
's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-flat Major, HWV 434 (Suites de pièces pour le clavecin, published by J. Walsh, London 1733 with five variations). Brahms himself owned a copy of the 1733 First Edition. The appeal of the aria for Brahms might have been its simplicity: its range is restricted to one octave; the harmony is plain, with every note taken from the B-flat major scale; it "made an admirably neutral starting-place". While Handel had written only five variations on his theme, Brahms, with the piano as his instrument rather than the more limited harpsichord
, enlarged the scope of his opus to 25 variations ending with an extended fugue
. Brahms's use of Handel exemplifies his love of the music of the past and his tendency to incorporate it and transform it in his own compositions.
Of the overall concept of the work, Malcolm MacDonald writes "Some of Brahms's models in this monumental work are easy enough to identify. In the scale and ambition of his conception both Bach
's 'Goldberg
' and Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations
' must have exercised a powerful if generalized influence; in specific features of form Beethoven's 'Eroica' Variations
is a closer parallel. But the overall structure is original to Brahms." And MacDonald suggests what might have been a more contemporary source of inspiration, the Variations on a Theme of Handel, Op. 26, by Robert Volkmann
. "Brahms might well have known that large and often admirable work, published as recently as 1856, which Volkmann based on the so-called 'Harmonious Blacksmith
' theme from the Air with Variations in Handel's E major Harpsichord Suite."
There are various opinions about the organization of the Handel Variations. Hans Meyer, for example, sees the divisions as nos. 1-8 ('strict'), 9-12 ('free'), 13 ('synthesis'), 14-17 ('strict') and 18-25 ('free'), culminating, of course, in the fugue. William Horne emphasizes paired variations: nos. 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 11 and 12, 13 and 14, 23 and 24. This helps him to group the set as 1-8, 9-18, 19-25, with each group ending with a fermata and preceded by one or more variation pairs. John Rink, focusing on Brahms's dynamic markings, writes,
Unity is maintained, at least in part, by using Handel's key signature of B flat throughout most of the set, varied by only a few exceptions in the tonic minor, and by repeating Handel's four-bar/two-part structure, including the repeats, in most of the work.
.
Theme. Aria
Handel's theme is divided into two parts, each four bars in length and each repeated. The elegant aria moves in stately quarter notes in 4/4 time with "a ceremonial character typical of its period." The harmonic progressions are elementary. Every bar except one has one or two decorations. The melody consists of a one-bar figure in the right hand consisting mostly of a trill
and a turn; it is repeated in a rising sequence three times followed by a fourth descending repetition; a decorative flourish finishes the first half of the variation, which is then repeated. The left hand plays solid chord
s in support throughout, three quarter-note chords to each bar setting the pace followed by a rhythmic eighth-note chord leading to the next bar and emphasizing its first beat. The second half follows a similar pattern, varied mainly by alterations to the turns.
Variation I.
Brahms's first variation stays close to the melody and harmonies of Handel's theme while changing its character completely. It uses staccato throughout and its syncopated accents are distinctly non-Baroque. The dynamic marking poco ƒ (a bit louder), too, clearly separates it from Handel's elegant aria. In tempo the variation seems much more hurried, crisp, even dance-like; each time the right hand "pauses" on an eighth note, the left hand fills in with sixteenth notes. At the end of the two sections Brahms replaces Handel's decorations with brilliant up- and down-scale runs.
Variation II.
Minor-key inflections in Variations 2 to 4 increase the distance from Handel and lay the groundwork for Variations 5 and 6, in the tonic minor.
Variation 2 is a subtle piece with a flowing, lilting rhythm. Complexity is added as Brahms uses a favourite technique, found throughout his works, with triple time in one voice——in this case, triplets in the right hand——against duple time in the other. While explicitly recalling the melody of Handel's theme, the chromaticism of this variation adds to the sense of a world beyond the Baroque. In the first half the pattern is of phrases rising on the scale with a crescendo, then falling away in a shorter decrescendo. The second half climbs both in pitch and dynamics to a high climax, again falling away quickly. There is a smooth transition to the next variation.
Variation III.
The elegant third variation, marked dolce, moves at a more leisurely pace, providing a sense of calm after two rather busy variations. It also provides a much-needed contrast with the following thunderous variation. Right and left hands alternate and overlap, the left imitating the right in a pattern of three eighth notes. The first note of each group is played staccato, adding to the sense of lightness. The occasional rolled chord adds interest.
Variation IV.
The fourth variation, marked risoluto, is a showpiece, with sixteenth notes played in octaves in both hands, strong accents (the sforzandos are frequently emphasized by six-note chords) and climaxes that rise a full octave higher than Handel's theme. The charging, syncopated rhythm places the stress on the last sixteenth of almost every beat. Although no tempo indications are given, this variation is often performed at great speed.
Variation V.
After the mighty sounds of the previous variation, the lyrical fifth variation begins quietly. The change of mood is emphasized by a shift to the tonic minor (B-flat minor). This is the first variation in a key different from Handel's. Numerous small crescendos and decrescendos underscore the espressivo marking. The melody moves upward at a measured pace in eighth notes while the left hand accompanies with broken chords in sixteenth notes in contrary motion. The mood is one of peace and tranquility. A pairing between this fifth variation and the following one is created by the use of the tonic minor key signature and contrary motion.
