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Home > Brahms, Johannes > Variationen über ein eigenes Thema D-Dur

Brahms, Johannes : Variationen über ein eigenes Thema D-Dur Op.21-1

Work Overview

Music ID : 1545
Composition Year:1857 
Publication Year:1862
First Publisher:Simrock
Instrumentation:Piano Solo 
Genre:variation
Total Playing Time:18 min 00 sec
Copyright:Public Domain

Commentary (1)

Author : Inada, Saeko

Last Updated: February 1, 2009
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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.

This set of variations was composed in 1857. In June of the previous year, Brahms expressed his views on variations in a letter to his friend Joachim. He stated that "the relationship with the theme should be strict and pure," but composers after Beethoven, including himself, "cling to the melody." He was interested, rather, in basing variations on the bass and harmonic structure of the theme, thereby transforming them into new melodies. The resulting variations therefore employ a different approach from his previous work, the 16 Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 9, which emphasized the thematic melody.

The theme, composed by Brahms himself, is marked Poco larghetto and possesses a gentle, lullaby-like atmosphere characteristic of him. The subsequent eleven variations, though often changing tempo, largely maintain the theme's 9x2 + 9x2 bar structure, and the key and meter do not change frequently. Each variation possesses an independent character, but the harmony or bass provides the connection to the theme, thereby achieving overall unity. Furthermore, musical considerations such as changes in tempo and the use of climaxes are clearly evident.

Although less well-known than his later Handel Variations or Paganini Variations, this youthful set of variations by the 24-year-old composer is likely an important work in terms of marking a turning point in his variation technique.

Writer: Inada, Saeko

Movements (12)

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Variation I. Molto piano e legato

Total Performance Time: 1 min 23 sec 

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Variation II. Piu moto, espressivo

Total Performance Time: 0 min 56 sec 

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Variation III. Dolce

Total Performance Time: 1 min 15 sec 

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Variation IV. Dolce

Total Performance Time: 1 min 25 sec 

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Variation VI. Piu moto, espressivo, legato

Total Performance Time: 0 min 53 sec 

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Variation VII. Andante con moto, dolce

Total Performance Time: 1 min 47 sec 

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Variation VIII. Allegro non troppo

Total Performance Time: 1 min 11 sec 

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Variation IX.

Total Performance Time: 1 min 12 sec 

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Variation X. Espressivo agitato

Total Performance Time: 0 min 50 sec 

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Variation XI. Tempo di tema, poco piu lento, dolce

Total Performance Time: 4 min 14 sec 

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