Brahms and the Variation Canon

Author(s): Elaine R. Sisman

Reviewed work(s):
Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 132-153
Published by: University of California Press
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Brahms

and

the

Variation

Canon

ELAINE R. SISMAN

A champion of the "old forms," in Wagner's

words, Brahmswrote variations throughouthis
life: seven independent sets and nine variation
movements from op. 1 to op. 120.1 Moreover,
the forceful views on variation form that he expressed in letters to friends over a twenty-year
period reveal that variations enabled him to assess his relationship to his musical forebears
and contemporaries. In three often-cited letters
to Joseph Joachim, Adolf Schubring, and
Heinrich von Herzogenberg, Brahms consciously categorizedand judgedthe variationin
its different historical manifestations, deploring its unworthy practitioners-seemingly everyone but Bach and Beethoven-and staking
his own claim. Particularlysingled out for scorn
19th-CenturyMusic XIV/2 (Fall 1990). ? by the Regents of
the University of California.
An earlierversion of this paperwas readat the International
BrahmsFestival-Conferencein Detroit, April 1980.
'Kalbeck quoted Wagner as commenting that Brahms's
HandelVariations,op. 24, showed "whatcould still be done
with the old forms."See Max Kalbeck,JohannesBrahms,4
vols. (Berlin,1904-14), II, 117.
132

were those who variedthe melody of the theme,

while those who cultivated a newer sort of "fantasy-variation" were read out of the variation
canon altogether. No stranger to melodic manipulation in variations, Brahms nonetheless
maintained in his letters that the bass was the
most important element of a theme.2
2The basic survey of Brahms's variations remains Viktor
Luithlen, "Studie zu JohannesBrahms'Werken in Variationen form," Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 14 (1927),
286-320. More specialized studies include Alfred Orel,
"Skizzen zu Joh.Brahms'Haydn-Variationen,"Zeitschrift
ffir Musikwissenschaft 5 (1922-23), 296-315; Ernest
Walker,"Brahms'sVariations,"TheMonthly Musical Record 70 (1940),33-36; Hans Hirsch, Rhythmisch-metrische
Untersuchungen zur Variationstechnik von Johannes
Brahms(Ph.D.diss., Hamburg,1963);JiirgenWetschky,Die
Kanontechnik in der Instrumentalmusik von Johannes
Brahms, K61nerBeitrdgezur Musikforschung,vol. 35 (Regensburg, 1967),pp. 27-37, 202 -14; GerhardPuchelt, Variationen ffir Klavier im 19. Jahrhundert (Hildesheim,
1973);JonathanDunsby, StructuralAmbiguity in Brahms:
Analytical Approaches to Four Works(Ann Arbor, 1981);
andthe essays andbibliographyin the Norton CriticalScore
of Brahms's Variations on a Theme of Haydn, ed. Donald
McCorkle (New York, 1976).Dunsby's is the only study to
attempt to discover by analytical means what "the bass"
meant to Brahms(see his chap. 2 on the HandelVariations,
op. 24); his ideas areprovocative.

Yet Brahms's desire to model variations on

Bach and Beethoven inevitably created friction
with the association of variation in his mind
and in his life with the Schumanns, an association that continued right through the period of
his "first maturity," ending with the variations
in the G-MajorString Sextet, op. 36, of 1864.3
Especially problematic for Brahms must have
been Robert Schumann's own use of Bach and
Beethoven as a model in variations, so that the
path to the past became a circular and even a
self-referential one.
Traditional interpretations of Brahms's letters on variations have taken his words at face
value, holding that he repudiated his earliest
variations, Schumann, and his contemporaries
and applied himself instead to a distant, ever
more Beethovenian, ideal. Yet Brahmsthe critic
stood in a sometimes uneasy relationship to
Brahmsthe composer. The present study, in exploring this relationship, will suggest that despite upholding the distant past and distancing
himself from the recent past and from his lesser
contemporaries, Brahms at the same time
sought to reconcile older and newer models in
his works. This reconciliation took place earlier
than is usually supposed-by 1856-and by
novel means not hitherto perceived: by pairing
variation sets (or using a paired conception
within a single work), by allowing the character
and source of the theme to determine the nature
of the variations, and by developing a new critical perspective privileging the idea of the bass.
II
aware
of his forebears, and
Always acutely
Brahms
questioned the
typically self-critical,
modern approachto the form in a letter to Joachim in June 1856.4 At this time, Brahms and
30n Brahms'sfirst maturity as a biographicaland musical
stage, see James Webster, "Schubert's Sonata Form and
Brahms'sFirstMaturity(II),"this journal3 (1979),52-71. A
differentview of Brahms'sstylistic developmentis given in
Robert Pascall, "Musikalische Einfliisse auf Brahms,"Osterreichische Musikzeitschrift 38 (1983), 228; Pascall divides Brahms'syouthful stages into the period of study (to
1853)and a periodof self-imposed,renewedstudy (1854-ca.
1860),followed by mature style.
4ThatBrahmswas highly critical of his own works we know
not only from the number of works he ultimately abandoned or destroyed and the years of gestation and revision
for those he did not (D-Minor Piano Concerto, C-Minor

Joachim were engaged in a mutual "correspondence course" in counterpoint, and many of

their letters accompanied the scores they were
sending back and forth with comments. In the
midst of all the canons andfugues, Joachimsent
Brahms some variations on an Irish folksong,
which in turn set Brahms to formulating some
general thoughts about variations:
Fromtime to timeI reflectonvariationformandfind
that it shouldbe kept stricter,purer.The Ancients
[dieAlten]wereverystrictaboutretainingthebassof

the theme, their actual theme. With Beethoven the

melody, harmony, and rhythm areso beautifully varied. I sometimes find, however, that the Moderns
[Neuere] (both of us!) more often (I don't know the
right expression) worry the theme [iiber das Thema
wiihlen]. We anxiously retain the entire melody, but
don't manipulate it freely. We don't really createanything new out of it; on the contrary,we only burden
it. The melody thus becomes scarcely recognizable.5
The impetus for these reflections was Brahms's
inability to find enough connection with the
theme in several of Joachim's variations, where
the melody notes could be "found [only] with

the eyes" (p. 152). Yet Brahms's other comments about Joachim's variations included approvingreferencesto their "poetic content" and
to their sounding like "the most beautiful fairytales and ballads"(p. 156). "Strictness"and "purity" did not necessarily lead to austerity.
Writing to the critic Adolf Schubringalmost
thirteen years later, in February1869, Brahms
described not only the technical categories of
the variation form, each apparentlyinvolving a

Piano Quartet,the heading VierteSonate on his C-MajorPiano Sonata, op. 1), but also from his correspondence,especially with Joachim, Clara Schumann, and Elisabeth von
Herzogenberg.When his friendsaskedfor criticisms of their
own works, he readilycomplied, with the result that his letters transmit some "firstprinciples"about the forms, genres, and techniques in question. Constantin Florossuggests
"Selbstkritik"as one of the characteristicsof E. T. A. Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler with which Brahms
strongly identified; see Floros,Brahms und Bruckner.Studien zur musikalischen Exegetik (Wiesbaden,1980),p. 98.
(Formore on Brahmsand Kreisler,see section VIII.)At this
early stage, Brahmshadnot yet developedthat ironic stance
toward self-criticism that characterizesmany of his later
letters.
5JohannesBrahmsBriefwechsel(hereafterBriefwechsel),16
vols. (Berlin, 1907-22), vol. V, ed. AndreasMoser (Berlin,
1912, rpt. Tutzing, 1974), p. 150. (All translations are my
own.)
133

ELAINER.
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Brahmsand
the Canon

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

clear constructive choice, but also indicated the

principal historical types that evolved as composers made these choices:
In a theme for [a set of] variations, it is almost only
the bass that actually [eigentlich] has any meaning
for me. But this is sacredto me, it is the firm foundation on which I then build my stories [die feste
Grund,auf dem ich dann meine Geschichten baue].
What I do with a melody is only playing around
[Spielerei] or ingenious--playing around. I think
with horrorof:

If I vary only the melody, then I cannot easily be

more than clever or graceful, or, indeed, [if] full of
feeling, deepen a pretty thought. On the given bass, I
invent something actually new, I discovernew melodies in it, I create. (Bynow you have probablytaken
your thoughts for a walk.)
Look at Bach's G-major variations, the Passacaglia, etc. (The chorale-variationsare a separatematter.) You find that G-major theme also in Handel
(alsoin Muffat).6Lookfartherdown the path made by
the art of variation, look at the melodic variations of
Herz and the better composers of that time.
Observe then Beethoven's variations, and, if you
wish, mine. I believe you will find your variations
only in Schumann (andimitators without [theirown]
ideas). But could we not make a distinction between
variationsandfantasies on a melody, a motive? (Look
at the Etudes.. ? .. [Symphoniques].)Fantasy-variations. Unfortunately, its cause is that I too cannot be
strict with myself [Doch leider hat es seine Ursache,
daf?ich auch mir gegeniiber keine Strenge gebrauchen kann].7
Brahms appears to adduce four types of variations, three in a quasi-historical canon and one
outside it: variations on the bass, variations of

