Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 09/16/2015, uploaded on 05/16/2016

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Brahms composed this work in 1863 and based it on the Caprice No. 24 in A minor by Niccolò Paganini. It was composed for the piano virtuoso Carl Tausig, and Brahms’s friends often referred to the result as the Witchcraft Variations. ‘Variations on a theme by Paganini’ is in fact Op 35’s subtitle. The main title, as if to emphasize its exploration of the technical aspects of keyboard virtuosity, is ‘Studies for Pianoforte’; and Brahms organized it in two complementary books, each of which contains the theme, plus fourteen variations and a coda.

While Book I focuses on bravura writing, Book II is somewhat gentler in character, with compositional virtues more predominant. The dreamy waltz of variation 4, the skittish arpeggios of No 6 with its ‘demonic’ crushed semitones, the ‘violinistic’ No 8 with its pizzicato effects, the cool nocturne of No 12, and the gently cascading thirds of No 13—these all combine to make Book II the more satisfying from a purely musical standpoint. The choice of theme is itself a direct challenge to Liszt, who had produced his own virtuoso rendition of this Caprice in his ‘Grandes études de Paganini’.    Notes by Calum MacDonald

_____________________________________________

Variations on a Theme of Paganini    Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms’ wrote the Variations on a Theme of Paganini in 1862-3 and it would be his last set of variations for the piano. Brahms actually titled the piece Studien (Studies) to emphasize that the work was an exploration of the technical possibilities of the piano. No doubt the work is extremely demanding of a performer’s technique to say the least. Whereas, Brahms’ prior set of variations on the theme by Handel was a great testament to tradition, the Paganini variations was, conversely, a bravura display of virtuosity as practiced by the “New German” school of composers (Franz Liszt being at the forefront of the group), with which Brahms was mostly in opposition.

The piece is based on the famous theme of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A minor. It has been the subject of variation sets many times since its composition. The most notable are those by Brahms, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff. Brahms’ set is divided into two books each containing the theme, fourteen variations and a coda. To Brahms’ friends, the piece was known as the “Hexenvariationen” or “Witchcraft Variations,” because of the astonishing feats it required the performer to make. It was Clara Schumann that thus nicknamed the work.

The Paganini Variations was essentially Brahms’ attempt to “out-Weimer the Weimarites,” as Malcolm McDonald put it, on their own ground. This probably arose from his friendship with Carl Tausig, a student and ardent supporter of Liszt, and whose piano playing Brahms admired. The choice of the theme was also part of this gesture as Liszt himself had previously used the theme in his own set of variations.

The piece presents varying technical challenges to the pianists, including studies in double sixths, double thirds, wide leaps between hands or with only one hand, trills at the top of chords, polyrhythms, octaves, and the list goes on. Most of the strictly technical demands are made in Book I, in which this is the focus. Book II, on the other hand, is more concerned with the compositional development of the theme. While still challenging, technique recedes to the background allowing for Brahms’ gift of melodic development to come to the fore.

Together with the Handel Variations, these two pieces established Brahms as the greatest composer of variations in his time. Together they are the perfect example of the “old” and “new” approach to piano composition in the Romantic era.    Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.