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Brahms
and
the
Variation
Canon
ELAINE R. SISMAN
the eyes" (p. 152). Yet Brahms's other comments about Joachim's variations included approvingreferencesto their "poetic content" and
to their sounding like "the most beautiful fairytales and ballads"(p. 156). "Strictness"and "purity" did not necessarily lead to austerity.
Writing to the critic Adolf Schubringalmost
thirteen years later, in February1869, Brahms
described not only the technical categories of
the variation form, each apparentlyinvolving a
Piano Quartet,the heading VierteSonate on his C-MajorPiano Sonata, op. 1), but also from his correspondence,especially with Joachim, Clara Schumann, and Elisabeth von
Herzogenberg.When his friendsaskedfor criticisms of their
own works, he readilycomplied, with the result that his letters transmit some "firstprinciples"about the forms, genres, and techniques in question. Constantin Florossuggests
"Selbstkritik"as one of the characteristicsof E. T. A. Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler with which Brahms
strongly identified; see Floros,Brahms und Bruckner.Studien zur musikalischen Exegetik (Wiesbaden,1980),p. 98.
(Formore on Brahmsand Kreisler,see section VIII.)At this
early stage, Brahmshadnot yet developedthat ironic stance
toward self-criticism that characterizesmany of his later
letters.
5JohannesBrahmsBriefwechsel(hereafterBriefwechsel),16
vols. (Berlin, 1907-22), vol. V, ed. AndreasMoser (Berlin,
1912, rpt. Tutzing, 1974), p. 150. (All translations are my
own.)
133
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
the melody, a separate category including variations by Beethoven and himself, and elaborations of a melody or motive in the manner of a
fantasy.8 Brahms's sympathy with the first type
is suggested by his comment to Jenner that "the
bass is more important than the melody," not
because it remains exactly the same, but because a variation of the bass can modify the entire character of the melody more strongly than
can a variation of that melody only.' Yet his ambiguous final sentence suggests that he himself
had also transgressed in writing fantasy-variations.10
Similar grumblings were prompted by a set
sent his way by Heinrich von Herzogenberg,
who in 1876 was about to publish the first variations ever written on a theme of Brahms:11
If I were again able to have the pleasureof conversing
with you, and then could say something other than
total praise ... [t]hen I would perhaps go on about
III
Identifying the bass as the essence of the
theme, in the Schubring letter, 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. "The bass" as a
concept embodies a historical development of
strict (streng) treatments: from Baroque composers, who took the bass as "their actual
theme," to Beethoven, who varied "melody,
harmony, and rhythm," while presumably remaining faithful to the theme's structure (although this is never made explicit beyond a reference to his strictness), to Brahms, who wishes
he could be even stricter with himself. Brahms's
youthful modesty to Joachim about including
himself in that historical development later
turned to pride of lineage.
The two senses of erfinden used by Brahms in
the same sentence of the Schubring letter-inthe creative trajectory
vent and discover-plot
offered by the bass. 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.14
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
a. Theme
Sarabande.Andantino. Etwas langsam
2 doO
c. Variation 5
b. Variation 1
2do
2do
d. Variation8
d.
lMO
Imo
AndanteZiemlich
langsamImo
'
II
p legato
2do
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
b. Variation3
a. Theme
Andante
Allegro
.A-l
o.
- l
-+8va3
2do
2do
c. Variation4
L'istes o
tempo
d. Variation 7
Lento, appassionato
2do 1
- -aIa
p espress.
MO*
TT-
TY
IV
in
of
Brahms's exclusion of
Ironically,
light
Schumann from among the writers of true variations, Schumann's letters and criticism of the
1830s adumbrate the points that Brahms would
arrive at twenty and thirty years later. Schumann too sought to reconcile strictness of approach with poetic intent.22 He admired the variations of Bach and Beethoven above all, and
suggested that the theme be carefully chosen-
22Schumann'scomments and attitudes on variationarediscussed in WernerSchwarz,RobertSchumannund die Variation. Mit BesondererBeriicksichtigungder Klavierwerke
(Kassel, 1932); a few passages are translatedin Robert U.
