Johannes Brahms

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel

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

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 Schumann, widow of Robert Schumann. 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. 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 gigues and two sarabandes that Brahms wrote to develop his technique are extant today. The results of these historical studies are seen in his choice of Handel for the theme, as well as his use of Baroque forms, including the Siciliana 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. 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, 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 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 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.”

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 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 major 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 Goldstein.

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 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 chords 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 1#

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 (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 2#

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 3#

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 4#

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 note of almost every beat. Although no tempo indications are given, this variation is often performed at great speed.

Variation 5#

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 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 peaceful and tranquil. A pairing between this variation and the following one is created by the use of the tonic minor key signature and contrary motion.

Variation 6#

Like the preceding variation, this piece is in the tonic minor and features contrary motion, and the motives of the two variations are similar. Marked 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 7#

Echoing the pairing of Variations 5 and 6, the seventh variation is paired with the eighth. Returning to Handel’s original B major, Variation 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 8.

Variation 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 9 begins and signals the end of the first section.

Variation 9#

Variation 9 slows the pace of the series, with a sense of grandeur as both treble and bass move in stately, 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 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 10#

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 ( energetico) in the higher registers followed by echoes progressively lower, ending deep in the bass in a series of single notes played . The second half rushes to a great climax.

Variation 11#

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 the right hand while the left hand 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 12#

The quietness and delicacy of Variation 12 prepares for the return of the dark tonic minor in Variation 13. The left hand is similar to Variation 17, in the same rhythm as the left hand of Handel’s theme.

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 because each passage that would have been repeated is instead written an octave higher. Variations 13 and 14, while very different in character, are paired in being fast and exciting and in their use of parallel sixths in the right hand.

Composer: Johannes Brahms