6Brahmsis referringto the bass line andchordprogressionof

the first eight measures of the GoldbergVariations,which
appearas the theme of Handel's Chaconne with 62 Variations in G Major(pub.1732),and of Gottlieb Muffat'sCiaccona in G majorfrom the Componimentimusicali (Augsburg,ca. 1739).
7Briefwechsel,vol. VIII,ed. Max Kalbeck(Berlin,1915),pp.
217 -18. The excerpts which Brahmsregardedwith horror
come fromhis Variationson a HungarianSong,op. 21, no. 2.
134

the melody, a separate category including variations by Beethoven and himself, and elaborations of a melody or motive in the manner of a
fantasy.8 Brahms's sympathy with the first type
is suggested by his comment to Jenner that "the
bass is more important than the melody," not
because it remains exactly the same, but because a variation of the bass can modify the entire character of the melody more strongly than
can a variation of that melody only.' Yet his ambiguous final sentence suggests that he himself
had also transgressed in writing fantasy-variations.10
Similar grumblings were prompted by a set
sent his way by Heinrich von Herzogenberg,

8By"building"variationson the bass, I mean both senses in

which Brahmsdescribesthe importanceof the bass:inventing something new ("iiberden gegebenen Bass erfinde ich
wirklich neu") and discovering new melodies in it ("ich
erfindein ihm neue Melodien").
9GustavJenner,JohannesBrahms als Mensch, Lehrer,und
Kiinstler (Elwert, 1905), p. 197. Brahms'sassertions of the
importance of the bass were not limited to variationform.
When RichardHeubergershowed him some songs and choralpieces, Brahmsremarked,"AuchmuBsich eine derartige
Konstruktionimmer durchden Bal v6llig erkliren. Der BaR
muB eine Art Spiegelbildder Oberstimmesein." See RichardHeuberger,Erinnerungenan JohannesBrahms.Tagebiicher aus den Jahren1875 bis 1897, ed. KurtHofmann(Tutzing, 1971),p. 14.
1'Surprisingly,the context for this often-citedletter has received almost no discussion: why would Brahmsbe writing
to Schubringabout variation?Kalbeckbelieved that Schubring had sent Brahms a set of his own variations several
years earlier, based on a letter of February1862, in which
Brahms wrote: "But now your review and especially your
variations [Veriinderungen] definitely demanded [their
own] review, and for the latter a quite sharp [one]"
(BriefwechselVIII,189-90; Kalbeck'sfootnote appearson p.
189). Brahms's protestations about "theme" meaning
"bass"can more likely be seen as responsesto Schubring's
assertions, in an 1868 review of the four-handSchumann
Variations,op. 23, that Brahmsunified the set by relyingon
three principalmotives of the theme (Schumanniana,11 in
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 3 [1868], 49-51). He
would certainly have been remindedof these assertions in
Schubring'sreview of the Deutsches Requiem (Schumannianna 12, in AmZ 4 [1869],9 -11,18-20), which againhad a
demonstrationof three-motive unity (in No. 3, "Herr,lehre
doch mich"), because he respondedstronglyand negatively
in the February1869 letter, immediately precedinghis comments on variation.Schubring'sandBrahms'sargumentson
thematic unity are discussed in WalterM. Frisch,"Brahms
and Schubring:Music and Politics at Mid-Century,"this
journal7 (1984),278-79, andFrisch,Brahmsand the Principle of Developing Variation (Berkeley and Los Angeles,
1984),pp. 30-32.

who in 1876 was about to publish the first variations ever written on a theme of Brahms:11
If I were again able to have the pleasureof conversing
with you, and then could say something other than
total praise ... [t]hen I would perhaps go on about

variations in general, and that I would wish people

would distinguish between the title Variations and
something else, possibly Fantasy-Variations,or however we would otherwise want to call almost all the
newer variation works. I have a singularaffection for
the variation form, and believe that this form still
compels our talent and ability.
Beethoven treats it [with such] extraordinaryseverity, he can even justly translate [the title Variations as]: alterations [Veranderungen].What comes
after him, by Schumann, H[erzogenberg],or Nottebohm, is something else. I have, of course, as little
against the method as against the music. But I wish
people would also distinguish by name what is different in the method.12
Brahms here reiterates the point he made to
Schubring that fantasy-variations are not really
variations at all.13

"The Herzogenberg variations, Variationen fiber ein

Thema von Johannes Brahms, op. 23, take as their theme
Brahms'ssong Die Trauernde,op. 7, no. 5 (1852).The set is
for some reason not part of the BrahmsNachlafl at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. (On the fate of
Brahms'sNachla1Bitself, see Otto Biba,"New Light on the
Brahms Nachlafl," in Brahms 2: Biographical,Documentary and Analytical Studies, ed. Michael Musgrave[Cambridge,1987],pp. 39-47.) My thanks to VictorLiebermanof
the Newberry Library,Chicago, for providing me with a
copy. Herzogenbergwas coyly apologetic about the greater
prominence given Brahms'sname than his own on the title
page.
'2Briefwechsel,vol. I, ed. Max Kalbeck(Berlin,1907),pp. 78 (20 August 1876); my translation differs from the published English translation by Hannah Bryant (rpt. New
York, 1971),p. 7. Herzogenberghad in fact earlierpublished
a set called "Acht Verainderungen,"his op. 3, to which
Brahms might be making a snide reference. "Veranderungen" was also used as a title by Brahms's teacher
Marxsen.
'3Althoughthe letter implied that Brahmsdid not object to
all of "the newer variationworks,"he is on recordas liking
only a few. Forexample, he was partialto a four-handset by
his friendFranzWiillner,which they often playedtogether.
Brahmswrote about Wiillner's"26 vierhdindigeVariationen
iiberein altdeutsches Volkslied,"op. 11, to Rieteron 11 February 1864, "Die WiillnerschenVariationenmachen ausser
mir noch vielen Freude,und hoffe ich, daf die Leute Werk
und Namen behalten" (Briefwechsel,vol. XIV,ed. Wilhelm
Altmann [Berlin, 1920], p. 87). He also gave a backhanded
compliment to Ferdinand Hiller's four-hand variations
when he recommendedthem to Rieterby saying they were
not at all like Hiller: "Dies ist nun wirklich ein-gar nicht
Hillersches Werk und ganz reizend, angenehm, praktisch,

III
Identifying the bass as the essence of the
theme, in the Schubring letter, Brahms advocated using it to control the structure and character of individual variations and of the entire
set. But by this he apparently did not mean retaining in the variations the bass line of the
theme or even its harmonies. "The bass" as a
concept embodies a historical development of
strict (streng) treatments: from Baroque composers, who took the bass as "their actual
theme," to Beethoven, who varied "melody,
harmony, and rhythm," while presumably remaining faithful to the theme's structure (although this is never made explicit beyond a reference to his strictness), to Brahms, who wishes
he could be even stricter with himself. Brahms's
youthful modesty to Joachim about including
himself in that historical development later
turned to pride of lineage.
The two senses of erfinden used by Brahms in
the same sentence of the Schubring letter-inthe creative trajectory
vent and discover-plot
offered by the bass. To invent something actually new and to discover new melodies in the
bass give the bass a role at once passive and active. While maintaining the structure of the
theme-the
passive bass, so to speak-Brahms
may actively create melodies and figurative patterns (including melodies "discovered in" the
bass), project different contrapuntal textures,
and draw on an expanded harmonic vocabulary,
sometimes interpreting the melody as the bass
of the harmony or regarding major and minor or
sharp and flat versions of the same passage as
equally valid and available. The result is a great
diversity of expression and character founded
on a relatively strict conception of the "given"
material.14

sogaretwas Schubertisch.Nur ziemlich lang.Unteruns! Ich

halte es fiir recht empfehlenswert anderm gegeniiber,was
Hiller herausgibt" (letter of 9 August 1868, Briefwechsel
XIV, 160).Rieterpublished the set in 1870 as op. 124.
14As a passive entity, the bass also may be taken to mean not
"the bass of the theme" but simply "the lowest partof the
texture." In two of Brahms'svariationsfrom the 1850s (op.
9, op. 21/2), the theme melody immediately goes into the
bass, while in two others (op.21/2, op. 18),the firstvariation
is in the bass register. These techniques, by no means new
with Brahms,establish that areaas equalto the treblein importance.
135

