Variations for Orchestra on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a
Now a permanent resident of Vienna, Brahms spent his summer holiday in 1873 at Tutzing on the Starnbergersee in southern Bavaria. A version of the Variations for two pianos Brahms marked “Tutzing, July, 1873.” Whether it was the first of the two versions we do not know. On November 2 the orchestral version was brought out in Vienna at a Philharmonic Concert, Otto Dessoff conducting.
The theme by Haydn comes from an unpublished divertimento for wind instruments, preserved at the State Library in Berlin, which is inscribed “Divertimento mit dem Chorale St. Antoni.” Though the melody of the chorale is usually supposed to be Haydn’s own, we cannot be sure that he had not taken it from a chorale that has now disappeared.
In Haydn’s key of B-flat major the theme
is given out andante in 2-4 time and repeated. Eight variations follow:
I. (Poco piu animato, major mode). Throughout the initial variation the concluding notes of the introduction ring like a tolling of bells.
II. (Più vivace, minor mode). The clarinets and bassoons take the lead. The violins supply an arpeggio figure.
III. (Con moto, major mode). The theme in this tranquil section is given first to the oboes and bassoons.
IV. (Andante con moto, minor mode). New melodic material enters. Oboe and horn announce the theme.
V. (Vivace, major mode). Flutes, oboes, and bassoons have the melody.
VI. (Vivace, minor mode). Brilliant like its predecessor, this variation introduces a new figure.
VII. (Grazioso, major mode). In Siciliano rhythm (6-8), the seventh variation is generally regarded as the crowning glory of the set. Against a descending scale for first violins and clarinets, violas and piccolo play the melody. Then the first violins give out a theme whose first four notes provide the movement with its rhythmic basis. There is a wealth of fascinating detail.
VIII. (Presto non troppo, minor mode). In a mysterious whisper of muted strings the last variation leads darkly to the Finale. (Andante, major mode). A ground bass, five measures long and repeated twelve times below a variety of harmonies, occupies much of this summing up. At a signal from the triangle an outburst of vernal life sweeps through the orchestra, ending with the theme in fortissimo proclamation.