Variation VI.
Like the preceding variation, this piece is in the tonic minor and features contrary motion, and there are similarities in the motives of the two pieces. Marked p sempre with legato phrasing, Variation 6 has a hushed, mysterious tone. The pace is measured, as both hands are written mainly in eighth notes with short sequences of sixteenth notes providing variety. Here Brahms uses counterpoint in the form of a two-part canon
in octaves, including inverted canon for several measures in the second half.
Variation VII.
Like Variations 5 and 6, this seventh variation is paired with the following eighth. Returning to Handel's original B flat major, No. 7 is fast, exciting, high-spirited, and fundamentally rhythmic in nature. A sustained drumbeat effect is created by the emphatic repetition of its upper notes and a staccato rhythm throughout all three voices. Because of the repeated upper notes, the focus moves to the inner voices. Numerous accents add further emphasis to the highly rhythmic character of this variation: in some bars in the first half, accents are placed on the last beat of the bar, while in the second half, the accents are yet more numerous, assigned to every beat except the last of each bar. Each half ends in a peak of excitement, marked forte with arpeggios in contrary motion. It leads seamlessly into No. 8.
Variation VIII.
Variation 8 continues the rhythmic excitement of Variation 7, the left hand beating out, on the same note over and over, the same anapestic rhythm as the preceding variation. After a few bars the two voices of the right hand are flipped. A fermata at the close provides a moment of silence before No. 9 begins and signals the end of the first section.
Variation IX.
Variation 9 slows the pace of the series, with a sense of grandeur as both treble and bass move in stately, and ominous, octaves. The piece is highly chromatic, and, like several earlier variations, treble and bass are in contrary motion throughout. Each two-bar phrase begins with two exclamatory sf chords, as if sounding an alarm. The variation starts an octave higher than Handel's theme, and its repeated two-bar pattern continually ascends, increasing in tension, until the climax, when it reaches a full two octaves higher than Handel.
Variation X.
In contrast to the preceding number, Variation 10 is Allegro energico, fast and exhilarating. Its rather odd effect sounds almost devoid of melody, as the main notes of the theme are scattered among various registers. The first half consists of a series of startling gestures that begin with large, loud chords (f energetico) in the higher registers followed by echoes progressively lower, ending deep in the bass in a series of single notes played pp. The second half rushes to a great climax.
Variation XI.
After the tension of Variations 7-10, the next two variations are sweet and melodic. Variation 11 uses counterpoint and has a simple, pleasant air with its rock-steady rhythm in one hand while the second simply plays two notes to one. Variations 11 and 12 are another example of the pairing of variations which is so characteristic of the work.
Variation XII.
The quietness and delicacy of Variation 12 prepares for the return of the dark tonic minor in Variation 13.
Variation XIII.
Variation 13 returns to the tonic minor in a funereal mood. It is the middle variation of the set and, in the view of Denis Matthews, the emotional centre. Right-hand sixths play against rolled chords in the left, perhaps suggesting muffled drums. For Tovey the lugubrious tone suggests a "kind of Hungarian funeral march," while Malcolm MacDonald sees it as "florid" and "a Hungarian fantasia." Here Brahms abandons the usual repeat signs and writes variations within the variation.
Variations 13 and 14, while very different in character, are paired in being fast and exciting and in their the use of parallel sixths
in the right hand.
Variation XIV.
Variation 14, marked sciolto ("loose") breaks the dark mood of Variation 13 and returns to the original key. With its extended trills and scalar runs in sixths in the right hand against broken octaves in the left hand, it is a virtuoso showpiece. The mood is of great energy, excitement and high spirits. It leads without a break into the following variation.
Donald Francis Tovey sees a grouping in variations 14-18, which he describes as "aris[ing] one out of the other in a wonderful decrescendo of tone and crescendo of Romantic beauty."
Variation XV.
Following without a pause from the previous number, Variation 15, marked forte, is a bravura variation building relentlessly toward an exciting climax. It consists of a one-bar pattern, varied only slightly, of two declamatory chords in eighth notes in the higher registers, followed by lower sixteenth notes that echo Handel's original turns. A prominent upbeat creates syncopated energy. It has been called an étude for Brahms's Second Piano Concerto
. It breaks the structural mould of Handel's theme by adding one "extra" bar. In Brahms's first autograph Variations 15 and 16 were positioned in the reverse order.
Variation XVI.
Variation 16 continues from Variation 15 as a "variation of variation," repeating the pattern of two high eighth notes followed by a run of lower sixteenth notes. It also forms another pairing with Variation 17. Baroque contrapuntal techniques appear again in this canon
, described by Malcolm MacDonald as "wittier" than the canon of no.6. The left hand begins with two descending staccato eighth notes, immediately followed in the opposite hand by the two eighth notes inverted, a full four octaves higher. In each case, a figure in sixteenth notes follows in canonic imitation. The effect is light and exhilarating.
Variation XVII.