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

Brahms dismissed variations that featured

purely melodic display, disparagingHenri Herz
(whom Schumann had already skewered in
print thirty-odd years earlier)as well as the obvious melodic tinkering in his own earlierset of
variations on a Hungarian song.'5 Broadening
his attack, he raised the problem of "fantasyvariations," which flowed beyond the historically sanctioned limits of the form into a newer,
Schumann-inspired stream.16 He pretended, to
Herzogenberg, that his criticism was merely
one of nomenclature,'7 but his real feelings
were revealed to Schubring.As the sole example
of "fantasies on a melody, a motive," Brahms
mentioned "Etudes," probably referring to
Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, op. 13, based
on a melody for flute by Hauptmann von
Fricken; Schumann had later renamed them
"Itudes en forme de variations," labeling as
15Hethus joined a long-standingcritical traditionobjecting
to excessive melodic embellishments in both improvised
variations and variation form. For eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sources, see my Haydn's Variations(Ph.D.
diss., PrincetonUniversity, 1978),chap. 1. Schumannrailed
against "shameless vulgarity"in the variations of his contemporaries(Gesammelte Schrifteniiber Musik und Musiker, vol. I [3rdedn. Leipzig, 1875],pp. 218-30; see also Leon
Plantinga, Schumann as Critic [New Haven, 1967], especially chap. 10).Significantin this regardis Arreyvon Dommer's revision of Heinrich ChristophKoch'sMusikalisches
Lexicon of 1802 (Heidelberg,1865).Kochhaddiscussedonly
variationsof the melody, while Dommer comparedmelodic
technique unfavorably with deeper and freer transformations. Brahmsmade approvingreferencesto Dommer'sLexikon in his letters.
16Brahms'suse of the title "Fantasien"for the late piano
pieces, op. 116, does not clarify his ideas on fantasy variation. See JohathanDunsby, "The Multi-piece in Brahms:
Fantasien, op. 116," in Brahms: Biographical,Documentary, and Analytical Studies, ed. Robert Pascall (Cambridge, 1983),pp. 167-89.
"'ButBrahms only occasionally fine-tuned his own terminology for variations. Despite his attraction to the term
Verdnderungen,he used "Variationen"for all of his independent sets. And of his variation movements, only the
finale of his B6-MajorStringQuartet,op. 67, was given a title ("PocoAllegretto con variazioni");in other movements,
not even individual variations are labeled. Brahmsalso inserted theme-and-variationsections into works in sonata
form, as well as in ABA and other multi-partforms, where,
of course, a title would not be at issue. Fora discussionof the
importance of variation in Brahms's sonata-form movements, see Viktor Urbantschich, "Die Entwicklung der
Sonatenformbei Brahms,"Studien zur Musikwissenschaft
14 (1927), 275-76. The varied returns in Brahms's slow
rondo and ABA movements are discussed in my "Brahms's
Slow Movements: Reinventing the 'Closed' Forms," in
Brahms Studies: Analytical and Historical Perspectives,
ed. GeorgeBozarth(Oxford,1990),pp. 79-103.
136

"6tudes" the two farthest from the theme in

structure." Also at issue might have been Schumann's other multi-piece works with freely reworked common motives such as the Carnaval,
op. 9, subtitled "scenes mignonnes sur quatre
notes," or the variationlike Impromptus on a
Theme by Clara Wieck, op. 5. While Brahms
criticized Schumann-imitators, he had no apparent difficulty with Beethoven-imitation.
A look at the lesser composers he mentioned
as the perpetratorsof fantasy-variations,Nottebohm and Herzogenberg,enables us to propose
a more specific meaning for fantasy-variation:
extensive alterations in structure, meter, and
tempo of the theme while retaining its melody
or motives.19 Brahms's earliest awareness of
this might be the tendency he had decried to
Joachimtoward "worryingthe theme," or "burdening" the melody without really creating
something new out of it.
Brahms owned and played Nottebohm's Variations on a Theme of J.S. Bach, op. 17, published in 1865 (ex. 1).20Together with frequent

'8In the second edition of 1852, Brahms might also have

been referringto the formerlyfashionablefantasieson popular opera themes, such as he himself used to play in his
youth, and whose techniques he now saw incorporatedinto
pieces titled "Variations."His earliest public appearances
in Hamburg (1847-49) all included such pieces as
Thalberg'sFantasia on Themes from Bellini's Norma and
Fantasyon Motives from Don Giovanni, as well as his own
(lost) Fantasyon a FavoriteWaltz (BVAnh.IIaNr. 13, 1849).
See KurtHofmann, Zeittafel, pp. 6, 8. In fact, the finale of
the Symphonic Etudes was based on a melody from a
Marschneropera(DerTemplarund die Jiidin;see EricSams,
"Schumann and the Tonal Analogue," in Robert Schumann: The Man and His Music, ed. Alan Walker[London,
1972],p. 401).
190n the other hand, Brahms consideredthe third chorale
verse in Bach'smotet Jesumeine Freude,where the varied
returns are accompanied by considerable alteration in
phrasestructure, "the most beautiful,boldest, and strictest
variation" (Brahmsto Wiillner, Briefwechsel, vol. XV, ed.
ErnstWolff [Berlin,1921],p. 168).
20A review in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
claimed that the set combined the "harmonic riches of
Schumannand the formaldexterityof Mendelssohn"(AmZ
37 [13 September 1865], cols. 610-12), but Clara Schumann, who playedthem with Nottebohm himself, wrote to
Brahmsthat "the real thing- originality--is lacking"(letter of 4 February1866, Clara Schumann-JohannesBrahms:
Briefe aus den Jahren 1853-96 [hereafter SchumannBrahms Briefe], ed. Berthold Litzmann, 2 vols. [Leipzig,
1927],1, 516).Nottebohm's theme is the Sarabandeof Bach's
D-Minor French Suite. The unpublished Brahms-Nottebohm correspondencein the GesellschaftderMusikfreunde
might contain material on the set.

changes in tempo and meter, they feature such

structural departuresfrom the theme as the big
expansion in the second half of variation 5, a
pastoralmaggiore, the chromatic fugato of variation 8, and the final variation (9)merging with
an expanded, climactic return of the theme in
an organlike voicing. On the other hand, the
melody, melodic motives, and harmony of the
theme rarely depart widely from it. Variation
procedures include standard melodic embellishment (variation 1) and Beethovenian "reduction" (variation 6, a stripped-downversion
of the theme's harmony).
The offending set by Herzogenberg, to my
knowledge not discussed in the Brahms litera-

ture, also supports this interpretation (ex. 2).

Fully seven of the ten variations are in different
meters, and every variation is in a tempo different from the theme; two are in keys other than
the tonic minor or major.The slightly irregular
phrase structure of the theme reappearsin the
first variation and never thereafter,although six
other opening segments are similar. Lengthy
transitions link two pairs of variations. The
melody of the theme is usually present, though
the connection may be labored;occasionally it
disappears.
Herzogenberg'soften clumsy figuration and
rhythmic motives seem inspired by Schumann,
or filtered through Brahms's own four-hand

a. Theme
Sarabande.Andantino. Etwas langsam

2 doO

c. Variation 5

b. Variation 1

Allegretto con moto

2do

2do

d. Variation8
d.
lMO
Imo

AndanteZiemlich
langsamImo
'

II

p legato
2do

Example 1: Nottebohm, Variationson a Theme

by J.S. Bach, op. 17.
137

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

b. Variation3

a. Theme
Andante

Allegro

.A-l

o.

- l

-+8va3

2do

2do

c. Variation4
L'istes o

tempo

d. Variation 7
Lento, appassionato

2do 1

- -aIa

p espress.

MO*

TT-

TY

Example 2: Herzogenberg, Variations on a

Theme of Brahms, op. 23.
Schumann Variation set, op. 23, an opus number probably consciously chosen by Herzogenberg (his previous variation set was op. 13). Both
op. 23 sets close with elegiac reminiscences of
the theme, and Herzogenberg's variation 7 also
reharmonizes Brahms's A-minor theme in C#
minor using chord patterns and spacings of
Schumann's op. 13 (ex. 3). Herzogenberg's
penchant for Brahms reminiscences in works of
the same genre has been described as "shameless pilfering.""21 All in all, the Nottebohm set is
much superior to the Herzogenberg, but clearly
neither is up to Brahms's high standards.
21WalterFrisch, "The 'BrahmsFog':On TracingBrahmsian
Influences," The American Brahms Society Newsletter 7
(1989),2.
138

IV
in
of
Brahms's exclusion of
Ironically,
light
Schumann from among the writers of true variations, Schumann's letters and criticism of the
1830s adumbrate the points that Brahms would
arrive at twenty and thirty years later. Schumann too sought to reconcile strictness of approach with poetic intent.22 He admired the variations of Bach and Beethoven above all, and
suggested that the theme be carefully chosen-

22Schumann'scomments and attitudes on variationarediscussed in WernerSchwarz,RobertSchumannund die Variation. Mit BesondererBeriicksichtigungder Klavierwerke
(Kassel, 1932); a few passages are translatedin Robert U.
Nelson, The Technique of Variation (Berkeley and Los
Angeles, 1948),pp. 93-94.

marcato ii canto
espressivo

ELAINE
R.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

i Thema.marcato

sempre col Pedale

Example 3: Schumann, Symphonic Etudes,

op. 13, variation 2.

he himself is "strict" (streng)toward it-"because the rest of the construction is based on it"
(weil sich der ganze Fortbaudaraufgriindet).23
Every theme has a particular character, different aspects of which may be revealedin the variations; Schumann described the character of
von Fricken'smelody as "pathetic"and claimed
that the Symphonic Etudes tried to reveal the
different component "colors" of that character.24Indeed, the more reminiscences associated with a theme, the more profound will be
the musical thoughts arising from it.25Taking
his own advice, Schumann chose themes to
vary or otherwise explore that almost always
had personal significance. But choosing such a
theme did not necessarily imply the absence of
an older model. In a fragmentaryautobiographical note, for example, he commented that the
Impromptus on a Theme of ClaraWieck, op. 5,
were inspired by Bach, and should not be taken
as a new form of varying.26(Amore likely model
is Beethoven's Eb-Major"Eroica" Variations,
op. 35. Schumann wrote a new bass line to
Clara's theme and presented it alone at the beginning of the piece, like Beethoven's "Introdu2Letter to Hauptmann von Fricken, September 1834; Jugendbriefe von RobertSchumann,ed. ClaraSchumann(3rd
edn. Leipzig, 1885),p. 253.
24Ibid.,pp. 253-54. Schumannalso deridedcomposerswho
took prosaic, even trivial tunes as their themes, because
then the variations would be unable to "fill [one]with rapture" (begeistern;Gesammelte SchriftenI, 221).
25Schumann,Gesammelte SchriftenI, 221.
26WolfgangBoetticher,RobertSchumannin seinen Schriften und Briefen (Berlin,1942),p. 24. Forother details about
this piece, see Claudia Stevens Becker, "A New Look at
Schumann's Impromptus,"Musical Quarterly 67 (1981),
568-86.

zione col Basso del Tema"; the final variation

also merges with a fugue.)Finally, the historical
and aesthetic character of the theme ought to
dictate its treatment: one ought not to trifle
with a Handel theme the same way one would
with a Bellini theme, nor should a bold robber's
song be given softly flowing variations.27
Schumann's criticism also associated variation and fantasy. In 1836, crusadingagainst the
empty figuration of the salon variation, he
wrote that
variationsshouldcreatea whole,whosecenteris the

theme. ... The time is past when one can create astonishment with a sugaryfigure, a yearning suspension, an Eb-majorrun over the keyboard. Now one
strives for thoughts, for inner connections, for poetic
totality, with the whole bathed in fresh fantasy.