Nelson, The Technique of Variation (Berkeley and Los
Angeles, 1948),pp. 93-94.
marcato ii canto
espressivo
ELAINE
R.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
i Thema.marcato
he himself is "strict" (streng)toward it-"because the rest of the construction is based on it"
(weil sich der ganze Fortbaudaraufgriindet).23
Every theme has a particular character, different aspects of which may be revealedin the variations; Schumann described the character of
von Fricken'smelody as "pathetic"and claimed
that the Symphonic Etudes tried to reveal the
different component "colors" of that character.24Indeed, the more reminiscences associated with a theme, the more profound will be
the musical thoughts arising from it.25Taking
his own advice, Schumann chose themes to
vary or otherwise explore that almost always
had personal significance. But choosing such a
theme did not necessarily imply the absence of
an older model. In a fragmentaryautobiographical note, for example, he commented that the
Impromptus on a Theme of ClaraWieck, op. 5,
were inspired by Bach, and should not be taken
as a new form of varying.26(Amore likely model
is Beethoven's Eb-Major"Eroica" Variations,
op. 35. Schumann wrote a new bass line to
Clara's theme and presented it alone at the beginning of the piece, like Beethoven's "Introdu2Letter to Hauptmann von Fricken, September 1834; Jugendbriefe von RobertSchumann,ed. ClaraSchumann(3rd
edn. Leipzig, 1885),p. 253.
24Ibid.,pp. 253-54. Schumannalso deridedcomposerswho
took prosaic, even trivial tunes as their themes, because
then the variations would be unable to "fill [one]with rapture" (begeistern;Gesammelte SchriftenI, 221).
25Schumann,Gesammelte SchriftenI, 221.
26WolfgangBoetticher,RobertSchumannin seinen Schriften und Briefen (Berlin,1942),p. 24. Forother details about
this piece, see Claudia Stevens Becker, "A New Look at
Schumann's Impromptus,"Musical Quarterly 67 (1981),
568-86.
theme. ... The time is past when one can create astonishment with a sugaryfigure, a yearning suspension, an Eb-majorrun over the keyboard. Now one
strives for thoughts, for inner connections, for poetic
totality, with the whole bathed in fresh fantasy.
ner connections"-between theme and variations. But this seems to be precisely Brahms's
point in identifying the bass as the essence of
the theme: melodic resemblances alone and the
figurations they inspire are more superficial
than the profound relationships, even melodic
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
V
An eloquent critical conspectus that offers a
valuable gloss on the critical stances of both
Brahms and Schumann was provided by another
member of the Schumann circle, the Berlin
composer Julius Schiffer.29 Schiffer devoted
himself to a rank-ordered list of types of variations, prompted by the dispiriting current condition of the form:
The variation form, although cultivated by the masters with special partiality, is still so badly mistreated by bunglers and hacks that when it appears,
people avoid it or encounter it with mistrust, and as a
consequence of its bad reputation noteworthy theorists and aestheticians scarcely want to grantit even
a modest spot next to the legitimate art forms. This
appearsto us unjust.
If we exclude the Bravura-variation,then the different forms of variation divide themselves chiefly
into three principalcategories.In the first, which can
appropriatelybe describedas the decorative,all interest lies in the theme. In each variation, this is
clothed, as it were, in a new attire, but it is not disguised. ... It is usually a known melody and the goal
of this genre is the ever-new charm of its differently
turned-outrepetitions.
-In the second [category],which we call the contrapuntal,the center of gravity lies in the variations
themselves.... Here the theme is only the outline,
on which different architectonic creations are
built.... This category stands higher than the first
... [andfeatures] the creation of independent structures on the basis of the given harmonic relationships....