In Variation 17 the absence of the sixteenth notes that were so prominent in the preceding two variations gives the impression of a slowing, despite the marking of più mosso. The effect is of gently falling raindrops, with gracefully descending broken chords in the right hand, piano and staccato, repeated throughout the work at various pitches. Each note is played twice, adding to the suggestion of a leisurely pace.
Variation XVIII.
Another "variation of variation," paired with the preceding Variation 17.
Variation XIX.
This slow, relaxing variation, with its lilting rhythm and 12/8 time, is written in the dance style of a Baroque French siciliana
from the school of Couperin (Brahms had edited Couperin's music). It uses chords almost exclusively in the root position, perhaps as another reminiscence of "antique" music. In a technique often used by Brahms, the melodic line is hidden in an inner part. This variation opens a lengthy quiet section which includes nos. 19-22, "not noticeably interrelated".
Variation XX.
From the outset, Variation 20 builds toward its climax. In contrast to the preceding variation, there is little of the Baroque in it with its chromaticism
in both treble and bass and its thick textures
(triads in the right hand against octaves in the left hand). Malcolm MacDonald refers to its "organ-loft progressions."
Variation XXI.
Variation 21 moves to the relative minor. Like No. 19, the theme is hidden, in this case by merely gracing the main notes of the theme in passing, thereby achieving a sense of lightness. It is another example of Brahms' use of triple-against-duple time.
Variation XXII.
The light mood of the preceding variation continues in No. 22. Often referred to as the "musical-box" variation because of the regularity of its rhythm, underlined particularly by a drone bass, Variation 22 alludes to the Baroque musette, a soft pastoral air imitating the sound music of a bagpipe, or musette. It remains in the high registers, consistently above Handel's theme, the lowest note being the repeated B-flat of the drone.
The light mood prepares the way for the climactic, concluding section which, in Tovey's words, comes "swarming up energetically out of darkness."
Variation XXIII.
At Variation 23 the rise toward a final climax begins. It is clearly paired with the following Variation 24, which continues its pattern but in a more hurried, more urgent manner.
Variation XXIV.
In preparation for the climactic final variation, no. 24 intensifies the excitement, replacing the triplets of Variation 23 with masses of sixteenth notes. Clearly modeled on the preceding no. 23, it is another example of Brahms's use of "variation of variation."
Variation XXV.
An exultant showpiece, Variation 25 ends the variations and leads into the concluding fugue. Its strong resemblance to Variation 1 ties the set together.
Fugue
The powerful concluding fugue brings the variation set to a climactic close. Its subject, repeated many times from beginning to end, derives from the opening of Handel's theme. Julian Littlewood observes that the fugue has "a dense contrapuntal argument which recalls Bach more than Handel." Denis Matthews adds that it is "more redolent of one of Bach's great organ fugues than any of any in 'The 48', with inversions, augmentation and double counterpoint to match, and a great peroration over a swinging dominant pedal-point." Despite its magnitude, Littlewood suggests, the fugue avoids separation from the rest of the set by its comparable texture. "In this way it systematically creates a web of links between past and present, achieving synthesis rather than quotation or parody." Michael Musgrave in The Music of Brahms writes,
's diary about the Handel Variations gives an idea of how close the relationship between her and Brahms was, as well as Brahms's sometimes extraordinary insensitivity: "On Dec 7th I gave another soirée, at which I played Johannes' Handel Variations. I was in agonies of nervousness, but I played them well all the same, and they were much applauded. Johannes, however, hurt me very much by his indifference. He declared that he could no longer bear to hear the variations, it was altogether too dreadful for him to listen to anything of his own and to have to sit by and do nothing. Although I can well understand this feeling, I cannot help finding it hard when one has devoted all one's powers to a work, and the composer himself has not a kind word for it." Yet in the following spring (April 1862) Brahms wrote, in a note to a critic to whom he was sending a copy of the work, "I am fond of it and value it particularly in relation to my other works."
Clara Schumann premiered the work in Hamburg
on December 7, when she visited Brahms's home town to give a series of performances, which also included the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
—which had not been well received when Brahms introduced it to Leipzig
in the Gewandhaus
in January 1858—and the premiere of the G Minor Quartet
. Clara's performance of the Handel Variations in Hamburg was a triumph, which she repeated soon afterward in Leipzig. During that winter, Brahms also gave performances of the Handel Variations, as a result of which he made minor alterations to the score. Publication came in July 1862 by Breitkopf & Härtel.
With the "complete failure," as he described it to Clara, of his first large-scale orchestral work, the First Piano Concerto, the Handel Variations became an important landmark in the developing career of Brahms. Another seven years passed before his reputation was firmly established by A German Requiem in Bremen
in 1868, and it took a full fifteen years before he made his mark as a symphonist with his first symphony
(1876).
During what was probably the first meeting of Brahms and Richard Wagner
in January 1863, Brahms performed his Handel Variations. Despite the great differences between the two men in musical style and an underlying tension based on musical politics—Brahms championing a more conservative approach to music while Wagner, along with Franz Liszt
, called for "the music of the future" with new forms and new tonalities—Wagner complimented the work graciously, if not wholeheartedly, saying, "One sees what still may be done in the old forms when someone comes along who knows how to use them."
for orchestra
by British
composer and Brahms enthusiast Edmund Rubbra
in 1938. The orchestration
was first performed at a Royal Philharmonic Society
concert conducted by Adrian Boult
. The ballet Brahms/Handel
, made by New York City Ballet
balletmaster Jerome Robbins
in collaboration with Twyla Tharp
, was set to this orchestration.
