''32 Variations on an Original Theme in C minor'',
WoO 80 (), is a composition for solo piano by
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
, written in 1806.
Analysis
The work consists of an eight-
bar main
theme
Theme or themes may refer to:
* Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos
* Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software.
* Theme (linguistics), topic
* Theme ( ...
and 32
variations
Variation or Variations may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon
* Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individual ...
. A
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...
in the left hand, based upon a descending
chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...
bass, serves as an important structural device. The short and sparse melodic theme, as well as the emphasis on the bass line, reflect a possible influence of the
chaconne
A chaconne ( , ; ; ; earlier English: chacony) is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for Variation (music), variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass ...
and the
Folia.
The variations have been called "Beethoven’s most overt pianistic homage to the Baroque." The variations differ in character, technical difficulty and dynamics. Pianist Yue Chu points out that the key of
C minor
C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major.
The C natural minor scale is:
Cha ...
indicates that "Beethoven was serious when composing this work," despite his apparent misgivings later.
Variations
Typically, performances of this piece last from 10 to 12 minutes.
Reception
The piece proved popular, receiving a favorable review in the ''
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
The ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'' (''General music newspaper'') was a German-language periodical published in the 19th century. Comini (2008) has called it "the foremost German-language musical periodical of its time". It reviewed musical e ...
'' (Leipzig) in 1807, and remains popular today. Nevertheless, Beethoven did not see fit to assign it an
opus number
In music, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among ...
. It is said that later in his life he heard a friend practicing it. After listening for some time he said "Whose is that?" "Yours", was the answer. "Mine? That piece of folly mine?" was his retort; "Oh, Beethoven, what an ass you were in those days!"
See also
*
Beethoven and C minor
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Piano variations by Ludwig van Beethoven
1806 compositions
Compositions in C minor