He claimed that the age of variation was ending

to make room for the capriccio.28The "wholeness" of a set of variations and the centrality of
its theme argued for a deep relationship--"in-

ner connections"-between theme and variations. But this seems to be precisely Brahms's
point in identifying the bass as the essence of
the theme: melodic resemblances alone and the
figurations they inspire are more superficial
than the profound relationships, even melodic

ones, generatedby the bass. In short, Schumann

elaboratedthe same genealogy and typology for
his variations that Brahmswas later to uphold.
27Schwarz,Schumann und die Variation,pp. 19-20.
28Schumann,Gesammelte Schriften I, 221, 223, 218. The
first edition of Schumann's collected writings appearedin
1854.
139

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

V
An eloquent critical conspectus that offers a
valuable gloss on the critical stances of both
Brahms and Schumann was provided by another
member of the Schumann circle, the Berlin
composer Julius Schiffer.29 Schiffer devoted
himself to a rank-ordered list of types of variations, prompted by the dispiriting current condition of the form:
The variation form, although cultivated by the masters with special partiality, is still so badly mistreated by bunglers and hacks that when it appears,
people avoid it or encounter it with mistrust, and as a
consequence of its bad reputation noteworthy theorists and aestheticians scarcely want to grantit even
a modest spot next to the legitimate art forms. This
appearsto us unjust.
If we exclude the Bravura-variation,then the different forms of variation divide themselves chiefly
into three principalcategories.In the first, which can
appropriatelybe describedas the decorative,all interest lies in the theme. In each variation, this is
clothed, as it were, in a new attire, but it is not disguised. ... It is usually a known melody and the goal
of this genre is the ever-new charm of its differently
turned-outrepetitions.
-In the second [category],which we call the contrapuntal,the center of gravity lies in the variations
themselves.... Here the theme is only the outline,
on which different architectonic creations are
built.... This category stands higher than the first
... [andfeatures] the creation of independent structures on the basis of the given harmonic relationships....
-In the third category, the center of gravity lies
neither in the theme alone nor in the variations
alone, but ratherin the psychological bond between
the two.... That the theme is usually an invention
of the composer's-a so-called original theme-is
entirely in the nature of the thing. The individual

29Schiffer(1823-1901), a conductor as well as composer,

had earliermade the acquaintanceof Schumannand Mendelssohn: Schumann had even included him in a kind of
new "Davidsbund"in a footnote in "Neue Bahnen"(NZfM
39 [1853], 185).On Schiffer, see ReinholdSietz in MGGXI,
cols. 1533-34. JoachimplayedBrahms'sB-MajorTrio,op. 8,
at a "Rauchkollegium" with Schiffer in 1854 (letter to
Brahmsof December, 1854; BriefwechselV, 79). By a curious coincidence, Schiffer's discussion of variations appearedin the Berlinmusic periodicalEcho in the same volume that saw the ill-conceived and ill-fated "Manifesto"
(Erkldrung)
by Brahmset al. againstthe Lisztian"New German School" (BerlinerMusik-Zeitung Echo X [1860], 95,
cited in Puchelt, Variationenfiir Klavier im 19. Jahrhundert, pp. 142-43). The Erklirung appearedin March.
140

variations will have to manifest a connection with

the theme as well as with each other...

; in other

respects, however, they will come into the world

bringingwith them their newborn motives and new
developmental laws, thus [each]to expand into autonomous art forms-often even as related movements [which are] not directly derived from the
theme, [but] like "intermezzi" draw into their own
realm. Just as the variation form in this genre
achieves its highest significance, it reaches at the
same time its outermost limits, striving to overcome
them and to pass into the sphereof the free fantasy.It
appearsnot inappropriateto give them the name Fantasy-Variations.30
Schiiffer slanted his descriptions in order to create an ascending order of value in variations:
from charming reminders of the theme, to new
architectonic creations, to autonomous art
forms.
Brahms, Schumann, and Schiiffer thus surveyed the same terrain with similar tools and,
despite differences in ideology and language,
with remarkably similar results. Their outlooks
shared the notion, new in written descriptions
of the variation, that the choice of theme
counts, and that the essential aspects of that
theme are refracted onto the variations by a
method that determines both the work's center
of gravity, in Schiiffer's attractive formulation,
and the relationship between theme and variations. In positing the bass as the agent through
which the implications of the theme may be explored and revealed most fully, Brahms immediately staked a claim in appropriating the past,
yet the bass may also be seen as the mechanism
creating a psychological bond between theme
and variations, as well as the source of the new
motives and "developmental laws" described
by Schiiffer. Even Schumann had noted that the
theme imposes certain stylistic propensities
that must be maintained. Schumann implicitly

30Puchelt,Variationen,pp. 142-43. Schiffer had written a

set of Phantasie-Variationen,op. 2, in 1853,which was then
reviewed by the Liszt-disciple Joachim Raff in the Neue
Zeitschrift ffir Musik as "little fantasy pieces on a theme,
such as we have in recent times also in the Impromptusby
Schumann on a theme by ClaraWieck" (NZfM38 [20 May
1853],228-29). It was Raffwho, meeting Brahmsin Weimar
in 1852, had told Brahmsthat his E-MinorScherzo,op. 4,
remindedhim of Chopin,to which Brahmsresponded,probably disingenuously, that he did not know any Chopin.

and Schiffer explicitly took their variations

that extra step into the realm of fantasy, a
boundaryline that Brahmswas unwilling to admit could be crossed in a variation work.
While Schumann wrote of "poetic totality"
and Schiffer of "autonomous ... intermezzi" as

the goal of their ideal variations, the following

remarks attributed to Brahmstransmit his only
views on the subject of how the variations
ought to fit together. ErnstRudorffrecalledhim
saying:
Therearetwo methodsofvariations;oneis suchthat
youcanatwill omit oneorthe otherorseveral[variations]withoutthewholereceivingdamage.I callthis
[type]for this reason"haystacks."Sucha haystack
are my HandelVariations,for example.The other
methodis marked[bythe fact that]you can'ttakea
single stone from the structurewithout damaging
the whole.To this belongthe C-minorvariationsand
also the Ebvariationsfor pianoby Beethoven,[and]
all variationswhichformpartof his sofurthermore,
natasorevenhis symphonies.31
These images of structures that are either relatively random or more determined remind us
that architecturalmetaphors other than organic
imagery held sway in Brahms'scorrespondence
about variations.32They also have implications
for the problem of a larger shape for variation
sets, recently formulated by JonathanDunsby,
but which lies outside the scope of this study.33

31ErnstRudorff,"JohannesBrahms.Erinnerungenund Betrachtungen,"SchweizerischeMusikzeitung 97 (1957),8283. Rudorffaddedthat Brahmswould undoubtedlyhave included his own Haydn Variationsin the second category.
32Inthe Schubring letter, Brahms mentioned building his
stories; in a letter aboutBrahms'sSchumannVariations,op.
9, Joachim referredto the varied Architektur of the variations and to Brahmshimself as a Baumeister (letter of 27
June 1854, Briefwechsel V, 48). Schumann had used the
term Fortbau.
33Dunsby,"The Multi-piece in Brahms,"p. 171. Dunsby
faults Schenker for his failure to offer an adequatetheory
about the overall structure of a set of variations, and finds
that Schenker's discussion of Brahms'sHandel Variations
"deals with the connection of musical ideas but not with
the sum of such connections." His challenge to present-day
analysts to consider the issue has been taken up by Esther
Cavett-Dunsby (Mozart's Variations Reconsidered: Four
Case Studies [Ph.D. diss, University of London, 19851)and
Nicholas Marston ("Analysing Variations: The Finale of
Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 74," Music Analysis 8
[19891,303-24).

