Variational Form

Theme and Variations

A musical theme is nothing more than a melody that appears at the beginning of the piece. After the composer finishes stating his musical theme, he goes on to state it again — and again and again — each time changing one little thing about it. One variation might change the theme’s harmony; another might change the rhythm; still another might vary the melody by adding a lot of notes for embellishment. But when you hear each variation, you can usu- ally hear the original theme in there somewhere.

For example, here is an example of a theme with variations. After you understand how it works you can comprehend one of the more common forms in music.

• Bluefish.
• Bluefish with mustard sauce.
• Bluefish with black‐eyed peas.
• Bluefish with raspberry vinaigrette in an herb‐encrusted marshmallow glaze.

A really nice set of variations can be found in the second movement of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony no. 94 (Surprise). It begins with a simple (almost simplistic) theme; the rest of the movement consists of one variation after another. And Joseph Haydn himself was credited with creating another melody that a later composer used for his own set of variations: Johannes Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn is one of the most masterful examples of the genre.

Theme and Variations Form Examples:

12 Tone composition / Dodecaphonic

A method of composition that holds all twelve tones of the chromatic scale available for use, not restricting the music to those notes of major, minor, or other restrictive scale.

Fantasia & Rhapsodies

An instrumental composition in which a composer yields to his imagination in regard to form and organization of the composition. A fantasia follows no particular pattern or form, and is generally of fairly large dimensions. In the Baroque era it often served as an introductory composition to a fugue.

What is a.... Fantasia?

http://www.classical-music.com/article/what-fantasia

In olden days, composers were expected to fit their works into a predetermined structure — sonata form, for example, or rondo form. These forms were fixed, rigid, and considered almost sacred. If composers felt the urge to let their imaginations run wild, their only recourse was to write in yet another form: the most formless of all forms, the fantasia.

Because the composition was named a fantasy (which originally meant imagi- nation), the composer was liberated from the normal constraints of musical form. The composer couldn’t be accused of violating some sacred musical structure, because fantasias didn’t have one.

In a typical fantasy, the composer sets out a musical theme at or near the beginning. The rest of the piece is a musing on that theme; the composer goes wherever he feels like with it. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) used the tune “Greensleeves” as the beginning and ending of his short, rapturous Fantasia on Greensleeves.

Fantasies usually contain lots of little notes, seemingly in a free rhythm. After a theme is established, a solo instrument usually goes off on a flight of fancy, scurrying up and down the scale at a breathless pace. One of the greatest composers, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) — who was also the greatest organist of his day — wrote several fantasies for organ in which he sent the organist’s fingers flying all across the keyboard.

Actually, most fantasias aren’t completely formless; they’re just less strict than other forms. Because most great composers spent many years studying and working out extremely rigid compositional exercises, only the rare com- poser could divorce himself from all this structural discipline. Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, for example, is free but nevertheless logically structured. And the first movement of his famous Moonlight Sonata for piano bears the sub- title “Quasi una fantasia” — “almost a fantasy.”

Rhapsody

A rhapsody is a free composition. The term was first used for piano compositions in 1810. It may be defined as a free fantasia of national, epic, or heroic character.

A rhapsody is along the same lines as a fantasy, with a similarly free structure. Most rhapsodies date from the late Romantic era (the mid‐1800s into the 20th century). The famous pianist Franz Liszt wrote several Hungarian rhapsodies for the piano. (These days, you may hear them arranged for full orchestra.)

In these pieces, he takes simple, Hungarian‐sounding themes and turns them into a tornado of virtuosic vigor. And if you’re a classic rock fan, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” featured so prominently in the movie Wayne’s World, is, yes, a genuine rhapsody — a freeform rush of different musical ideas, one after another.

Tone Poems (Or Symphonic Poems)

Like a fantasy or a rhapsody, a tone poem doesn’t have a fixed, standard structure. But it has a more pressing purpose: It’s supposed to tell a story by using the orchestra’s sounds.

Most musicians agree that the greatest of all tone‐poem composers was Richard Strauss (1864–1949). Aside from operas, Strauss mainly wrote tone poems. The greatest of those are Don Juan, Don Quixote, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks), Ein Heldenleben (A

Hero’s Life), Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), and Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration). You can read much more about Strauss and his tone poems in Chapter 2.

Many other fine composers tackled tone poems, as well. If this genre fasci- nates you, check out Bedˇrich Smetana’s set of six poems called Má Vlast (My Fatherland); Jean Sibelius’s Legends (including The Swan of Tuonela); Liszt’s poems Les Préludes, Mazeppa, and Prometheus; Peter Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Francesca da Rimini; and Peter Maxwell Davies’ Orkney Wedding with Sunrise.

One of the most masterful examples of a tone poem is Claude Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea), which describes in musical sounds a day in the life of a busy ocean. You can hear a movement from this thrilling work on Track 8 at www. dummies.com/go/classicalmusic.

Because they tell a story, tone poems are fun to listen to. If you have the program in hand (or even if you don’t), you can imagine scenes to go along with the music. In a way, tone poems are movie music minus the movie. John Williams’ famous score to Star Wars is really a tone poem, and it owes much to Strauss.

Fugue

A form of composition popular in, but not restricted to, the Baroque era, in which a theme or subject is introduced by one voice, and is imitated by other voices in succession. Usually only the first few notes of the subject are imitated exactly, then each voice deviates slightly until the next time it enters again with the subject. Generally the voices overlap and weave in and out of each other forming a continuous, tapestry-like texture.

source: http://dictionary.onmusic.org/terms/1519-fugue

Prelude

What is a prelude in classical music?

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-prelude-in-classical-music

Passacaglia

A continuous variation form of composition. The basis for the form is a four bar ostinato over which variations are written in the other voices. It is similar to the chaconne and is moderately slow in triple meter.

Toccata

A fantasia-like composition for a keyboard instrument that displayed virtuosity in the art of "touching" the keyboard. In the Baroque era the toccata often served as an introduction to a fugue.