Variations on a Theme by Paganini (Brahms)

The young Johannes Brahms (around 1866)

The Variations on a Theme by Paganini op. 35 are a piano work by Johannes Brahms , most of which was completed in Vienna in the winter of 1862/63 .

The 28 variations are among the most difficult works in romantic piano literature and were premiered by the composer on November 25, 1865 in Zurich . The occasion for these studies for piano , which are divided into two booklets with 14 variations each, was the impressive playing of pianist Carl Tausig , whom Brahms had got to know in Vienna.

As a theme he chose the 24th Capriccio in A minor from the 24 Capricci op.1 for solo violin by Niccolò Paganini , whose virtuoso violin playing caused quite a stir in numerous European cities around 1830 and influenced composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt .

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Incipit of the topic:

The work is strictly symmetrical. The two booklets each begin with the theme consisting of 24 bars, followed by fourteen variations. The two final variations ( Allegro and Presto ma non troppo ) are more extensive and form the dramatic and virtuoso climax of the composition. Except for the slower variations in major , which are more freely designed, they have the same key (A minor) and move in the harmonic framework of the model.

Each variation deals with a specific technical problem in a concentrated manner that is reminiscent of an etude . Thus, sixths and thirds , octaves, arpeggios , repetitions, jumps and rhythmic presented problems to the limits of playability.

The Paganini Variations are a concentrate of the composer's typical piano technique, which he dealt with again in the 51 Exercises for Piano published in 1893 . In contrast to the extroverted and glittering, effective personal style of Franz Liszt, which is characterized by scales and virtuoso decorations, Brahms' very characteristic and sometimes brittle piano setting is characterized - in addition to thirds and sixths - by full grip, syncopation , polyphonic structures and powerful basses .

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Paganini, playing on the G-string in a high register, painting by Georg Friedrich Kersting (1830/31)

The 24 caprices , composed in 1810, require jumps, double stops and bold position play and influenced many contemporaries as well as subsequent generations - also through the legendary appearances of the devil's violinist in major European cities.

Franz Liszt, the most famous pianist of the 19th century, looked for new ways of pianistic technique under the impression of Paganini's playing and was able to gain previously unknown technical and sonic aspects from the piano in virtuoso etudes. With his six grandes études d'après Paganini - among them the famous La Campanella - he not only opened up some of Paganini's compositions for the piano, but also transferred his playing into the pianistic sphere. In his sixth etude he also deals with the theme of the 24th Caprice. With his variations, Brahms presented a far more extensive spectrum of pianistic techniques such as problems with jumping technique, double stops and polyrhythmic refinements.

Carl Tausig included the work in his repertoire and performed it frequently, while Clara Schumann , who had sent the manuscript to Brahms in 1863, studied it intensively, but not in public , in contrast to the equally demanding Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24 seems to have played.

The Paganini theme was used by many other composers for their own variations. In addition to Franz Liszt, for example, by Sergei Rachmaninow in his rhapsody on a theme by Paganini for piano and orchestra, Boris Blacher (Paganini Variations for orchestra, op. 26), Witold Lutosławski (first composed in 1939 for two pianos, then in 1978 for piano and orchestra set up) and James Barnes ( Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Niccolò Paganini for orchestra).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Music in the past and present , Brahms, Johannes, Volume 2, Bärenreiter-Verlag 1986, p. 193
2. ↑ Music in the past and present, Capriccio Volume 2, Bärenreiter-Verlag 1986, p. 813
3. ^ Berthold Litzmann : Clara Schumann. An artist's life. According to diaries and letters . Volume 3: Clara Schumann and her friends . 4th edition. Breitkopf & Härtel , Leipzig 1920. p. 146 ( online ).

Web links

• Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op.35 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project