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
written by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
in 1861. It consists of a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-flat Major, HWV 434.
The great music writer Donald Francis Tovey
Donald Francis Tovey
Sir Donald Francis Tovey was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist...
has ranked it among "the half-dozen greatest sets of variations ever written." Biographer Jan Swafford describes the Handel Variations as "perhaps the finest set of piano variations since Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
," adding, "Besides a masterful unfolding of ideas concluding with an exuberant fugue with a finish designed to bring down the house, the work is quintessentially Brahms in other ways: the filler of traditional forms with fresh energy and imagination; the historical eclectic able to start off with a gallant little tune of Handel's, Baroque ornaments and all, and integrate it seamlessly into his own voice, in a work of massive scope and dazzling variety."
Background
The Handel Variations were written in September 1861 after Brahms, aged 28, abandoned the work he had been doing as director of the Hamburg women's choir (Frauenchor) and moved out of his family's cramped and shabby apartments in Hamburg to his own apartment in the quiet suburb of Hamm, initiating a highly productive period that produced "a series of early masterworks." Written in a single stretch in September 1861, the work is dedicated to a "beloved friend," Clara SchumannClara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
, widow of Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Brahms's musical and personal mentor. It was presented to her on her 42nd birthday, September 13. At about the same time, his interest in, and mastery of, the piano also shows in his writing two important piano quartets, in G minor and A major. Barely two months later, in November 1861, he produced his second set of Schumann Variations, Op. 23, for piano four hands.
From his earliest years as a composer, the variation
Variation (music)
In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...
was a musical form of great interest to Brahms. Before the Handel Variations he had written a number of other sets of variations, as well as using variations in the slow movement of his Op. 1, the Piano Sonata in C major, and in other chamber works. As he appeared on the scene, variations were in decline, "little more than a basis for writing paraphrases of favorite tunes". In Brahms's work the form once again became restored to greatness.
Brahms had been emulating Baroque models for six years or more. In particular, between the time he wrote his previous Two Sets of Variations for piano, (No. 1, Eleven Variations on an Original Theme, in D major (1857) and No. 2, Fourteen Variations on a Hungarian Melody, in D major (1854)), Op. 21, and the Handel Variations, Op. 24, Brahms did a careful study of "more rigorous, complex and historical models, among others preludes, fugues, canons and the then obscure dance movements of the Baroque period. Two gigue
Gigue
The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite...
s and two sarabande
Sarabande
In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
s that Brahms wrote in order to develop his technique are extant today. The results of these historical studies are seen in, obviously, his choice of Handel for the theme, as well as his use of Baroque forms, including the Siciliano dance form (Var. 19) from the French school of Couperin
François Couperin
François Couperin was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.-Life:Couperin was born in Paris...
and, in general, the frequent use of contrapuntal techniques in many variations.
One aspect of his approach to variation writing is made explicit in a number of letters. "In a theme for a [set of] variations, it is almost only the bass that has any meaning for me. But this is sacred to me, it is the firm foundation on which I then build my stories. What I do with a melody is only playing around ... If I vary only the melody, then I cannot easily be more than clever or graceful, or, indeed, [if] full of feeling, deepen a pretty thought. On the given bass, I invent something actually new, I discover new melodies in it, I create." The role of the bass is critical.
Identifying the bass as the essence of the theme, ...Brahms advocated using it to control the structure and character of individual variations and of the entire set. But by this he apparently did not mean retaining in the variations the bass line of the theme or even its harmonies ... To invent something actually new and to discover new melodies in the bass give the bass a role at once passive and active. While maintaining the structure of the theme—the passive bass, so to speak—Brahms may actively create melodies and figurative patterns (including melodies "discovered in" the bass), project different contrapuntal textures, and draw on an expanded harmonic vocabulary, sometimes interpreting the melody as the bass of the harmony or regarding major and minor or sharp and flat versions of the same passage as equally valid and available. The result is a great diversity of expression and character founded on a relatively strict conception of the "given" material.
Brahms also took into careful account the character of the theme, and its historical context. Unlike the great model of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations
Diabelli Variations
The 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, commonly known as the Diabelli Variations, is a set of variations for the piano written between 1819 and 1823 by Ludwig van Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli...
, where the variations departed widely from the character of the theme, Brahms's variations expressed and developed the character of the theme. Because the theme for the Handel variations originated in the Baroque era, Brahms included forms such as a siciliana
Siciliana
The siciliana or siciliano is a musical style or genre often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque period. It is in a slow 6/8 or 12/8 time with lilting rhythms making it somewhat resemble a slow jig, and is usually in a minor key. It was used for arias in...
, a musette, a canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
and, of course, a fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
.
Still not fully established in his career in 1861, Brahms had to struggle to get the work published. He wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried...
