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Brahms, Johannes : Variationen über ein Thema von Schumann fis-moll Op.9

Work Overview

Music ID : 1541
Composition Year:1854 
Publication Year:1854
First Publisher:Breitkopf und Härtel
Instrumentation:Piano Solo 
Genre:variation
Total Playing Time:19 min 00 sec
Copyright:Public Domain

Commentary (1)

Author : Wada, Mayuko

Last Updated: July 1, 2007
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Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

The theme was taken from the first piece of "Fünf Albumblätter" within Schumann's Bunte Blätter (meaning something like "Colorful Leaves" or "Colorful Pages"), Op. 99.

Brahms composed 16 variations based on this theme. Variations 1 to 9 and 12 to 16 were composed in June 1854, while Variations 10 and 11 were composed on August 12, St. Clare's Day, all in Düsseldorf.

Since being rescued from his attempt to drown himself in the Rhine, Schumann had already been admitted to a mental hospital, experiencing daily fluctuations in his condition. Meanwhile, Clara Schumann was dedicating all her efforts to supporting her family. It was at this time that Brahms composed these variations, dedicating them to Clara as a gesture of comfort to her and respect for Schumann.

In a letter from Clara to Brahms, she wrote: "I have read through the variations, but reading notes still strains my head, so I couldn't understand them as fully as I wished. However, I can tell that it is a very earnest and humorous piece, in a very Brahmsian way." Schumann, who was in the hospital, was delighted upon seeing the completed score that was sent to him, writing about its diversity and brilliance: "How clearly your deep study of counterpoint shines through in all the variations! How gentle, how firm in expression, how original, and how full of invention each of them is!"

Each variation in this piece adopts, so to speak, the style of a character variation, written quite freely without strictly adhering to the theme's structure, harmony, or bass line movement. For this reason, it is also important to recognize the origin of the connection between each variation and the theme. Through his thorough study of the possibilities of variation, Brahms later developed a different approach to variations compared to Schumann. That is, he began to avoid free variations with a tenuous connection to the theme. This piece is thus considered to mark a turning point or a transitional period in Brahms's composition of variations.

Writer: Wada, Mayuko

Movements (17)

Thema. Ziemlich langsam

Total Performance Time: 1 min 14 sec 

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Variation I. L'istesso tempo

Total Performance Time: 1 min 14 sec 

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Variation II. Poco piu mosso

Total Performance Time: 0 min 30 sec 

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Variation III. Tempo di tema

Total Performance Time: 1 min 02 sec 

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Variation IV. Poco piu mosso

Total Performance Time: 0 min 49 sec 

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Variation V. Allegro capriccioso

Total Performance Time: 0 min 49 sec 

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Variation VI. Allegro

Total Performance Time: 0 min 48 sec 

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Variation VII. Andante

Total Performance Time: 1 min 00 sec 

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Variation VIII. Andante (non troppo lento)

Total Performance Time: 1 min 45 sec 

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Variation IX. Schnell

Total Performance Time: 0 min 32 sec 

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Variation X. Poco Adagio

Total Performance Time: 2 min 08 sec 

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Variation XI. Un poco piu animato

Total Performance Time: 0 min 58 sec 

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Variation XII. Allegretto, poco scherzando

Total Performance Time: 0 min 44 sec 

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Variation XIII. Non troppo Presto

Total Performance Time: 0 min 28 sec 

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Variation XIV. Andante

Total Performance Time: 1 min 22 sec 

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Variation XV. Poco Adagio

Total Performance Time: 1 min 40 sec 

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Variation XVI. Adagio

Total Performance Time: 1 min 55 sec 

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Reference Videos & Audition Selections(1items)

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