-In the third category, the center of gravity lies
neither in the theme alone nor in the variations
alone, but ratherin the psychological bond between
the two.... That the theme is usually an invention
of the composer's-a so-called original theme-is
entirely in the nature of the thing. The individual
; in other
31ErnstRudorff,"JohannesBrahms.Erinnerungenund Betrachtungen,"SchweizerischeMusikzeitung 97 (1957),8283. Rudorffaddedthat Brahmswould undoubtedlyhave included his own Haydn Variationsin the second category.
32Inthe Schubring letter, Brahms mentioned building his
stories; in a letter aboutBrahms'sSchumannVariations,op.
9, Joachim referredto the varied Architektur of the variations and to Brahmshimself as a Baumeister (letter of 27
June 1854, Briefwechsel V, 48). Schumann had used the
term Fortbau.
33Dunsby,"The Multi-piece in Brahms,"p. 171. Dunsby
faults Schenker for his failure to offer an adequatetheory
about the overall structure of a set of variations, and finds
that Schenker's discussion of Brahms'sHandel Variations
"deals with the connection of musical ideas but not with
the sum of such connections." His challenge to present-day
analysts to consider the issue has been taken up by Esther
Cavett-Dunsby (Mozart's Variations Reconsidered: Four
Case Studies [Ph.D. diss, University of London, 19851)and
Nicholas Marston ("Analysing Variations: The Finale of
Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 74," Music Analysis 8
[19891,303-24).
VI
To Brahms, the character and source of a
theme played a central role in determining the
nature of the variations he wrote on that
theme.34Hardlystartling in itself and strikingly
anticipated by Schumann, this view of
Brahms's themes is nonetheless not usually
taken into account in evaluating the course of
his career in variations, perhaps because it departs strikingly from the practice of earliercomposers writing on borrowedthemes. In Beethoven's Diabelli Variations,for example, William
Kindermanpoints to the "discrepancybetween
the commonplace waltz and the formidable arThere is no such discrepray of variations."35"
ancy in Brahms, to whom the theme initiated
the psychological bond spoken of by Schiffer. A
theme that is a song led to melody-orientedvariations, as in piano sonatas, ops. 1 and 2, and the
HungarianSong Variations.By the same token,
Brahms's choice of a Schumann theme seemed
to require or imply a more characteristically
Schumannesque expression in the variations; a
Handel theme received a stricter application of
the variation principle, as well as the use of such
Baroque topics as siciliana and musette; a
theme by Paganiniwas chosen for virtuosic variations.36 And like Schumann, Brahms often
chose themes rich in "reminiscence."
Two variations from the big keyboardsets of
1861, the Handel Variations and the four-hand
Schumann Variations, ops. 24 and 23 respectively, will serve to illustrate both the psychological bond and the structural limitations imposed by the bass. (That the Handel set ends
with a fugue and the Schumann set ends with a
funeral march already tells much of the story.)
The sixth variation of the Handel and the fourth
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
a. Brahms,VariationsandFugueon a Theme
of Handel,op.24, variation6.
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
112.
legato legato
Example 4
of the Schumann sets are externally quite similar:two-partimitative minores with both hands
in octaves, appearingrelatively earlyin each cycle (see ex. 4). Several features point to op. 24/6
as a variation on a Baroque theme: despite its
expressive distance from the theme (prepared
somewhat by the precedingvariation in minor),
it is entirely canonic and resembles the theme
melody.