VI
To Brahms, the character and source of a
theme played a central role in determining the
nature of the variations he wrote on that
theme.34Hardlystartling in itself and strikingly
anticipated by Schumann, this view of
Brahms's themes is nonetheless not usually
taken into account in evaluating the course of
his career in variations, perhaps because it departs strikingly from the practice of earliercomposers writing on borrowedthemes. In Beethoven's Diabelli Variations,for example, William
Kindermanpoints to the "discrepancybetween
the commonplace waltz and the formidable arThere is no such discrepray of variations."35"
ancy in Brahms, to whom the theme initiated
the psychological bond spoken of by Schiffer. A
theme that is a song led to melody-orientedvariations, as in piano sonatas, ops. 1 and 2, and the
HungarianSong Variations.By the same token,
Brahms's choice of a Schumann theme seemed
to require or imply a more characteristically
Schumannesque expression in the variations; a
Handel theme received a stricter application of
the variation principle, as well as the use of such
Baroque topics as siciliana and musette; a
theme by Paganiniwas chosen for virtuosic variations.36 And like Schumann, Brahms often
chose themes rich in "reminiscence."
Two variations from the big keyboardsets of
1861, the Handel Variations and the four-hand
Schumann Variations, ops. 24 and 23 respectively, will serve to illustrate both the psychological bond and the structural limitations imposed by the bass. (That the Handel set ends
with a fugue and the Schumann set ends with a
funeral march already tells much of the story.)
The sixth variation of the Handel and the fourth

34Brahmstaught Jennerthat a theme must be appropriateto

the form of that work, suggesting that Jennershould study
the themes of Beethoven'sand Schubert'ssonatasto remedy
his deficiencies; see Jenner,Brahms,p. 60.
35William Kinderman, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations
(Oxford,1987), p. 67. He goes on to illuminate the ways in
which "this discrepancywas overcome."
36Seenin this light, Brahms'sobjections to the Nottebohm
and Herzogenbergsets might have stemmed initially from
inappropriatetreatments given to a Bach sarabandeand a
Brahmssong.
141

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

a. Brahms,VariationsandFugueon a Theme
of Handel,op.24, variation6.

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

112.

legato legato

b. Brahms, Variations on a Theme of Schumann,

op. 23, variation 4.

Example 4

of the Schumann sets are externally quite similar:two-partimitative minores with both hands
in octaves, appearingrelatively earlyin each cycle (see ex. 4). Several features point to op. 24/6
as a variation on a Baroque theme: despite its
expressive distance from the theme (prepared
somewhat by the precedingvariation in minor),
it is entirely canonic and resembles the theme
melody.
The theme of the Schumann set, on the other
hand, was chosen by Brahms for its personal
meanings, its "melancholy sound of farewell,"
and he admitted that the variations were not far
142

removed from that idea.37Opus 23/4 is only intermittently canonic and is more consciously
"mysterious" in such evocative details as a hollow-fifth cadence (m. 8), repeated notes or tremolo in the lowest registers of the piano during
the second reprise, and syncopated sigh-motives to replace the canon. It is also the only variation in that set without any overt melodic resemblance to the theme or even so basic an

37Letterto Joachim of 29 December 1852, Briefwechsel V,

331.

identifier as the theme's upbeat. Based instead

on the descending fifth of the theme's cadential
measure, it seems to function as a mood piece
ratherthan as part of a variation group.38
Brahms's choice of theme thus suggests
which set of historical references and models
should operate within a single variation setthe stricter or freer interpretations of melody,
bass, harmony, and structure that he later characterized as "creatingsomething new on a given
bass." He was thus able to resolve or at least harness the tension, manifest in his criticism, between older and newer styles in variations, and
between variation and fantasy, by synthesizing
them as sets of oppositions from within the
canon. After choosing a theme for particular
stylistic and expressive ends, his next variation
work would use a contrasting or complementary theme, so that the two works would form a
pair. The Handel and Schumann sets of 1861,
then, can be seen as such a pair. And the idea of
the bass, not the bass line itself, served as a limiting agent. Brahms's written comments may
suggest that he repudiatedhis own early variations, as well as those of Schumann, but the
works themselves support instead the idea that
he reconciled his models at a relatively early
stage, continuing this dualistic approach in
pairedworks of his first maturity.
VII
Written in three short bursts-the slow
movements of the first two piano sonatas
(1852)39,the Schumann Variations,op. 9 (1854),
and the two D-major sets, op. 21 (1856-57)-Brahms's early variations reveal a developing
38InSchubring'sreview of op. 23, each variationwas granted
a character or even an underlying text, from the "tender
melancholy" of the first, throughdifferentsorts of laments,
to the final "FuneralMarch: 'Ah, you have buried a good
man, (coda)-but to me he was more!'Requiescatin pace et
lux perpetua luceat ei!" (Schumanniana, 11 in Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung 3 [1868], 49-51). Schubring's remarkableattempt to describethe poetic content of the work
might also have indirectly stimulated Brahms'scomparison
of his variations to "stories" (Geschichten) in his 1869
letter.
39Accordingto Brahms'sown catalogueof his works, now in
the Stadtbibliothek,Vienna, the Andante of op. 1 was written in April 1852, op. 2 in November 1852,andthe rest of op.
1 in spring 1853. See the transcriptionof this catalogue in
Alfred Orel, "Ein eigenhaindigesWerkverzeichnisvon Johannes Brahms,"Die Musik 29 (1937),529-41.

perception of the uses of pairing. (Table 1 lists

all of Brahms's variations.40) The sonata variations areobviously a pair,representingthe same
compositional impulse: inspired by folk song
and poetry, they resemble each other more than
casually in the "responsorial" themes, techniques of melodic embellishments with colorful harmonic substitutions and digressions, and
an overall structure of two progressively more
figured variations in major followed by a
broadly singing climactic variation in the major.41The earlierof the two movements, in op. 1,
has a simpler and more diatonically harmonized theme.
Just as clearly a pair, although not usually
recognized as such, are the two sets in op. 21.
The widely held view that op. 21, no. 1, was a
newly "stricter,purer"work is based on the unprovable assertion, dating to Kalbeck, that op.
21, no. 2, had been written before op. 9.42 But
there is no evidence of op. 21, no. 2, before 1856,
and a fair number of letters place it in 1856.43

surprisingdetail about Brahms'svariations concerns

400One
their mode: the vast majority of the variation movements
arein minor (allbut op. 67 andop. 120/2),andaccountforsix
of Brahms'snine slow movements in minor. Nearly all the
independentsets, on the other hand,arein major(allbut op.
9 and op. 35).
410nly the conclusions differ,the op. 1 building a quiet epilogue on a tonic pedal, as Brahmswas later to do in the slow
movement of his F-MinorSonata,op. 5, while the op. 2 does
without a coda, using the Scherzo's rhythmic transformation to function as a closing section. On the poetic content
of these movements, see GeorgeS. Bozarth,"Brahms'sLieder ohne Worte:The 'Poetic' Andantes of the Piano Sonatas," in BrahmsStudies, pp. 345-78.
42In Brahms'scatalogue,the date of op. 21, no. 1, is given as
"Anfang 1857" and that of op. 21, no. 2, as "friiher?"(Orel,
533). Kalbeck,BrahmsI, 180-81, suggestedthat op. 21, no.
2, was perhapsdraftedin 1852 or 1853. Brahmshad indeed
sent an autographof the Hungariansong on which it was
based to Joachim in the spring of 1853; other copies were
made in 1854. See MargitL. McCorkle, JohannesBrahms:
Thematisch-bibliographischesWerkverzeichnis(hereafter
BV) (Munich, 1984), pp. 73-75. Heinz Becker'sworklist in
The New Grove uses the 1853 date ("Brahms,Johannes,"
New GroveDictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley
Sadie [London,1980],vol. 3, p. 175).
43RobertPascall, who has extensive grounds for redating
many of the Brahms-Joachimletters in 1856, has concluded
that op. 21, no. 2, was written at the end of 1856 and was
inspired by Clara's information about Hungarian music
from her trip to Budapestearly in 1856; he refersin "Musikalische Einfliisse,"p. 230, to his forthcomingstudy on this
issue. I am indebted to ProfessorPascall for calling my attention to the anomalous placement (in the summer of
1856)of some of the relevant letters.
143

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

1. Piano Sonatain C Major,op. 1/ii

2. Piano Sonatain F# Minor, op. 2/ii
3. Variationson a Theme by RobertSchumann,op. 9
4. Variationson a HungarianSong,op. 21, no. 2
5. Variationson an OriginalTheme, op. 21, no. 1

1852
1852
1854
1856
1857

6. StringSextet in BbMajor,op. 18/ii

7. Variationsand Fugue on a Theme of Handel, op. 24
8. Variationson a Theme by RobertSchumann,op. 23 (pianofour-hands)
9. Variationson a Theme by Paganini,op. 35
10. StringSextet in G major,op. 36/iii

1860
1861
1861
1862-63
1864

11. Variationson a Theme of Haydn,op. 56a (orchestra)and op. 56b (two pianos)
12. StringQuartetin BbMajor,op. 67/iv
13. Piano Trio in C major,op. 87/ii
14. Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, op. 98/iv
15. StringQuintet in G Major,op. 111/ii
16. Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, op. 115/iv
17. Clarinet Sonata in E6Major,op. 120, no. 2/iii

1873
1875
1882
1885
1890
1891
1894

Table 1
Brahms's Variations.

