Variations on a Theme of Corelli

The Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op 42 a composed in 1931 and 1932 published piano works of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

As in the longer and virtuosic Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op 22 1903 enriched the composer variation form, by their combined course with the tripartite structure of the sonata form, followed by a coda.

The information carried by a mood of parting composition stands out with its dramatic, the individual numbers cohesive tension and taken back sonorities of the chords from the previous set of variations. The theme of the variations, his last major work for piano solo, comes from - other than it makes the title suggests - not by Arcangelo Corelli, but was used by this only for your own composition. Rachmaninov had been made by Fritz Kreisler, which is dedicated to the composition, to the tune carefully.

Content

Like all important works of the composer is the cycle in a minor key ( D minor ) and presented comparatively short and concise with only 20 variations and coda and a playing time of about 20 minutes. The simple structure of the melody - a nine- fold repetition of the first phrase with fünftönigem Ambitus - opens several possibilities for variation, which had already been used by many other composers before Rachmaninoff.

The wistful theme is followed by three sections, of which the first is in turn divided into three groups with 13 variations, each beginning with a slow movement and close with a fast. The following is an improvisatory -sounding interlude that marks with the variations 14 and 15 the beginning of the slow middle section, which immediately follows the short final, which is consistently played in rapid tempos. The coda ( Andante) over a pedal point D leads back to the painful mood and the original tempo of the variation theme.

Aside from the interlude, the individual variations form a formally coherent, complete work, however, show a variety of compositional details that document Rachmaninov art of small form, in the juxtaposition of 3/4- and 2/4-cycle in the fifth, or in the Adagio misterioso the sixth variation. In particular, sections 11 to 13 and the interlude with its modulation to Des -Dur offer an interesting insight into the harmonic richness of the composition.

Origin and background

The variation theme of his last major composition for solo piano is the melody of a well-known Portuguese-Spanish dance, the op used the namesake in his violin sonata 5 No. 12 in D minor, one with violinist very popular and influential set of variations for violin and basso continuo, which in turn was processed and inspired numerous composers to other works. Your ancestry according Corelli called it " La Folia " (Eng. the Mad ), a term that also refers to the corresponding model set of Baroque music.

The simple melody of the old dance was picked up and processed by many other composers. Johann Sebastian Bach, for example they used in his Peasant Cantata, Luigi Cherubini in the opera portugaise hotel and Franz Liszt in his virtuoso Spanish Rhapsody.

The composer and violinist Fritz Kreisler Rachmaninov presented before the melody, as they worked on violin sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Edward Grieg and recordings made ​​.

The first performance on October 12, 1931 in Montreal was also granted little success as other concerts of the season in the United States. In a letter to Nikolai Karlovich Medtner, Rachmaninov wrote that only one of fifteen performances had been successful and he himself could not interpret his own, it appears boring compositions. The audience, which was still great interest in his second and third piano concerto, reacted negatively during the presentation, so that he never played the full series, but several variations left out.