The theme of the Schumann set, on the other
hand, was chosen by Brahms for its personal
meanings, its "melancholy sound of farewell,"
and he admitted that the variations were not far
142
removed from that idea.37Opus 23/4 is only intermittently canonic and is more consciously
"mysterious" in such evocative details as a hollow-fifth cadence (m. 8), repeated notes or tremolo in the lowest registers of the piano during
the second reprise, and syncopated sigh-motives to replace the canon. It is also the only variation in that set without any overt melodic resemblance to the theme or even so basic an
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
1852
1852
1854
1856
1857
1860
1861
1861
1862-63
1864
11. Variationson a Theme of Haydn,op. 56a (orchestra)and op. 56b (two pianos)
12. StringQuartetin BbMajor,op. 67/iv
13. Piano Trio in C major,op. 87/ii
14. Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, op. 98/iv
15. StringQuintet in G Major,op. 111/ii
16. Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, op. 115/iv
17. Clarinet Sonata in E6Major,op. 120, no. 2/iii
1873
1875
1882
1885
1890
1891
1894
Table 1
Brahms's Variations.
Once the op. 21 sets are seen as a pair, it becomes clear that they do not repudiate Brahms's
earlier variations but rather recast the terms of
his engagement with the past: their contrasts in
technique and affect reflect different historical
models mediated through the nature of their
themes.44
Their most significant common features appear in no other independent set by Brahms:
minores limited to a single large group, a linking of most of the major variations by melody or
speed of figuration, and a finale which includes
a reworking of the first variation.45 The greater
44Brahms'sreflections on the form as well as his composition of op. 21 might also have been stimulated by several
performances of variations: in November 1855, he had
played Schumann'sVariationsfor Two Pianos, op. 46, with
Clarain Danzig, and early in 1856 he played the Beethoven
Variationsin C minor (WoO 80) and Ebmajor (op. 35, the
"Eroica"or "Prometheus"Variations)in Kiel, Altona, and
Cologne. See FlorenceMay, JohannesBrahms,2 vols. (London, 1905), I, 192; Renate and Kurt Hofmann, Johannes
Brahms:Zeittafel zu Leben und Werk(Tutzing, 1983),pp.
26-32.
45Thelast featurehad appearedin Joachim'sVariationsin E
Majorfor Viola and Piano, op. 10, completed at the end of
1854.
144
each set appearsto draw on one of the two Beethoven sets that Brahms had performed earlier in
Eb-Major"Eroica"set for piano, op. 35. The following brief discussion of both sets is intended
to reinforce the idea of pairing.
The theme in the Hungarian set is immediately countermanded by an initial large grouping of variations in the minor (variations 1- 6).
These flamboyant minores cohere as pairs and
small groupsbased on rhythm while placing the
melody either in the bass, the treble, or divided
between them. In the original theme set, the
minor group (variations 8-10) is the last element before the finale. Striking in both sets are
the similar dynamic inflections: minores tend
to be loud, maggiores almost invariablysoft.
Brahmsalso linked variations within the majorgroup.In the Hungarianset, the long series of
major variations (7-13) connects variations
8 -11 by a pervasive tonic pedal, and variations
9 -13 effect both a dynamic and a rhythmic crescendo. Variation 9, a poetic later insertion, is
pivotal in altering the metrical pattern of the
theme and introducing a new melodic pattern
that returns in the bass of variations 10 and 11.47
In the original theme set, the major variations
form pairs (1- 2, 3-4, 5-6) in which the second
intensifies some aspect of the first.
As a climax to the long chain of variations increasing in speed of figuration, the Allegro
finale of the Hungarianset is a rondo whose refrain, a variation of the theme, gave Brahms a
good bit of trouble. In a letter to Joachim, he
wrote: "Particularlyin the Finale a nasty youth
is simply raging, and I'd very much like to fashion a more respectable fellow, not raising a
racket as sometimes [happened] in the sonatas."48He also mentions that Clara didn't care
for the appearanceof Bbminor in the finale, in a
section recalling the explosive impact of variation 1. Possibly the criticisms from his friends
prompted Brahms to revise the finale, which is
written in darkerand thicker ink on a different
type of paperfrom the rest of the piece. Such revisions might have overlappedwith the composition of op. 21, no. 1, and accounted for the
question mark in Brahms's catalogue ("friiher?").The finale of the latter set is, by contrast, a
kind of expanded variation-as-codawhose con-
47Theautograph
is in theViennaStadtbibliothek.