," I am unwilling, at the first hurdle, to give up my desire to see this, my favourite work, published by you. If therefore, it is primarily the high fee that stops you taking it, I will be happy to let you have it for 12 Friedrichsdors
Friedrich d'or
The Friedrich d'or was a Prussian gold coin nominally worth 5 silver Prussian Reichsthalers. It was used from 1741 to 1855 and since it was a silver standard regular issue coin and trade coin at this time, it had a different purpose to domestic silver coinage or Kurantgeld, the so-called window...
or, if this still seems too high, 10 Friedrichsdors. I very much hope you will not think I plucked the initial fee arbitrarily out of the air. I consider this work to be much better than my earlier ones; I think it is also much better adapted to the demands of performance and will therefore be easier to market ..."
The theme
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
of the Handel Variations is taken from an aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
in the third movement of Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-flat Major, HWV 434 (Suites de pièces pour le clavecin, published by J. Walsh, London 1733 with five variations). Brahms himself owned a copy of the 1733 First Edition. The appeal of the aria for Brahms might have been its simplicity: its range is restricted to one octave; the harmony is plain, with every note taken from the B-flat major scale; it "made an admirably neutral starting-place". While Handel had written only five variations on his theme, Brahms, with the piano as his instrument rather than the more limited harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, enlarged the scope of his opus to 25 variations ending with an extended fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
. Brahms's use of Handel exemplifies his love of the music of the past and his tendency to incorporate it and transform it in his own compositions.
Of the overall concept of the work, Malcolm MacDonald writes "Some of Brahms's models in this monumental work are easy enough to identify. In the scale and ambition of his conception both Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's 'Goldberg
Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
' and Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations
Diabelli Variations
The 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, commonly known as the Diabelli Variations, is a set of variations for the piano written between 1819 and 1823 by Ludwig van Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli...
' must have exercised a powerful if generalized influence; in specific features of form Beethoven's 'Eroica' Variations
Eroica Variations
The Variations and Fugue for Piano in E major, Op. 35 are a set of fifteen variations for solo piano composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1802. They are commonly referred to as the Eroica Variations because variations on the same theme were used as the finale of his Symphony No. 3 Eroica composed...
is a closer parallel. But the overall structure is original to Brahms." And MacDonald suggests what might have been a more contemporary source of inspiration, the Variations on a Theme of Handel, Op. 26, by Robert Volkmann
Robert Volkmann
Friedrich Robert Volkmann was a German composer.-Life:He was born in Lommatzsch, Saxony, Germany. His father was a music director for a church, so he trained his son in music to prepare him as a successor...
. "Brahms might well have known that large and often admirable work, published as recently as 1856, which Volkmann based on the so-called 'Harmonious Blacksmith
The Harmonious Blacksmith
The Harmonious Blacksmith is the popular name of the final movement, Air and variations, of George Frideric Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord...
' theme from the Air with Variations in Handel's E major Harpsichord Suite."
Structure
In Music, Imagination, and Culture Nicholas Cook gives the following concise description:
"The Handel Variations consist of a theme and twenty-five variations, each of equal length, plus a much longer fugue at the end which provides the climax of the movement in terms of duration, dynamics, and contrapuntal complexity. The individual variations are grouped in such a way as to create a series of waves, both in terms of tempo and dynamics, leading to the final fugue, and superimposed on this overall organization are a number of subordinate patterns. Variations in tonic major and minor more or less alternate with each other; only once is there a variation in another key (the twenty-first, which is in the relative minor). Legato variations are usually succeeded by staccato ones; variations whose texture is fragmentary are in general followed by more homophonic ones. ... the organization of the variation set is not so much concentric—with each variation deriving coherence from its relationship to the theme—as edge-related, with each variation being lent significance by its relationship with what comes before and after it, or by the group of variations within which it is located. In other words, what gives unity to the variation set ... is not the theme as such, but rather a network of 'family resemblances', to use Wittgenstein's term, between the different variations."
There are various opinions about the organization of the Handel Variations. Hans Meyer, for example, sees the divisions as nos. 1-8 ('strict'), 9-12 ('free'), 13 ('synthesis'), 14-17 ('strict') and 18-25 ('free'), culminating, of course, in the fugue. William Horne emphasizes paired variations: nos. 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 11 and 12, 13 and 14, 23 and 24. This helps him to group the set as 1-8, 9-18, 19-25, with each group ending with a fermata and preceded by one or more variation pairs. John Rink, focusing on Brahms's dynamic markings, writes,
"Brahms takes pains to control the intensity level throughout the twenty-five variations, maintaining a state of flux in the first half, and then keeping the temperature perceptibly low after the peak in Variations 13-15 until the massive 'crescendo' towards the fugue begins in Variation 23. We thus find a sensitivity to motion and momentum that complements—and possibly transcends in importance to the listener—the elegance of structure about which so many authors have (legitimately) enthused.
Unity is maintained, at least in part, by using Handel's key signature of B flat throughout most of the set, varied by only a few exceptions in the tonic minor, and by repeating Handel's four-bar/two-part structure, including the repeats, in most of the work.
