Variations
It is paradoxical that in the oeuvre of Chopin – a great master of variation technique – works which the composer titled ‘variations’ are but few in number and generally on the margins of his output. In Chopin’s music, variation technique is virtually omnipresent (Lat. variatio: variant, variety; Chopin rarely repeats a melody, ornament or accompaniment figure without varying it!). Yet he gave the name ‘variations’ to only two opuses (Opp. 2 and 12). His other variations are works from the margins of his oeuvre, occasional pieces not infrequently inspired by some external circumstances rather than any inner imperative on the part of the composer.
Chopin composed all his works in this genre during his youthful years, in the Warsaw period and the early years in Paris. These were times when the form of virtuoso variations, written to popular, well-known themes, belonged to the canon of fashionable piano literature. Hence the close links of Chopin’s variations with the dazzling, virtuoso style brillant. Very fond of this style in his youth, Chopin created variations that were pianistically effective and formally deft, but most often highly superficial in expression. Many of them were not published until after his death.
Of his eight works in the form of variations, the Variations in B flat major, Op. 2, on ‘Là ci darem la mano’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni stand out for their artistic depth and maturity. Chopin's early output in this domain contained several works. In 1824, the fourteen-year-old Fryderyk composed Variations in E major on the theme of the German song ‘Steh' auf, steh' auf o du Schweitzer Bub’, comprising an effective Introduction à la Hummel, four simple variations and a finale in the form of a superficial salon waltz (Tempo di Valse).
The year 1826 brought Variations in D major on the theme of an Irish song by Moore, convergent with the melody to the Neapolitan song ‘La Ricciolella’. This striking work was preserved incomplete, and was reconstructed by Jan Ekier (pub. 1965). We also know that at a similar time (1827) Chopin wrote another composition for four hands: Variations in F major, dedicated to his friend Tytus Woyciechowski (lost; only the incipit has survived).
An untitled work, usually referred to as Souvenir de Paganini, consists of variations in the key of A major (Variants, composed 1829), again to the theme of ‘La Ricciolella’. This time, however, it is a compositional echo of the performances in Warsaw, in 1829, of the famous Paganini, applauded by the then nineteen-year-old Chopin. The concept of this work is unusual: four ornamental variations are accompanied by a relentlessly invariant and extremely simple left-hand part. Chopin would return to this idea, here set out so modestly, years later, creating that brilliant example of variations the Berceuse, Op. 57. Also dating from the Warsaw period are Variations in E major on a theme from Rossini's La Cenerentola for flute and piano, attributed to Chopin (although this is not documented).
In the 1830s, in Paris, Chopin returned to variations on two further occasions. In 1833 he composed Variations in B flat major, Op. 12, on the theme ‘Je vends des Scapulaires’ from the Hérold/Halévy opera Ludovic. This work, elegant, sparkling and of shallow expression, is regarded as a further nod in the direction of the style brillant, this time in the ‘Parisian’ style, bringing little to his oeuvre.
The depth of a personal utterance marks out the short, single Variation in E major on the theme of a march from Bellini’s I puritani, written in 1837 and incorporated into Hexameron-a collection of six variations on the Bellini theme by Thalberg, Liszt, Pixis, Herz, Czerny and Chopin. Chopin’s composition is distinguished among the virtuosic and superficial variations of Hexameron by its lyricism and reflectiveness.
Artur Bielecki
Variations in B flat Major, Op. 12
In mid May 1833, the Opéra Comique in Paris was the venue for the premiere of the opera Ludovic, the last of the numerous operas by Ferdinand Hérold. Chopin, an opera aficionado, attended the premiere. Ludovic failed to gain any great notoriety or a lasting place in music history, apart from one of the ariettas or cavatinas, in rondo form, beginning with the words ‘Je vends des scapulaires’ (‘I sell scapulars’), which was popular for a while. It also interested Chopin, thanks to whom we know a little about Hérold’s last work today. Chopin used that cavatina as the theme for variations. It is simple and charming, melodious and lively, and it swings along in that 6/8 metre which Chopin liked to use.
The Variations in B flat major, Op. 12 received a classic form: introduction, theme and four variations, of which the last passes into a closing coda. The first of the variations presents the theme in fragmented form, in a smooth legato. The second, of the character of a dance-like scherzando, proceeds in the uniform rhythm of a quick mazurka. The third variation, in a slow tempo and a different key (D flat major), imitates the mood of a nocturne. Finally, the fourth is particularly impressive. Of a scherzo character, its rhythm echoes that of a salon krakowiak (though it adheres to a different rhythm).
The pianistic texture of the B flat major Variations, Op. 12 refers – like the Duo Concertant – to the brillant style, as the title informs us: Variations brillantes. These Variations are of Parisian provenance, as is particularly marked in the music of the introduction, where trite, worn phrases mingle with musical refinement. The dazzling coda, befitting a work of this kind, affords the pianist a chance to garner applause.
For all its showiness, Chopin’s piece – like Hérold’s opera – failed to win any great recognition. If it does appear on a concert platform, it is solely in special circumstances, and it is only recorded for ‘complete’ Chopin sets. In reception history, it has met with quite divergent appraisals. In the opinion of Schumann, compared with the composer’s other works it does not even warrant a mention. James Huneker deemed the Op. 12 Variations ‘the weakest of Chopin’s muse’, describing it as ‘Chopin and water, and Gallic eau sucrée at that’. Yet there is also no shortage of critics defending this work, including Szulc, Hoesick, Leichtentritt, Jachimecki and Bełza. Jachimecki found places displaying a singular harmonic structure, anticipating Wagner’s Tristan. Leichtentritt liked what he called the ‘languid dolcissimo’ of the last variation, leading towards impressionism. There is no disagreement that this composition is – as Hoesick put it – ‘thoroughly distingué and salon’.
Chopin dedicated the Variations, as was his wont, to one of his current female pupils. In this case, Miss Emma Horsford.
Author: Mieczysław Tomaszewski
A series of programmes entitled ‘Fryderyk Chopin’s Complete Works’
Polish Radio 2