Once the op. 21 sets are seen as a pair, it becomes clear that they do not repudiate Brahms's
earlier variations but rather recast the terms of
his engagement with the past: their contrasts in
technique and affect reflect different historical
models mediated through the nature of their
themes.44

sophistication of no. 1 reflects not

ment away from no. 2, but a response
sophisticated theme, Brahms's first
posed especially for variations.46

Their most significant common features appear in no other independent set by Brahms:

WoO 80, with its eight-bar theme and group of

minores limited to a single large group, a linking of most of the major variations by melody or
speed of figuration, and a finale which includes
a reworking of the first variation.45 The greater

ody goes into the bass, while no. 1 employs the

constant-harmony techniques with only occasional melodic references that characterized the

44Brahms'sreflections on the form as well as his composition of op. 21 might also have been stimulated by several
performances of variations: in November 1855, he had
played Schumann'sVariationsfor Two Pianos, op. 46, with
Clarain Danzig, and early in 1856 he played the Beethoven
Variationsin C minor (WoO 80) and Ebmajor (op. 35, the
"Eroica"or "Prometheus"Variations)in Kiel, Altona, and
Cologne. See FlorenceMay, JohannesBrahms,2 vols. (London, 1905), I, 192; Renate and Kurt Hofmann, Johannes
Brahms:Zeittafel zu Leben und Werk(Tutzing, 1983),pp.
26-32.
45Thelast featurehad appearedin Joachim'sVariationsin E
Majorfor Viola and Piano, op. 10, completed at the end of
1854.
144

a developto its more

to be comMoreover,

each set appearsto draw on one of the two Beethoven sets that Brahms had performed earlier in

1856: no. 2 recalls the C-Minor Variations,

opposite mode variations where the theme mel-

Eb-Major"Eroica"set for piano, op. 35. The following brief discussion of both sets is intended
to reinforce the idea of pairing.

46Thetheme of op. 21/1 may even be personallyresonant,in

its similarity to the slow movement of the D-MinorPiano
Concerto, op. 15, a "gentle portrait"of Clarawritten at precisely the same time (letter of 30 December 1856, Schumann-Brahms Briefe I, 198). For a recent interpretationof
the concerto movement, see Christopher Reynolds, "A
ChoralSymphony by Brahms?"this journal9 (1985),3-25.
Some of the more Sturm und Drang-like variations in op.
21/2 resemblefeaturesof the outermovements of the D-Minor Concerto as well.

The theme in the Hungarian set is immediately countermanded by an initial large grouping of variations in the minor (variations 1- 6).
These flamboyant minores cohere as pairs and
small groupsbased on rhythm while placing the
melody either in the bass, the treble, or divided
between them. In the original theme set, the
minor group (variations 8-10) is the last element before the finale. Striking in both sets are
the similar dynamic inflections: minores tend
to be loud, maggiores almost invariablysoft.
Brahmsalso linked variations within the majorgroup.In the Hungarianset, the long series of
major variations (7-13) connects variations
8 -11 by a pervasive tonic pedal, and variations
9 -13 effect both a dynamic and a rhythmic crescendo. Variation 9, a poetic later insertion, is
pivotal in altering the metrical pattern of the
theme and introducing a new melodic pattern
that returns in the bass of variations 10 and 11.47
In the original theme set, the major variations
form pairs (1- 2, 3-4, 5-6) in which the second
intensifies some aspect of the first.
As a climax to the long chain of variations increasing in speed of figuration, the Allegro
finale of the Hungarianset is a rondo whose refrain, a variation of the theme, gave Brahms a
good bit of trouble. In a letter to Joachim, he
wrote: "Particularlyin the Finale a nasty youth
is simply raging, and I'd very much like to fashion a more respectable fellow, not raising a
racket as sometimes [happened] in the sonatas."48He also mentions that Clara didn't care
for the appearanceof Bbminor in the finale, in a
section recalling the explosive impact of variation 1. Possibly the criticisms from his friends
prompted Brahms to revise the finale, which is
written in darkerand thicker ink on a different
type of paperfrom the rest of the piece. Such revisions might have overlappedwith the composition of op. 21, no. 1, and accounted for the
question mark in Brahms's catalogue ("friiher?").The finale of the latter set is, by contrast, a
kind of expanded variation-as-codawhose con-

47Theautograph
is in theViennaStadtbibliothek.
The6meter of variation 9 preparesthe triplet24meter of variation 10,
while its chromatic bass line and transitional harmonies
underthe pedalweld the majorgroupmore tightly together.
48BriefwechselV, 158.

tinuing trill and increasing figuration recall

Beethoven's E-MajorPiano Sonata, op. 109.
VIII
Of Brahms's early variations, only the Variations on a Theme of Schumann, op. 9, his first
independent set, lacked a companion piece.
Written in 1854 during the period of Brahms's
most passionate involvement with the Schumanns, the piece deserves scrutiny here for its
precocious synthesis of variation traditions, as
well as for its unique embodiment of a dual persona, an internal pairing, so to speak. The work
has garneredconsiderable attention in the last
few years, chiefly from the standpoint of its relationship to Schumann's music and to the
Schumanns themselves.49 Resemblances of individual variations to Schumann models have
been thoroughly examined, some obvious,
some more subtle, and one documented by
Brahms himself.50 Both Joachim and Clara, on
the other hand, were immediately reminded of
Beethoven, the Urkomponist in all of their

49ConstantinFloros, Brahms und Bruckner:Studien zur

musikalischen Exegetik (Wiesbaden, 1980), pp. 115-43;
Robert Pascall, "Musikalische Einfltisse"; Oliver Neighbour, "Brahmsand Schumann: Two Opus Nines and Beyond," this journal 7 (1984), 266-70; Hermann Danuser,
"Aspekte einer Hommage-Komposition:Zu Brahms'Schumann-Variationen op. 9," in Brahms Analysen, ed.
Friedhelm Krummacher and Wolfram Steinbeck, Kieler
Schriftenzur Musikwissenschaft,vol. 28 (Kassel,1984),pp.
91-106. Danuser's discussion of the set, the most sensitive
yet in print, tries to place it in the context of Brahms'slater
variations and is especially good on the question of fantasyvariation in op. 9, which he answersin the negative.
501nvariation 9, Brahmsreworkedthe second Albumblatt
from Schumann's Bunte Bliitter, op. 99 (the first Albumblatt serves as the theme of op. 9), so that its interior
melody resembled the theme. When a Viennese critic, Karl
Debrois van Bruyck,wrote in the WienerZeitung of 25 September 1857 that in this set, the finest work among
Brahms'sfirst ten opera, the most beautiful variation is a
strong but certainly not intentional reminiscence of Schumann (cited in Kalbeck I, 280), Brahms retorted to Clara
that, on the contrary,both intention andconnection areutterly self-evident, especially since Schumann's piece follows the F#-minortheme directly in the originalcollection
(letter of 11 October 1857, Schumann-BrahmsBriefeI, 20708). Forother Schumannmodels, see Floros(who arguesfor
the primacyof Davidsbiindlertiinze,op. 6), Neighbour(who
arguesfor Carnaval,op. 9), Pascall,andDanuser,all cited in
n. 49; and Michael Musgrave, The Music of Brahms (London, 1985), pp. 26-27. Apparentlyunremarkedthus far is
Brahms'sconflation,in his variation2, of the firstvariations
in Schumann'sImpromptus,op. 5, and SymphonicEtudes.
145

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

lives; to be sure, the Beethoven reminiscences

are almost as striking as the Schumann ones."5
Brahms's Schumann Variations departmore
widely from the structureof the theme than any
of his other variation sets, and indeed, most
writers have assumed that op. 9 represents the
melodic- and fantasy-variation techniques
against which he later disciplined himself. But
Joachim praised Brahms for concealing his art,
especially the disguised ornaments, canons, and
contractions and expansions of the bass.52And
the freervariations always retain a striking melodic or harmonic relationship to the theme,
with the whole organizedaccordingto a synthesis of strict techniques of manipulating melody
and bass and of the more subjective psychological bond.
This synthesis is achieved partially by the
purposeful association of nearly every variation
with a persona: at the close of five variations
Brahms extended the double bar out into a "B"
for Brahms,while at the close of anotherfive, he
extended the bar line into a "Kr"for Johannes
Kreisler, a reference to the E. T. A. Hoffmann
character he had adopted as a pseudonym and
alter ego within his circle of friends.53The "B"
was in fact standard practice in most of
Brahms's early pieces, and five autographsbe-