The variations
The performer of the audio files in this section is Martha GoldsteinMartha Goldstein
Martha Goldstein is a player of the harpsichord and piano, who has given concerts in the United States, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe...
.
Handel's theme is divided into two parts, each four bars in length and each repeated. The elegant aria moves in stately quarter notes in 4/4 time with "a ceremonial character typical of its period." The harmonic progressions are elementary. Every bar except one has one or two decorations. The melody consists of a one-bar figure in the right hand consisting mostly of a trill
Trill (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
and a turn; it is repeated in a rising sequence three times followed by a fourth descending repetition; a decorative flourish finishes the first half of the variation, which is then repeated. The left hand plays solid chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
s in support throughout, three quarter-note chords to each bar setting the pace followed by a rhythmic eighth-note chord leading to the next bar and emphasizing its first beat. The second half follows a similar pattern, varied mainly by alterations to the turns.
Brahms's first variation stays close to the melody and harmonies of Handel's theme while changing its character completely. It uses staccato throughout and its syncopated accents are distinctly non-Baroque. The dynamic marking poco ƒ (a bit louder), too, clearly separates it from Handel's elegant aria. In tempo the variation seems much more hurried, crisp, even dance-like; each time the right hand "pauses" on an eighth note, the left hand fills in with sixteenth notes. At the end of the two sections Brahms replaces Handel's decorations with brilliant up- and down-scale runs.
Minor-key inflections in Variations 2 to 4 increase the distance from Handel and lay the groundwork for Variations 5 and 6, in the tonic minor.
Variation 2 is a subtle piece with a flowing, lilting rhythm. Complexity is added as Brahms uses a favourite technique, found throughout his works, with triple time in one voice——in this case, triplets in the right hand——against duple time in the other. While explicitly recalling the melody of Handel's theme, the chromaticism of this variation adds to the sense of a world beyond the Baroque. In the first half the pattern is of phrases rising on the scale with a crescendo, then falling away in a shorter decrescendo. The second half climbs both in pitch and dynamics to a high climax, again falling away quickly. There is a smooth transition to the next variation.
The elegant third variation, marked dolce, moves at a more leisurely pace, providing a sense of calm after two rather busy variations. It also provides a much-needed contrast with the following thunderous variation. Right and left hands alternate and overlap, the left imitating the right in a pattern of three eighth notes. The first note of each group is played staccato, adding to the sense of lightness. The occasional rolled chord adds interest.
The fourth variation, marked risoluto, is a showpiece, with sixteenth notes played in octaves in both hands, strong accents (the sforzandos are frequently emphasized by six-note chords) and climaxes that rise a full octave higher than Handel's theme. The charging, syncopated rhythm places the stress on the last sixteenth of almost every beat. Although no tempo indications are given, this variation is often performed at great speed.
After the mighty sounds of the previous variation, the lyrical fifth variation begins quietly. The change of mood is emphasized by a shift to the tonic minor (B-flat minor). This is the first variation in a key different from Handel's. Numerous small crescendos and decrescendos underscore the espressivo marking. The melody moves upward at a measured pace in eighth notes while the left hand accompanies with broken chords in sixteenth notes in contrary motion. The mood is one of peace and tranquility. A pairing between this fifth variation and the following one is created by the use of the tonic minor key signature and contrary motion.
Like the preceding variation, this piece is in the tonic minor and features contrary motion, and there are similarities in the motives of the two pieces. Marked p sempre with legato phrasing, Variation 6 has a hushed, mysterious tone. The pace is measured, as both hands are written mainly in eighth notes with short sequences of sixteenth notes providing variety. Here Brahms uses counterpoint in the form of a two-part canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
in octaves, including inverted canon for several measures in the second half.
Like Variations 5 and 6, this seventh variation is paired with the following eighth. Returning to Handel's original B flat major, No. 7 is fast, exciting, high-spirited, and fundamentally rhythmic in nature. A sustained drumbeat effect is created by the emphatic repetition of its upper notes and a staccato rhythm throughout all three voices. Because of the repeated upper notes, the focus moves to the inner voices. Numerous accents add further emphasis to the highly rhythmic character of this variation: in some bars in the first half, accents are placed on the last beat of the bar, while in the second half, the accents are yet more numerous, assigned to every beat except the last of each bar. Each half ends in a peak of excitement, marked forte with arpeggios in contrary motion. It leads seamlessly into No. 8.
Variation 8 continues the rhythmic excitement of Variation 7, the left hand beating out, on the same note over and over, the same anapestic rhythm as the preceding variation. After a few bars the two voices of the right hand are flipped. A fermata at the close provides a moment of silence before No. 9 begins and signals the end of the first section.
Variation 9 slows the pace of the series, with a sense of grandeur as both treble and bass move in stately, and ominous, octaves. The piece is highly chromatic, and, like several earlier variations, treble and bass are in contrary motion throughout. Each two-bar phrase begins with two exclamatory sf chords, as if sounding an alarm. The variation starts an octave higher than Handel's theme, and its repeated two-bar pattern continually ascends, increasing in tension, until the climax, when it reaches a full two octaves higher than Handel.
