Franz Schubert

Composed in the summer of 1824, during the second of Franz Schubert's two trips to Hungary under the employ of Count Esterházy, the Variations on an Original Theme for piano four-hands in A flat major, D. 813, are cheery music that might have gone over quite nicely with the two aristocratic young ladies, the Count's daughters, for whom they were written. The Variations, which were published the following year as Op. 35, are nevertheless impeccably crafted, meaty music that shows how far Schubert, now 27 years old, had come since the ungainly attempts at variation writing that he made in his teens. He was never entirely comfortable with the form.

The Allegretto theme is laid out in two unequal "halves" (eight measures and 16 measures), the first of which is marked to be repeated. Schubert wrote quite a few marches for piano four-hands during his stays in Hungary, and snappy martial rhythms seem to have spilled over into the present theme; still the tune is a gentle, humorous one, and Schubert finds his way above the piano-pianissimo dynamic level just twice.

The eight variations are not at all groundbreaking, but they seem of a piece with the innocent tune. In Variation I, triplets are added to the recipe, occasionally causing a nice little conflict with the few dotted rhythms that have survived the double bar. Variation II affords the secundo pianist a chance to work his/her fingers out sixteenth-note style, while in Variation III things slow down enough for a charming mock-imitation between the two hands of the primo player. Variation IV is stirring and vigorous, Variation V moves to the dark-hued region of A flat minor (all seven flats find their way into the key signature here). An extensive fortissimo is achieved for the first time in Variation VI. The penultimate variation, Variation VII, is marked Più lento and con sordini; at the start of this wonderfully languorous variation Schubert tricks us, briefly, into thinking that perhaps the music has moved into C minor. The final variation is a galloping Allegro moderato in 12/8 time whose incessant dotted rhythms have, by the end of the piece, bloomed into full-fledged virtuosic sixteenths.