The6meter of variation 9 preparesthe triplet24meter of variation 10,
while its chromatic bass line and transitional harmonies
underthe pedalweld the majorgroupmore tightly together.
48BriefwechselV, 158.
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
double barat the end of each variationinto an initial. Variations 10 and 11, inserted on sheets dated 12 August [1854]
and headed "Rose and Heliotrope have bloomed,"have no
such signaturesandend with plain doublebars.A numberof
commentators, including Neighbour, have assumed that
the "J.B."afterthe date on the insertedsheets is the same as
the extended double bar; this is not so, and variation 11
should not be considereda "B."My thanks to Otto Bibaand
Peter Riethus for their kindnesses duringresearchtrips to
Vienna in 1982 and 1984, and to WalterFrisch,who doublechecked the double barsin 1986.
54TheKreislersignatureis found at the ends of the PianoSonatas, ops. 1, 2, and5, the PianoTrio,op. 8, andthe C-Minor
Scherzo (WoOposthum 2) from the F-A-E Piano Trio of
October 1853. The autographsare all dated between 1852
and January1854; see BV underthose op. nos.
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
Thema
Ziemlich langsam
.
etc.
3
espress.
legato
:TYetc.
b. Variation5 ("Kr").
Allegrocapriccioso
staccato e legg.
Slegg.
etc.
e stacc
Example 6: Brahms,op. 9.
ond inversion, first inversion, and root position,
respectively. In the variations, Brahms alters
the harmonies of the static second period most
extensively, and he takes advantageof the mirroringin the third period to offerharmonic substitutions without loss of intelligibility. Forexample, the third variation slips down a half step
from C# to C? at the second C#-minor chord;
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
Theme
Kr
Kr
Kr
canon
th.
th.
mel.
in
bass
th.
th.
mel.
bass mel.
(treble
(inner
voice)
10
11
12
13
14
Kr
Kr
canon
th.
15
canon canon
th.
bass
in
th.
mel.
bass
in
and
treble
treble
voice)
in bass)
bass
inner (inverted
16
and
Figure 1
of
Brahms's
SchumannVariations,Op. 9.
Organization
asserting his own personality, as a "B,"afterthe
reiterations of the theme melody in variations 1
and 3 and the Schumann-reminiscence on the
theme bass in variation 2. It recomposes the
melody, modifies the harmony by addingpedal
points, but remains close to the theme in structure. And despite these new harmonies, notably
V7/D in the second period, the pedal points
reflect the cadence structure of the theme by
spelling out a tonic triad(F#in the first period,A
in the second, C#and F# in the third),although
with greater emphasis on A than on CQ.They
also retrogradethe essential melodic outline of
the theme (C#-A- F#).
Variation 5, a "Kr," is a fantasylike outgrowth of variation 4, using its figurationwithout the melody, distorting its proportions,altering the harmonies further,and transformingthe
bell-like repetitions of the initial C# into a fanfare. In contrast to the stable pedals of variation
4, the bass register here is reserved for the accented extremes of the fanfarefiguration.These
pitches spell out an inversion of the theme's
melodic outline (C#-E-G)-a
greater departure than a retrograde-then touch on the major dominant (E#as A of C# major)and the major
tonic (A#as 3 of F#major).The bass registerthus
no longer gives chord roots, and the harmonies
move fartherfrom the original harmonies than
those in variation 4.
148
Un poco piiuanimato
Ssedcmpress
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
col Ped.