In contrast to the preceding number, Variation 10 is Allegro energico, fast and exhilarating. Its rather odd effect sounds almost devoid of melody, as the main notes of the theme are scattered among various registers. The first half consists of a series of startling gestures that begin with large, loud chords (f energetico) in the higher registers followed by echoes progressively lower, ending deep in the bass in a series of single notes played pp. The second half rushes to a great climax.
After the tension of Variations 7-10, the next two variations are sweet and melodic. Variation 11 uses counterpoint and has a simple, pleasant air with its rock-steady rhythm in one hand while the second simply plays two notes to one. Variations 11 and 12 are another example of the pairing of variations which is so characteristic of the work.
The quietness and delicacy of Variation 12 prepares for the return of the dark tonic minor in Variation 13.
Variation 13 returns to the tonic minor in a funereal mood. It is the middle variation of the set and, in the view of Denis Matthews, the emotional centre. Right-hand sixths play against rolled chords in the left, perhaps suggesting muffled drums. For Tovey the lugubrious tone suggests a "kind of Hungarian funeral march," while Malcolm MacDonald sees it as "florid" and "a Hungarian fantasia." Here Brahms abandons the usual repeat signs and writes variations within the variation.
Variations 13 and 14, while very different in character, are paired in being fast and exciting and in their the use of parallel sixths
Contrary motion
In music theory, contrapuntal motion is the general movement of two melodic lines with respect to each other. In traditional four-part harmony, it is important that lines maintain their independence, an effect which can be achieved by the judicious use of the four types of contrapuntal motion:...
in the right hand.
Variation 14, marked sciolto ("loose") breaks the dark mood of Variation 13 and returns to the original key. With its extended trills and scalar runs in sixths in the right hand against broken octaves in the left hand, it is a virtuoso showpiece. The mood is of great energy, excitement and high spirits. It leads without a break into the following variation.
Donald Francis Tovey sees a grouping in variations 14-18, which he describes as "aris[ing] one out of the other in a wonderful decrescendo of tone and crescendo of Romantic beauty."
Following without a pause from the previous number, Variation 15, marked forte, is a bravura variation building relentlessly toward an exciting climax. It consists of a one-bar pattern, varied only slightly, of two declamatory chords in eighth notes in the higher registers, followed by lower sixteenth notes that echo Handel's original turns. A prominent upbeat creates syncopated energy. It has been called an étude for Brahms's Second Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is a composition for solo piano with orchestral accompaniment. It is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near...
. It breaks the structural mould of Handel's theme by adding one "extra" bar. In Brahms's first autograph Variations 15 and 16 were positioned in the reverse order.
Variation 16 continues from Variation 15 as a "variation of variation," repeating the pattern of two high eighth notes followed by a run of lower sixteenth notes. It also forms another pairing with Variation 17. Baroque contrapuntal techniques appear again in this canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
, described by Malcolm MacDonald as "wittier" than the canon of no.6. The left hand begins with two descending staccato eighth notes, immediately followed in the opposite hand by the two eighth notes inverted, a full four octaves higher. In each case, a figure in sixteenth notes follows in canonic imitation. The effect is light and exhilarating.
In Variation 17 the absence of the sixteenth notes that were so prominent in the preceding two variations gives the impression of a slowing, despite the marking of più mosso. The effect is of gently falling raindrops, with gracefully descending broken chords in the right hand, piano and staccato, repeated throughout the work at various pitches. Each note is played twice, adding to the suggestion of a leisurely pace.
Another "variation of variation," paired with the preceding Variation 17.
This slow, relaxing variation, with its lilting rhythm and 12/8 time, is written in the dance style of a Baroque French siciliana
Siciliana
The siciliana or siciliano is a musical style or genre often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque period. It is in a slow 6/8 or 12/8 time with lilting rhythms making it somewhat resemble a slow jig, and is usually in a minor key. It was used for arias in...
from the school of Couperin (Brahms had edited Couperin's music). It uses chords almost exclusively in the root position, perhaps as another reminiscence of "antique" music. In a technique often used by Brahms, the melodic line is hidden in an inner part. This variation opens a lengthy quiet section which includes nos. 19-22, "not noticeably interrelated".
Variation XX.
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
in both treble and bass and its thick textures
Texture (music)
In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition , thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece...
(triads in the right hand against octaves in the left hand). Malcolm MacDonald refers to its "organ-loft progressions."
Variation 21 moves to the relative minor. Like No. 19, the theme is hidden, in this case by merely gracing the main notes of the theme in passing, thereby achieving a sense of lightness. It is another example of Brahms' use of triple-against-duple time.
The light mood of the preceding variation continues in No. 22. Often referred to as the "musical-box" variation because of the regularity of its rhythm, underlined particularly by a drone bass, Variation 22 alludes to the Baroque musette, a soft pastoral air imitating the sound music of a bagpipe, or musette. It remains in the high registers, consistently above Handel's theme, the lowest note being the repeated B-flat of the drone.
The light mood prepares the way for the climactic, concluding section which, in Tovey's words, comes "swarming up energetically out of darkness."
At Variation 23 the rise toward a final climax begins. It is clearly paired with the following Variation 24, which continues its pattern but in a more hurried, more urgent manner.
