AMADEUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
THEMES, VARIATIONS & MORE
Source: Yayasan Musik Amadeus Indonesia
Variation is a fundamental element in all of nature that surrounds us.
It is simply impossible to imagine a world without variety: Just one kind of fish, Just one kind of palm tree, just one kind of banana - it would look clinically boring like the fresh section of a German supermarket. The inbuilt urge for change whenever something is reproduced is essentially the driving force of evolution - and of music too.
In music, variation becomes possible with repetition: Instead of simply quoting a phrase literally a second time, musicians may add some ornaments and flourishes thus developing or disguising the tune we've heard before, Itisa play with the audience's anticipation - we can never be sure what to expect.
No surprise then that composers jumped on the idea very early on and started to write down such changes in order to have their music developed not only by the inspiration of a dubious musician but in a rather carefully planned fashion. In three of the pieces tonight you will hear examples of this principle in different but exemplary ways.
THEMES
Choosing a melody or "theme" for any set of variations is the first step in the creative process. Two main options come to mind - create one yourself or use somebody else's theme. In the first case the theme will be as contemporary as the variations, in the second case the tune will take us inevitably on a journey into the past - maybe one, maybe ten or maybe a hundred years ago.
In his "Rococo-Variations" for violoncello and orchestra from 1877 Pyotr Tchaikovsky combines both of those possibilities in a clever way: Although he invents the theme himself, he does it in the style of the rococo which aligns almost exactly with the first half of Joseph Haydns life (1732 - 1809). The reason for Tchaikovsky's choice of time was most likely his devotion for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), who he adored and cherished as a composer.
Tchaikovsky's theme, introduced by the solo cello after a brief orchestral introduction, consists of two 8-bar sections which are repeated. It is followed by the first variation with 16 bars and no repeat. But from there on each of the following variations will be longer and longer. Tempo, key- and time signatures change constantly throughout. In terms of the analogy from the beginning: With each variation,seven altogether, we witness a seed - the theme - growing into something much bigger, more complex and very different. The variations are bound together by a refrain-like tune played by the orchestra and short cadenzas by the soloist.
VARIATIONS
Tchaikovsky died quite unexpectedly in 1893 at the age of only 53. It is not surprising that Anton Arenski paid a tribute to this titanic figure in Russian music when he wrote his second string quartet only one year later: Its slow movement, which he later adapted for string orchestra (the version we perform tonight), is a series of seven variations to a melody from as ong cycle for children by Tchaikovsky.
I like to believe that Arenski chose it not only for the beautifully melancholic character of its melody, but also for its words - a short poem by the American writer Richard Henry Stoddard about the young boy Jesus and how he is mocked, mistreated, and abused by other children. It is a very fitting parable because Tchaikovsky himself did not meet the expectations and conventions of Russian society during his life and struggled greatly by trying to at least pretend. The poem must have reminded Arenski that Tchaikovsky's fame as a musician came with many sufferings as a human being.
The theme is clearly noticeable in most of the variations although the musical parameters change quite dramatically. The homogenous sound of the string orchestra projects an atmosphere of modesty and humbleness which is very fitting considering the hero of R.H.Stoddard's poem.
& MORE
Mikhail Glinka finds a very unorthodox way to develop two Russian folk tunes in his symphonic phantasy "Kamarinskaya". With very few exceptions the melody of each song- one of them slow, the other fast - never really changes but repeats itself over and over again. What changes is the background of the melodies - different instrumentation alters the volume and sound, and careful adjustments of underlying harmonies and tempo change the colour and character of the music.
Each of the two themes consists of only sixbars.These are extremely small building blocks in order to put together an almost eight-minute-long piece of music. But Glinka succeeds in a masterful way: The whole work could be compared to a fast-forwarded recording of a wedding day - from the solemn procession and the ceremony in the morning to the festivities with songs and dances in the evening. And like most enjoyable parties, it seems to be challenging to end it in a dignified manner: First the horns and later the trumpets urge the orchestra to come to a close, but nobody is listening, and the music flares up once more. But finally, late in the night, the last drunkards get kicked out of the barn and the door shuts with the final chord.
"Kamarinskaya" is the founding stone of Russian symphonic music. Written in 1848, it derives all its musical material from the two folk tunes. The technique to derive counterpoints and accompaniments from them had been developed in the west by composers like Haydn but the material content is genuinely 100 percent Russian.