Arcangelo Corelli

Falling at the end of Corelli's great Op. 5 collection of violin sonatas is a series of 24 variations on the Portuguese tune (or rather, chord sequence) La Follia (or Folia). The source material was popular for more than a century before Corelli took it on, but this sonata linked the melody so closely to Corelli's name that Rachmaninov would later call his own musings on the tune Variations on a Theme of Corelli. The moderately paced, triple-meter melody lays itself out over the course of eight measures, maintaining an implacable emphasis on the second beat. Corelli first offers it in its bare form, although many violinists to freely ornament this first statement. (Some performers also include a guitar-like instrument in the continuo section to bring out the music's Iberian character.) Corelli next strips the melody down to a skeleton of paired notes, fleshing out the melody only toward the end of phrases. He then takes the opposite course with a pair of variations that pile more and more notes onto the melodic framework. The following variation comes down hard on the melody's downbeats. From here, Corelli goes for maximum contrast: sparse notes marking only the melodic contour; rapid passagework first for violin and then for continuo; a gently rocking and pastoral treatment followed by short, descending fragmentary phrases; a spastically syncopated variation preceding a sequence of slow double stops that merely follow the melody's outline; a spiky treatment followed by a variation that impatiently rolls through each phrase and then pauses; an operatic lament; an increasingly intense complaint; a sequence that beings with a good-natured treatment but takes on increasing urgency; and so on. The piece ends in a brilliantly jagged variation without prettifying the tragic character Corelli has maintained throughout this work.

-- James Reel, All Music Guide