DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (September 10, 2020)
Variations: The Three B's
Yesterday, we reviewed Brahms' anchoring of his “Handel Variations” in the great works of the past, including Handel, Bach, and Couperin. At the same time, Brahms accepted the challenge of his own era, including Beethoven's monumental “Diabelli Variations”, completed less than 40 years earlier.
From his study of Bach and Handel, Brahms wrote of his discovery of the importance of the bass line in the “Theme and Variations” method:
"In a theme for 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... deepen a pretty thought. On the given bass, I invent something actually new, I discover new melodies in it, I create."
In recent postings we discussed a bit of Bach's use of the bass line in the “Goldberg Variations.” Brahms' only composition student, Gustav Jenner, explained how Brahms taught that idea:
“A variation of the bass can modify the entire character of a melody more strongly than a variation in this melody itself. Thus Brahms insisted that the variation of the bass line, despite new turns of phrase, must not arbitrarily destroy the character of the original sense of modulation. He quotes Brahms:
‘"Here too, the variation, the development, must proceed from what is already given, if the whole is not to take on the impression of arbitrariness. You must keep your goal fixed before your eyes, and that is only possible when the bass line is firmly established; otherwise you're floating in the air."’
Jenner's "Brahms as Man, Teacher and Artist" is one of the best insights into Brahms' compositional methods that we know of. Brahms told Jenner that composing “Theme and Variations” was one of the best areas for a developing young composer to develop his or her sense of rigor.
Beethoven certainly have figured out this principle of the bass as well. Some variations in both mens' works bear a striking resemblance. Compare Variation 15 of Diabelli, which was one of Beethoven's later insertions into the process, to Brahms’ Variations 7:
Here is Diabelli Variation 15:
https://youtu.be/y65etj9YE9c
Here’s Brahms’ Handel Variations 7, which continues into Variation 8: https://youtu.be/0aqJVKJWrJk
Compare Diabelli Variation 16: https://youtu.be/Lafj5t8yvRw
To Brahms’ Handel Variation 14: https://youtu.be/Be9bXZS3nRM
and the slow march in Brahms’ Handel Variation 9: https://youtu.be/1VylfsOrFDw
to the march in Diabelli 1, which was added later: https://youtu.be/wA1lNYvMIls
But the strongest connection is the great fugue at the end of each of these works, which we will address tomorrow!