("Siiss---
er
Freund")
IX
The final part of this essay will suggest that
the idea of the bass, with its elements of strictness, discovery/invention, and psychological
bond as explored here, enabled Brahms to redraw or at least make permeablethe boundaries
of the variation canon. Two autobiographically
resonant movements make this case: the slow
movement of the G-MajorString Sextet, op. 36,
intimately bound up with his relationships to
Agathe von Siebold and Clara Schumann, and
the slow movement of the G-Major String
Quintet, op. 111, originally intended as his farewell to composition. The former is the last of
Brahms's variations of 1860-64, a group consisting, like the early variations, of three independent sets and two slow movements in works
of the same genre. Pairings play out the same
oppositions as the earlier works.59The second
58Itis also tempting to see in the left-handaccompaniment
an echo of Schumann's motive to "Stisser Freund!"in
Frauenliebeund Leben.
59Thestring sextets are a looser pairthan the others in that
they were written four years apart,but constitute his only
works in that genre andreflect the duality of theme-type alreadyproposed.The slow movement of the B -MajorString
Sextet, op. 18, suggests older models at the outset, in a
theme that recallsboth the old basspatternof LaFolia,with
its "strumming" accompaniment, and the Allegretto of
Beethoven'sSeventh Symphony.Its treatmentsimilarly expandsregisterwhile decreasingnote values in the firstthree
variations, and the format of the movement is traditional.
Finally, the codarefersto the variation-finaleof Mozart'sDMinor String Quartet, K. 421, and the slow movement of
Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet. (JamesWebster called attention to the Schubert reminiscence in
"Brahms'sFirstMaturity[II],"p. 62. It is possible that Schubert's quartetalreadyreflectedthe Mozart.)
149
19TH
rit.
Adagio
CENTURY
MUSIC
Vn.
Vn.
L" -I
molto
espr
Vla.
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
Vn. I, via. I
Vla. I
'
molto
.fL
. J..
p
pzz.
Vc.I PI
vc.I
p izz.
P dolce
arco
z.
zz.%p
pz
arco
pizz.
p'l'lp04
ambiguities, its tonic pedal anchoring the constantly reiterated rising fourth to a new stable
environment. Brahmshere arrivesat a reconciliation of variation and fantasy, as well as an apparent resolution of his yearning for Clarathat
he was simply not capable of nine years earlier.
If the sextet variations disclose strict treatment of a free theme, and flirt with fantasy in
151
19TH
Vn. I, II
CENTURY
MUSIC
f
/-5~?dolre
Vla. I
aa
la.
o
T"I._.
;-.
,.
Vc.
pizz..
.
arco
p- M
%Idim.A
"dim.
3
..
33
.,p
241
Arn
LI"o
f0
Pf
FR
r
only theme for variations in which the bass participates motivically, in the dotted-rhythmmotives of m. 3 and mm. 5-6.
The real freedom in the movement lies in the
improvisatory passages which link one variation to the next. These passages are based on
motives of the theme--the dotted rhythm of m.
1 or its melodic contour, the ascending bass arpeggio of m. 3, the triplet-figureand neighbornote motive of m. 7--and every one of them begins simply and grows in rhythmic or textural
complexity. They also increase in length and in
expressive intensity until the climax of the set
in the variation which begins in D major (ex.
12).This variation, with the greatestrange,density, and volume, imports the techniques of
those improvisatorypassages into the variation
itself, forcing an extension outward, via progressive diminution (sixteenths and sixteenthtriplets to thirty-seconds), into a kind of moti-
ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon
161-u-
M-
fY--
ff
Sarco
ffr
ff2w
melody and distort its structure aided his attempt to establish a canon of true variations,
but his freedom in interpreting "the bass" allowed him not only to create something new
upon it but also to recreatethat bass anew, leading him to the verge of fantasy as describedby
Schumann and Schaiffer.While his variations after op. 9 were all "stricterand purer"in holding
more closely to the structure of the theme, the
nature of his variation themes still conditioned
the nature of the set, and the pairingof radically
different themes from op. 21 through op. 36
provided the means for a thorough exploration
of his extensive inheritance and an expansion of
its boundaries. Brahms's poetic reflection on
the theme bass-"the firm foundation on
which I then build my stories"-shows him to
be at once an architect and a teller of tales, infusing each edifice with
an animating spirit.
153