51Brahms'svariations 7, 15, and 16 recall Beethoven's

Diabelli set, variations 13, 8, and20, respectively,while his
varying of theme melody and bass separatelyhas Beethoven's Eroicaset, op. 35, as its ultimate model, even if filtered
throughSchumann'sImpromptus,op. 5. Joachim'scomparison appearedin his letter of 27 June 1854 (BriefwechselV,
48). Clara simply wrote in her diary that "Beethovensche
Geist weht iiber dem Ganzen" (entry of 30 July 1854,
Berthold Litzmann, Clara Schumann. Ein Kiinstlerleben
nach Tagebiichernund Briefen, 3 vols. [Leipzig,1927], II,
323-24, cited in Floros,p. 119).The use of Beethovenas the
ultimate touchstone of comparison is ubiquitous in early
correspondenceof Brahms,Joachim,and ClaraSchumann,
however. Even for a piece Brahmsfound not fully satisfactory, Joachim's Variations for Viola and Piano, op. 10, he
wrote that "no one has yet wielded Beethoven'spen so powerfully" (letter of 16 February1855, Briefwechsel V, 89).
Denis Matthews points out that Schumann's F#-minor
theme itself bearsa strikingresemblanceto the slow movement of Beethoven's C-MinorViolin Sonata, op. 30, no. 2
(Brahms'sPiano Music [Seattle, 1978],p. 26).
52BriefwechselV, 48-49.
53SeeSiegfriedKross,"BrahmsandE. T. A. Hoffmann,"this
journal5 (1982), 193-200. The autographof op. 9, dated 15
June 1854 (in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde,Vienna),
consists of the theme andpresentvariations1- 9 and 12 -16
and shows Brahms'stypical early practice of extending the
146

tween 1852 and January1854, for or including

piano are signed, in addition to the "B,""[Joh.]
Kreisler,jun."54Thus, op. 9 appearsto represent
a refinement of this practice for a specific purpose. Although Brahmshad adoptedKreislerbefore he knew Schumann, the similarity between this characterization in op. 9 and the
"Florestan" and "Eusebius" labels in Schumann's Davidsbiindlertiinze, op. 6, surely cannot be coincidental.
The "Brahms"variations are nearly all slow,
like the theme, and tend to have a lyrical melody which is sometimes treatedin canon, while
the "Kreislers"are given quick tempo designations (e.g., "Schnell," "Allegro capriccioso")
and feature melodic fragments embedded in
figuration. Impetuosity characterizes Kreisler,
much as it does Florestan. And the "Kreisler"
variations consciously recall Schumann's
figuralpatterns, contain codas, lack canons, and
in general depart more strikingly from the
theme's structure, harmony, and affect than do
most of the "Brahms"variations. Yet neither
passion, brilliance, nor homage to Schumann
can fully conceal their derivation from the
theme.
The harmonic symmetries of Schumann's
theme (ex. 5) forecast the ways in which Brahms
departs from these harmonies even while retaining the original phrase structure. Of the
theme's three eight-measure periods, the first
and third consist of two four-measurephrases;
those of the first periodcadence on F#minor and
A major,the thirdreversingthis to cadenceon A
major and F# minor. In the second period, the
harmonic goals are all C#-minorchords, in sec-

double barat the end of each variationinto an initial. Variations 10 and 11, inserted on sheets dated 12 August [1854]
and headed "Rose and Heliotrope have bloomed,"have no
such signaturesandend with plain doublebars.A numberof
commentators, including Neighbour, have assumed that
the "J.B."afterthe date on the insertedsheets is the same as
the extended double bar; this is not so, and variation 11
should not be considereda "B."My thanks to Otto Bibaand
Peter Riethus for their kindnesses duringresearchtrips to
Vienna in 1982 and 1984, and to WalterFrisch,who doublechecked the double barsin 1986.
54TheKreislersignatureis found at the ends of the PianoSonatas, ops. 1, 2, and5, the PianoTrio,op. 8, andthe C-Minor
Scherzo (WoOposthum 2) from the F-A-E Piano Trio of
October 1853. The autographsare all dated between 1852
and January1854; see BV underthose op. nos.

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

Thema
Ziemlich langsam
.

etc.

Example 5: Brahms,Variationson a Theme

of Schumann, op. 9, theme.
a. Variation4 ("B").
Poco opi moto

3
espress.

legato

:TYetc.

b. Variation5 ("Kr").
Allegrocapriccioso

staccato e legg.

Slegg.

etc.

e stacc

Example 6: Brahms,op. 9.
ond inversion, first inversion, and root position,
respectively. In the variations, Brahms alters
the harmonies of the static second period most
extensively, and he takes advantageof the mirroringin the third period to offerharmonic substitutions without loss of intelligibility. Forexample, the third variation slips down a half step
from C# to C? at the second C#-minor chord;

the consequent move to F minor continues in

the third period.
Comparing the first two "signed"variations
(nos. 4 and 5), which are also the only pair related by figuration,proves instructive in assessing the differences between "B" and "Kr"(see
ex. 6). Variation4, the first to alter both the melodic and bass lines of the theme, shows Brahms
147

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

Theme

Kr

Kr

Kr

canon

th.

th.

mel.
in

bass

th.

th.

mel.

bass mel.

(treble

(inner

voice)

10

11

12

13

14

Kr

Kr

canon

th.

15

canon canon

th.

bass
in

th.

mel.

bass

in

and

treble

treble

voice)

in bass)

bass

inner (inverted

16

and

Figure 1
of
Brahms's
SchumannVariations,Op. 9.
Organization
asserting his own personality, as a "B,"afterthe
reiterations of the theme melody in variations 1
and 3 and the Schumann-reminiscence on the
theme bass in variation 2. It recomposes the
melody, modifies the harmony by addingpedal
points, but remains close to the theme in structure. And despite these new harmonies, notably
V7/D in the second period, the pedal points
reflect the cadence structure of the theme by
spelling out a tonic triad(F#in the first period,A
in the second, C#and F# in the third),although
with greater emphasis on A than on CQ.They
also retrogradethe essential melodic outline of
the theme (C#-A- F#).
Variation 5, a "Kr," is a fantasylike outgrowth of variation 4, using its figurationwithout the melody, distorting its proportions,altering the harmonies further,and transformingthe
bell-like repetitions of the initial C# into a fanfare. In contrast to the stable pedals of variation
4, the bass register here is reserved for the accented extremes of the fanfarefiguration.These
pitches spell out an inversion of the theme's
melodic outline (C#-E-G)-a
greater departure than a retrograde-then touch on the major dominant (E#as A of C# major)and the major
tonic (A#as 3 of F#major).The bass registerthus
no longer gives chord roots, and the harmonies
move fartherfrom the original harmonies than
those in variation 4.
148

Other dynamic, local contrasts animate the

set, but the larger organization of the cycle revolves around Brahms's separate treatment of
the theme melody and bass (fig. 1). The theme
melody is immediately reinterpretedas a bass
line in variation 1, supportingdifferentharmonies and thus sounding like a continuation of the
theme on the dominant. Returningas the treble
melody in variations 3 and 8, the latter in canon
with a middle voice, the theme melody occupies both treble and bass registers through a
canon in variation 15. The theme bass appears
intact in the lowest voice in variation 2 (rhythmically altered) and variation 16, and becomes
the treble melody in variation 10, accompanied
by its own inversion-at first simultaneously,
then at a one-measure interval-as a "canonfor
the eyes."
The cycle is thus weighted at either end by
both literal reappearances and functional exchanges of melody and bass, intensified by strategically placed canons. Articulating the center
of the set is variation 8, which restores the
theme melody to the highest voice (with a
canon), as well as variation 10, which reinterprets the original bass not only in the treble but
also in a new key, D major.In addition, the final
variation, where the bass returns to the lowest
register but the rest of the theme is only
sketched in with a few chords, balances the

Un poco piiuanimato

Ssedcmpress

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

col Ped.

("Siiss---

er

Freund")

Example 7: Brahms,op. 9, variation 11.

terse Beethovenian suggestion of the theme in
variation 7. "Kreisler" is never the agent of
these structural and registralpolarities.
While variation 10 can be thus accounted for
in the larger organization of the whole, the addition of variations 10 and 11 can be fully understood only in their personal references, which
make sense of variation 11 for the first time.
Variation 9 is the closest association of Kreisler
and Florestanin its reworkingof Schumann'sBMinor Albumblatt (see n. 49). Oliver Neighbour's suggestion that Brahmsaddedvariations
10 -11 to correct a "tonal imbalance" in the set
because otherwise variation 9 would be the only
one in a foreign key, is plausible as far as it
goes.55 Variation 10 quotes Clara's Romance
(the theme of Schumann's Impromptus, op. 5),
enabling Brahms to write to Joachim that in
that variation "Clara speaks!"156 The most harmonically ambiguous of all the variations, variation 11 prolongs a dominant pedal and transforms the D major of variation 10 into an
augmented-sixth chord in F# minor. But more
than playing a role in the tonal scheme, it actually presents Brahms's"Clara"theme in its first
two measures (ex. 7).57Variations9 -11 can thus
be seen as three Schumann-derivedvariations,
of which variation 11 uses a private code. After
Kreisler impersonates Robert, after Clara
55"Brahmsand Schumann,"p. 268.
56BriefwechselV, 59.
57EricSams, "Brahms and his Clara themes," Musical
Times 112 (1971), 432. Oliver Neighbour describes variation

11 at length, comparingits dominantpedalto "Arlequin"in

Schumann'sCarnaval.The use of a Claratheme here, given
particular prominence by the sudden C , has not to my
knowledge been previously identified ("Brahmsand Schumann," pp. 268-69).

speaks, Brahms himself has the chance to murmur her name.58

IX
The final part of this essay will suggest that
the idea of the bass, with its elements of strictness, discovery/invention, and psychological
bond as explored here, enabled Brahms to redraw or at least make permeablethe boundaries
of the variation canon. Two autobiographically
resonant movements make this case: the slow
movement of the G-MajorString Sextet, op. 36,
intimately bound up with his relationships to
Agathe von Siebold and Clara Schumann, and
the slow movement of the G-Major String
Quintet, op. 111, originally intended as his farewell to composition. The former is the last of
Brahms's variations of 1860-64, a group consisting, like the early variations, of three independent sets and two slow movements in works
of the same genre. Pairings play out the same
oppositions as the earlier works.59The second
58Itis also tempting to see in the left-handaccompaniment
an echo of Schumann's motive to "Stisser Freund!"in
Frauenliebeund Leben.
59Thestring sextets are a looser pairthan the others in that
they were written four years apart,but constitute his only
works in that genre andreflect the duality of theme-type alreadyproposed.The slow movement of the B -MajorString
Sextet, op. 18, suggests older models at the outset, in a
theme that recallsboth the old basspatternof LaFolia,with
its "strumming" accompaniment, and the Allegretto of
Beethoven'sSeventh Symphony.Its treatmentsimilarly expandsregisterwhile decreasingnote values in the firstthree
variations, and the format of the movement is traditional.
Finally, the codarefersto the variation-finaleof Mozart'sDMinor String Quartet, K. 421, and the slow movement of
Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet. (JamesWebster called attention to the Schubert reminiscence in
"Brahms'sFirstMaturity[II],"p. 62. It is possible that Schubert's quartetalreadyreflectedthe Mozart.)

