Variations on a Theme of Corelli (russian: Вариации на тему А. Корелли, ''Variatsii na temu A. Korelli''), Op. 42, is a set of variations for solo piano, written in 1931 by the Russian composer

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

. He composed the variations at his holiday home in Switzerland. The theme is ''

La Folia ''La Folía'' (Spanish), or ''Follies'' (English), also known as ''folies d'Espagne'' (French), ''La Follia'' (Italian), and ''Folia'' (Portuguese), is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes, or primary material, generally melodic, ...

'', which was not in fact composed by

Arcangelo Corelli Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of ...

, but was used by him in 1700 as the basis for 23 variations in his Sonata for violin and continuo (

violone The term violone (; literally "large viol" in Italian, " -one" being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted i ...

and/or

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

) in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12. ''La Folia'' was popularly used as the basis for variations in

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

used the same theme in his '' Rhapsodie espagnole'' S. 254 (1863). Rachmaninoff dedicated the work to his friend, the violinist

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, he was known ...

. He wrote to another friend, the composer

Nikolai Medtner Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (russian: Никола́й Ка́рлович Ме́тнер, ''Nikoláj Kárlovič Métner''; 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. After a period of comparative obscurity in the 25 years immedi ...

, on 21 December 1931:

I've played the Variations about fifteen times, but of these fifteen performances only one was good. The others were sloppy. I can't play my own compositions! And it's so boring! Not once have I played these all in continuity. I was guided by the coughing of the audience. Whenever the coughing would increase, I would skip the next variation. Whenever there was no coughing, I would play them in proper order. In one concert, I don't remember where - some small town - the coughing was so violent that I played only ten variations (out of 20). My best record was set in New York, where I played 18 variations. However, I hope that ''you'' will play all of them, and won't "cough".

Rachmaninoff recorded many of his own works, but this piece wasn't one of them.

Structure

The Theme is followed by 20 variations, an Intermezzo between variations 13 and 14, and a Coda to finish. All variations are in

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed for t ...

except where noted. *Theme. Andante *Variation 1. Poco piu mosso *Variation 2. L'istesso tempo *Variation 3. Tempo di Minuetto *Variation 4. Andante *Variation 5. Allegro (ma non tanto) *Variation 6. L'istesso tempo *Variation 7. Vivace *Variation 8. Adagio misterioso *Variation 9. Un poco piu mosso *Variation 10. Allegro scherzando *Variation 11. Allegro vivace *Variation 12. L'istesso tempo *Variation 13. Agitato *Intermezzo *Variation 14. Andante (come prima) (D major) *Variation 15. L'istesso tempo (D major) *Variation 16. Allegro vivace *Variation 17. Meno mosso *Variation 18. Allegro con brio *Variation 19. Piu mosso. Agitato *Variation 20. Piu mosso *Coda. Andante

References

External links

* *
Piano.ru - Sheet music download
*
Chubrik.ru - Audio download
Compositions for solo piano Piano music by Sergei Rachmaninoff 1931 compositions Corelli Composer tributes (classical music) {{classical-composition-stub

Structure

See also

References

External links