Variations & Vignettes for Piano

Abstract

It would be reasonable to ask whether the twenty-one sets of variations for piano form as do the nine symphonies, the thirty-two sonatas, and the seventeen quartets, one of the rnirrors in which we can see the metamorphoses of Beethoven's genius. It would be difficult to answer-strictly speaking, there does not seem to be the same continuity in the development 0f nis thought in this field, and yet the distance covered between the Variations on a March by Dossier and the Diabelli Variations is greater than that between the first Sonata in F Minor and the Sonata, Op. 111. The dates confirm what the style suggests: the first variations (1782) were written thirteen years earlier than the first sonata and are, in fact, the first known work by Beethoven. In order to understand the problem better, let us consider a few facts. In about 180fj the catalog of Beethoven's works contained fourteen series of variations; the "Pathetique" Sonata and the first two piano concertos had already been written, but the Symphony No. 1 and the six Quartets, Op. 18 would only come into being during the following months. From 1802 until his death, Beethoven only wrote seven more series of variations, of which three are definitely backward-looking and could equally well have appeared amongst the earlier ones in spjte 0f their dates (1803 and 1808). That only leaves the four works, which, seen from the historical point of view, tell us far more than the other seventeen.- the Variations, Op. 34 and the so-called "Eroica" Variations in 1802, the Variations in C Minor (about 1807), and the Tnjrty. three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in 1823. This simple stock-taking reveals a lack of balance; are there only four works — on. a far greater scale, it is true — to represent Beethoven's most important creative period? But it will be exclaimed that Beethoven's work after 1800 contains many sets of variations although they may be found under another name; for the piano, the slow variations in the "Appassionata" Sonata, Op. 109, or the arietta of Op. Ill are further examples. Here we are, then, faced with the inevitable question: how shall we discriminate between the isolated series of variations and those that help to make up more complex structure? A set of variations for piano had a very definite place in the musical of the end of the eighteenth century. It was a work of virtuosity. It was the very prototype of improvisation: a theme is suggested to the artist, and he plays variations on it. Mozart never gave a concert oikeld an "Academy" without indulging in this musical game, and the written proofs that haveurvived to our day are no more than the small part that was recorded of music that disappears soon as it is created. The inclusion of the variation in a larger composition is the same as the rlusion of the piano in a group of other instruments for a work of chamber music in that n both cases, the brilliant newcomer is hardly compatible with the "serious" character of tie form. So argued a musician of that period. This judgement astonishes us today, but it alone in help us to be fair to these works. However, Mozart himself was aware of the superficialityif these criteria and some of his great works do not disdain the variation (for example, them/e of the Concerto in C Minor, K.491). It is necessary, at this point, to correct one or two rather hasty opinions, and Beehoven's variations make us pause to reconsider. Before taking his place as the "revolutionary conoser," Beethoven devoted thirty years of his life to an existence that has sometimes been underetimated. Firstly, as a "resident musician'' at a princely court, such as Haydn had been, he did tt break away of his own free will, as did Mozart, but under the pressure of political events ihen be led the only life possible for a "free" musician, that of a virtuoso, giving concerts amlessons at Vienna, and seeking the support of an aristocracy whom he managed more efficienly than Mozart, for it kept him alive for many years. It was at this time that Beethoven wrotethe first fourteen series of variations, far more subject to the demands of the times than is frquently imagined. And yet, for all this, he showed his true character. As for the great works mentioned earlier (Variations, Op. 34; Op. 35 "Eroica"; theC Minor "Diabelli," Op. 120), they are "amplifying variations." It would be easy to demonsiate the absurdity of his expression, as every variation is, basically, amplifying; but this is, o:ourse, a symbol. It is an attempt to show that Beethoven wanted to raise the variation to he level of the other great classical forms of the period, by stripping it of its showy elemet But it would be unjust to ascribe to him all the responsibility for this. Had not Mozart arj Haydn preceded him? Beethoven, the inventor of the "amplifying" variation; this is as artirary as Schubert, the "creator of the lied," or Haydn, the "father of the symphony...." It would be truer to say that by forcing the thematic dialogue of classical music to the point of combat between two ideas, he glimpsed the possibility of an ideal reconciliation of the two principles, which he himself had set in opposition, by a return to the pre-Classical thematic unity. Thus, the Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli stretch out a hand to the ' 'Goldberg" Variations by J.S. Bach. The variation was thus to be, for Beethoven, a "research," a quest for the absolute, born of that interior demon that drove him always to get everything possible out of a theme. Thus, it can be suggested that the isolated variations are also confessions. They have the importance of sketches that a painter leaves us. They achieve the same perfection as a sketch in painting. There is an obvious development in the material, and yet the work goes beyond the stage and is sufficient unto itself. It will later be Brahms who gives a sense of balance to the variation, so that the musical research (melody, rhythm, and counterpoint) are completely united to the idea of accomplishment. What, with Beethoven, is a struggle with the material, becomes, with Brahms, a surging of the inspiration. It is now easier to understand what the isolated variation — "the inventor's labortory" — can reveal to us of Beethoven's world; instrumental virtuosity, brilliance of writing, decorative imagination, search for an absolute — and all this pursued in every possible expression of the same theme.