In preparation for the climactic final variation, no. 24 intensifies the excitement, replacing the triplets of Variation 23 with masses of sixteenth notes. Clearly modeled on the preceding no. 23, it is another example of Brahms's use of "variation of variation."
An exultant showpiece, Variation 25 ends the variations and leads into the concluding fugue. Its strong resemblance to Variation 1 ties the set together.
Fugue
The powerful concluding fugue brings the variation set to a climactic close. Its subject, repeated many times from beginning to end, derives from the opening of Handel's theme. Julian Littlewood observes that the fugue has "a dense contrapuntal argument which recalls Bach more than Handel." Denis Matthews adds that it is "more redolent of one of Bach's great organ fugues than any of any in 'The 48', with inversions, augmentation and double counterpoint to match, and a great peroration over a swinging dominant pedal-point." Despite its magnitude, Littlewood suggests, the fugue avoids separation from the rest of the set by its comparable texture. "In this way it systematically creates a web of links between past and present, achieving synthesis rather than quotation or parody." Michael Musgrave in The Music of Brahms writes,
"Brahms brings his subject, derived, like that of the Diabelli fugueDiabelli VariationsThe 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, commonly known as the Diabelli Variations, is a set of variations for the piano written between 1819 and 1823 by Ludwig van Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli...
, from the theme, into contrapuntal relationships involving diminution, augmentation, stretto, building to the final peroration through a long dominant pedal with two distinct ideas above. But the pianism is an equal part of the conception, and in this, the most complex example of Brahms's virtuoso style, the characteristic spacings in thirds, sixths and wide spans between the hands are employed as never before. Indeed, the pianistic factor serves to create the great contrasts within the fugue, which transcends a traditional fugal movement to create a further set of variations, in which many of the previous textures are recalled in the context of the equally transformed fugal theme."
Reception and aftermath
An entry in Clara SchumannClara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
's diary about the Handel Variations gives an idea of how close the relationship between her and Brahms was, as well as Brahms's sometimes extraordinary insensitivity: "On Dec 7th I gave another soirée, at which I played Johannes' Handel Variations. I was in agonies of nervousness, but I played them well all the same, and they were much applauded. Johannes, however, hurt me very much by his indifference. He declared that he could no longer bear to hear the variations, it was altogether too dreadful for him to listen to anything of his own and to have to sit by and do nothing. Although I can well understand this feeling, I cannot help finding it hard when one has devoted all one's powers to a work, and the composer himself has not a kind word for it." Yet in the following spring (April 1862) Brahms wrote, in a note to a critic to whom he was sending a copy of the work, "I am fond of it and value it particularly in relation to my other works."
Clara Schumann premiered the work in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
on December 7, when she visited Brahms's home town to give a series of performances, which also included the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra composed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, Germany, the following year.-Form:...
—which had not been well received when Brahms introduced it to Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
in the Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, Germany. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. The first Gewandhaus was built in 1781 by architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe. The second opened on 11 December 1884, and was destroyed in the...
in January 1858—and the premiere of the G Minor Quartet
Piano Quartet No. 1 (Brahms)
The Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25, was composed by Johannes Brahms between 1856 and 1861. It was Clara Schumann who owned this masterpiece, as she was the pianist for the first performance in 1861 in Hamburg. It was also played in Vienna on November 16, 1862 with Brahms himself at the piano...
. Clara's performance of the Handel Variations in Hamburg was a triumph, which she repeated soon afterward in Leipzig. During that winter, Brahms also gave performances of the Handel Variations, as a result of which he made minor alterations to the score. Publication came in July 1862 by Breitkopf & Härtel.
With the "complete failure," as he described it to Clara, of his first large-scale orchestral work, the First Piano Concerto, the Handel Variations became an important landmark in the developing career of Brahms. Another seven years passed before his reputation was firmly established by A German Requiem in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
in 1868, and it took a full fifteen years before he made his mark as a symphonist with his first symphony
Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)
The Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, is a symphony written by Johannes Brahms. Brahms spent at least fourteen years completing this work, whose sketches date from 1854. Brahms himself declared that the symphony, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years, from 1855 to 1876...
(1876).
During what was probably the first meeting of Brahms and Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
in January 1863, Brahms performed his Handel Variations. Despite the great differences between the two men in musical style and an underlying tension based on musical politics—Brahms championing a more conservative approach to music while Wagner, along with Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, called for "the music of the future" with new forms and new tonalities—Wagner complimented the work graciously, if not wholeheartedly, saying, "One sees what still may be done in the old forms when someone comes along who knows how to use them."
Arrangements
The piece is often heard in a version that was arrangedArrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composer and Brahms enthusiast Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
in 1938. The orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
was first performed at a Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
concert conducted by Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
. The ballet Brahms/Handel
Brahms/Handel
Brahms/Handel is a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins in collaboration with Twyla Tharp to Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, op. 24 , orchestrated by Edmund Rubbra...
, made by New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
balletmaster Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
in collaboration with Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...
, was set to this orchestration.
External links
- Free score
- Detailed listening guide based on a recording by Martin Jones
- Sleeve notes from a recording by Seta Tanyel (free registration required)