149

19TH

rit.

Adagio

CENTURY
MUSIC

Vn.

Vn.

L" -I

molto
espr

Vla.

Example 8: Brahms,StringSextet in G major,op. 36, mvt. III,theme.

falls among the later variations, where there is a
sudden preponderanceof variation finales that
tend to unify and give cyclic focus to the whole
work. In these movements, Brahms turned his
impulse toward paired conceptions into a similar one linking first movements with finales.60
The slow movement of the sextet uses a
floating, chromatic theme (ex. 8) written six
months after op. 9: Brahmsdedicatedit to Clara
in a little pocket notebook of Christmas Eve
1854 and then copied it into a letter he sent her
two months later.61The rest of the sextet was
written in 1864-65 in the wake of Brahms'saffair with Agathe von Siebold;the use of a theme
associated with Claramight have helped in bidding Agathe farewell.62Hanslick was moved to
call the movement "a type of free variations on
no theme."63The theme's principalcharacteristics-fluctuations of majorand minor, an opening sequence on I and 6VII,ethereal tone color,
and especially the curiously yearning opposition between rising fourths and descending
60Theliteral returnsof the openingmovement's first theme
in the finales of op. 67 and op. 115, and the more veiled return of the descending thirds of the first movement in the
finale of op. 98, are only the most obvious of these. In addition, the slow movement of op. 87 separatesthe twin melodies of the theme, associatedwith piano andviolin, andvaries them in turn. These works, together with the Haydn
Variations and their passacaglia-finale,are the subject of a
separatestudy.
61Schumann-BrahmsBriefeI, 75. He describedit as a "Lied
oder eine Melodie statt Worte.... Es sagt immer mehr als
meine Worte."The notebook is in the Stadtbibliothek,Vienna; only the first page, with inscription and theme, contains writing.
62AsKalbeckpoints out, the letters of Agathe'sname form
part of several themes in the first movement (BrahmsII,
157).
63Hanslick, "Aus dem Konzertsaal," cited by Kalbeck,
Brahms II, 161.
150

chromatic figures-can be treated strictly and

yet suggest fantasy. Those elements are elaborated in the series of pairedvariations (1- 2, 34), without clear melodic identification of the
variations with the theme until the serene final
maggiore and coda.64The empty bass registerin
the theme, however, has profound consequences: it means that Brahms must literally
discover the bass in the melody instead of the
other way round. In fact, Brahmsreinvents the
bass in every variation.
Like the first variation in op. 9, the first here
sounds more like a continuation of the theme
than a variation of it (ex. 9). Now augmented,
the descending chromatic line of the accompanying voices becomes the melodic line, while
two inner voices present the ascending fourth
line in diminution, pizzicato. Throughsimultaneous augmentation and diminution and the
addition of a new bass line, the theme appearsto
recede. Also concealing a connection to the
theme is the second variation, with pervasive
chromatic neighbor-note and passing-tone motives that vary the viola line of the theme.
Variations 3 and 4, both faster, louder, and
imitative, suggest, through the opposed directions of the imitated octave-figure(risingin variation 3, falling in variation 4), the simultane640fthe two Paganinisets, op. 35, book 1 contains a preponderance of variations with melodic and harmonic resemblance to the theme, as well as Baroquetopics like the descending-tetrachordchaconne bass (variation4) and quasi
musette (variation11),while the variationsin book2 immediately reinterpretthe theme's harmonies, even at cadence
points, and contain the variation most remote from the
theme in either set (variation12, an Andantein F major).It
is notable that each of the "stricter"membersof the pairsin
this period(ops. 18, 24, and 35/1) contains a musette (variations 22, 5, and 11, respectively).

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

Vn. I, via. I

Vla. I

'

molto

.fL

. J..

p
pzz.

Vc.I PI
vc.I

Example 9: Brahms,op. 36, mvt. III,variation 1.

Adagio

p izz.

P dolce

arco
z.

zz.%p
pz

arco
pizz.

p'l'lp04

Example 10: Brahms,op. 36, mvt. III,variation 5.

ously rising fourth and falling chromatic lines
in the theme's first phrase, now played out over
a two-variation span. In the melodically oriented final maggiore (ex. 10), Brahms replaces
conventional melodic-outline procedureswith
embellishments based on a diminution of the
theme's rising fourth, which are then radiated
throughout the texture. The coda resolves all

ambiguities, its tonic pedal anchoring the constantly reiterated rising fourth to a new stable
environment. Brahmshere arrivesat a reconciliation of variation and fantasy, as well as an apparent resolution of his yearning for Clarathat
he was simply not capable of nine years earlier.
If the sextet variations disclose strict treatment of a free theme, and flirt with fantasy in
151

19TH

Vn. I, II

CENTURY
MUSIC
f

/-5~?dolre

Vla. I

aa

la.

o
T"I._.

;-.
,.
Vc.

pizz..

.
arco

p- M
%Idim.A
"dim.

3
..

33

.,p

241
Arn

LI"o

f0

Pf

FR
r

Example 11: Brahms,StringQuintet in G major,

op. 111, mvt. II.

the absence of a strongly profiled theme bass,

the slow movement of the much later G-Major
String Quintet, actually embodies all the issues
involved in fantasy-variation,and does so without ever disturbing the shade of Schumann.
Even its precedents are to be found in the fantasia literature:both the slow Fantasiamovement
of Haydn's late El-MajorStringQuartet, op. 76,
no. 6, and the slow variation movement in
Schubert's "Wanderer"Fantasypresent a short
theme successively in several keys, connecting
each statement with free or improvisatorypassages. In op. 111, the theme is an eight-measure
phrase in flight from its tonic, D minor (ex. 11).
The idea of the bass exemplifies this notion.
Three variant versions of that phrase alter scoring and accompaniment; the first and third of
these also expand the harmony and phrase
structure, and the second changes the tonic (G
minor). This simple theme is also Brahms's
152

only theme for variations in which the bass participates motivically, in the dotted-rhythmmotives of m. 3 and mm. 5-6.
The real freedom in the movement lies in the
improvisatory passages which link one variation to the next. These passages are based on
motives of the theme--the dotted rhythm of m.
1 or its melodic contour, the ascending bass arpeggio of m. 3, the triplet-figureand neighbornote motive of m. 7--and every one of them begins simply and grows in rhythmic or textural
complexity. They also increase in length and in
expressive intensity until the climax of the set
in the variation which begins in D major (ex.
12).This variation, with the greatestrange,density, and volume, imports the techniques of
those improvisatorypassages into the variation
itself, forcing an extension outward, via progressive diminution (sixteenths and sixteenthtriplets to thirty-seconds), into a kind of moti-

ELAINER.
SISMAN
Brahmsand
the Canon

161-u-

M-

fY--

ff

Sarco

ffr
ff2w

Example 12: Brahms,op. 111, mvt. II,

variation 3.

vic apotheosis. Because the variation has

expanded, the subsequent transition contracts
into a viola cadenza. The final partial reprise
avoids any hint of the theme's propulsive arpeggios but paradoxicallyechoes the G-minor variation at the cadence. In op. 111, then, a work
which he thought might be the fitting conclusion to his compositional life, Brahms created
as a final synthesis a stable treatment of the bass
together with motivic fantasy-variation.
Every time Brahms was moved to describe
the history and basic principles of variation
form, he upheld older techniques over modern
ones and decried excessive reliance on the
theme's melody. Yet Brahms the composer
never actively repudiated any of the variation
techniques that Brahmsthe critic seemed to deplore. His vaguely defined notion of "fantasyvariation" as a refuge of lesser Schumann-imitators who could only belabor their theme's

melody and distort its structure aided his attempt to establish a canon of true variations,
but his freedom in interpreting "the bass" allowed him not only to create something new
upon it but also to recreatethat bass anew, leading him to the verge of fantasy as describedby
Schumann and Schaiffer.While his variations after op. 9 were all "stricterand purer"in holding
more closely to the structure of the theme, the
nature of his variation themes still conditioned
the nature of the set, and the pairingof radically
different themes from op. 21 through op. 36
provided the means for a thorough exploration
of his extensive inheritance and an expansion of
its boundaries. Brahms's poetic reflection on
the theme bass-"the firm foundation on
which I then build my stories"-shows him to
be at once an architect and a teller of tales, infusing each edifice with
an animating spirit.
153