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Variation Structures
What is a variation?
• A variation is where a main musical idea is
repeated but changed each time
Variation form
• There are different types of variation form including
ground bass, chaconne and passacaglia
• A ground bass is an ostinato in the bass which is
repeated throughout the piece, while the melody is
varied at the top
• A chaconne was popular in the baroque period and is
variations on top of a harmonic progression
• A passacaglia originates in early 17th century and is
continuous variations on a ground bass
• Theme and variation is based on a theme between 8
and 32 bars long, which is either repeated differently
or with a different accompaniment
History
• The first known example of variations is in the
early 14th century, however came about
properly in the 16th century
• The first printed example is “differencias” for
Luis de Narvaez in 1538
Renaissance
• In the Renaissance period the popular form of
variation was divisions
• This is where the beat is divided smaller and
smaller as the piece goes on
Classical
• In the Classical era, Wolfgang Amadaeus
Mozart, Franz Schubert, Joseph Haydn and
Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote many variations
• They started to evolve here, with Haydn
writing double divisions which start with 2
themes – one major, one minor
• Often variations were at then end of music
instead of the whole piece, for example
Mozart’s finale of his Clarinet Quintet
Romantic
• In the Romantic era, variations again evolved
• Composers were starting to use themes from
early music and develop them
• An example of this is Johannes Brahms used
the theme from Handel’s Variations and Fugue
on a Theme to write his variations
20th Century
• Some more modern 20th Century composers
include:
• Andrew Lloyd Webber: Variations for cello and
Rock Band
• Steve Reich: Variations for winds, strings and
keyboards
• Benjamin Britten: Variations on a theme of
Frank Bridge
Example
• One of the best examples of theme and
variations is Pachelbels canon. It transforms
from the basic theme:
• To a much more advanced version of it:
• And then finally with a larger timbre and a
longer ending note:
How to produce variations
• You can produce variations in many ways such as:
• Harmony – You could change the interval
between parts
• Melody – adding or removing notes
• Rhythm – Making different types of rhythm by
changing the length of notes in 1 or more parts
• Timbre – Make different instruments switch parts
or add more than 1 instrument to a part
Different ideas
• There are many ways to compose a piece with
variations:
• Through musical genres
• Literally – going through a park or on a beach
etc
• Going through different moods
Examples of music from different time
periods
• Here is an example of Renaissance music:
• Here is an example of baroque music:
• Here is an example of modern music: