The term "variations" in music denotes such changes in the melody in the process of unfolding the composition, in which its recognizability is preserved. The one-root word is "option". That is something similar, but still a little different. So it is in music.
Constant update
A variation of the melody can be compared to We easily recognize our friends and relatives, no matter what emotional experiences they may experience. Their faces change, expressing anger, joy or resentment. But individual traits are preserved.
What are variations? In music, this term is understood as a specific form of a work. The play begins with the sound of a melody. As a rule, it is simple and easy to remember. Such a melody is called a variation theme. She is very bright, beautiful and expressive. Often the theme is a popular folk song.
Variations in music reveal the skill of the composer. A simple and popular theme is followed by a chain of changes to it. They usually retain the tonality and harmony of the main melody. They are called variations. The task of the composer is to decorate and diversify the theme with the help of a number of special methods, sometimes quite sophisticated. A piece consisting of a simple melody and its changes following one after another is called variations. How did this structure come about?
A bit of history: the origins of the form
Often musicians and art lovers wonder what variations are. The origins of this form lie in ancient dances. Citizens and peasants, nobles and kings - everyone loved to move in sync with the sound of musical instruments. Dancing, they performed the same actions to a constantly repeating chant. However, a simple and unpretentious song, sounding without the slightest change, quickly got bored. Therefore, the musicians began to introduce various colors and shades into the melody.
Let's find out what variations are. To do this, turn to the history of art. Variations first made their way into professional music in the 18th century. Composers began to write plays in this form, not to accompany dances, but to listen. Variations were part of sonatas or symphonies. In the 18th century, this structure of a piece of music was very popular. Variations of this period are quite simple. The rhythm of the theme and its texture changed (for example, new echoes were added). Most often, variations sounded in major. But there was definitely one minor. The gentle and sad character made it the most striking fragment of the cycle.
New Variation Options
People, worldviews, eras have changed. The turbulent 19th century came - the time of revolutions and romantic heroes. The variations in music also turned out to be different. The theme and its changes became strikingly different. Composers achieved this through so-called genre modifications. For example, in the first variation, the theme sounded like a cheerful polka, and in the second it sounded like a solemn march. The composer could give the melody the features of a bravura waltz or a swift tarantella. In the 19th century, variations on two themes appear. First, one melody sounds with a chain of changes. Then it is replaced by a new theme and variants. So composers brought original features to this ancient structure.
Musicians of the 20th century offered their answer to the question of what variations are. They used this form to show complex tragic situations. For example, in Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony, variations serve to reveal the image of universal evil. The composer changes the initial theme in such a way that it turns into a seething, unbridled element. This process is connected with filigree work on modification of all musical parameters.
Types and varieties
Composers often write variations on a theme that belongs to another author. This happens quite often. An example is Sergei Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. This piece is written in variational form. The theme here is the melody of Paganini's famous violin caprice.
A special variation of this popular musical form is the so-called basso ostinato variations. In this case, the theme sounds in a lower voice. A constantly repeated melody in the bass is hard to remember. Often the listener does not isolate it from the general flow at all. Therefore, such a theme at the beginning of a composition usually sounds monophonic or is duplicated in an octave.
Variations on sustained bass are often found in Johann Sebastian Bach's organ works. The monophonic theme is played on the foot keyboard. Over time, variations on the basso ostinato became a symbol of the sublime art of the Baroque. It is with this semantic context that the use of this form in the music of subsequent eras is associated. The finale of the fourth symphony by Johannes Brahms is solved in the form of variations on a sustained bass. This work is a masterpiece of world culture.
Figurative potential and nuances of meaning
Examples of variation can also be found in Russian music. One of the most famous examples of this form is the chorus of Persian girls from Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. These are variations on the same melody. The theme is an authentic oriental folk song. The composer personally recorded it with notes, listening to the singing of the bearer of the folklore tradition. In each new variation, Glinka uses an increasingly varied texture, which colors the unchanging melody with new colors. The nature of the music is gentle and languid.
Variations were created for each musical instrument. The piano is one of the composer's main assistants. The famous classic Beethoven especially loved this instrument. He often wrote variations on simple and even banal themes by unknown authors. This made it possible for the genius to show all his skills. Beethoven transformed primitive melodies into musical masterpieces. His first composition in this form was nine variations on Dressler's march. After that, the composer wrote a lot of piano works, including sonatas and concertos. One of the last works of the master is thirty-three variations on the theme of Diabelli's waltz.
Modern innovations
The music of the 20th century shows a new type of this popular form. The works created in accordance with it are called variations with a theme. In such pieces, the main melody sounds not at the beginning, but at the end. The theme seems to be assembled from distant echoes, fragments and fragments scattered throughout the musical fabric. The artistic meaning of such a structure can be the search for eternal values among the surrounding bustle. Finding a lofty goal is symbolized by the theme that sounds at the end. An example is the third piano concerto. The 20th century knows many cult works written in variational form. One of them is "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel. These are variations on the same melody. With each repetition, it is performed by a new musical instrument.
You have probably ever come across such philosophical concepts as form and content. These words are universal enough to denote similar aspects of a variety of phenomena. And music is no exception. In this article you will find an overview of the most popular forms of musical works.
Before naming the common forms of musical works, let's define what is a form in music? Form is something that has to do with the construction of a work, the principles of its structure, the sequence of musical material in it.
Form is understood by musicians in two ways. On the one hand, the form is scheme arrangement of all parts of a musical composition in order. On the other hand, the form is not only a scheme, but also process formation and development in the work of those expressive means by which the artistic image of this work is created. What are these expressive means? Melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, register and so on. The justification for such a dual understanding of the essence of the musical form is the merit of the Russian scientist, academician and composer Boris Asafiev.
Forms of musical works
The smallest structural units of almost any piece of music are motive, phrase and sentence. And now let's try to name the main forms of musical works and give them brief characteristics.
Period- this is one of the simplest forms, which is a presentation of a complete musical thought. It is common in both instrumental and vocal music.
The norm of duration for a period is two musical sentences that take 8 or 16 measures (square periods), in practice there are periods, both longer and shorter. The period has several varieties, among which a special place is occupied by the so-called "deployment type period" and "difficult period".
Simple two and three part forms - these are forms in which the first part, as a rule, is written in the form of a period, and the rest do not outgrow it (that is, for them the norm is either a period or a sentence).
The middle (middle part) of a three-part form can be contrasting with the extreme parts (showing a contrasting image is already a very serious artistic technique), or it can develop, develop what was said in the first part. In the third part of the three-part form, it is possible to repeat the musical material of the first part - this form is called a recapitulation (a reprise is a repetition).
Couplet and refrain-chorus forms - these are forms that are directly related to vocal music and their structure is often associated with the features of poetry.
The couplet form is based on the repetition of the same music (for example, a period), but each time with a new text. There are two elements in the chorus-chorus form: the first is the chorus (both the melody and the text can change into it), the second is the chorus (as a rule, both the melody and the text are preserved in it).
Complex two-part and complex three-part forms - these are forms that are composed of two or three simple forms (for example - simple 3-part + period + simple 3-part). Complex two-part forms are more common in vocal music (for example, some opera arias are written in such forms), while complex three-part forms, on the contrary, are more characteristic of instrumental music (this is a favorite form for the minuet and other dances).
A complex three-part form, like a simple one, can contain a reprise, and in the middle part - new material (most often this happens), and the middle part in this form is of two types: "kind of trio"(if it is some slender simple form) or "episode type"(if in the middle part there are free constructions that are not subject to either periodic or any of the simple forms).
Variation form - this is a form built on the repetition of the original theme with its transformation, and these repetitions must be at least two in order for the resulting form of a musical work to be attributed to variation. The variational form is found in many instrumental compositions, and no less often in the compositions of modern authors.
Variations are different. For example, there is such a type of variation as variations on an ostinato (that is, unchanging, held) theme in a melody or bass (the so-called soprano-ostinato and basso-ostinato). There are variations figurative, in which, with each new performance, the theme is colored with various decorations and progressively fragmented, showing its hidden sides.
There is another type of variation - characteristic variations in which each new theme takes place in a new genre. Sometimes these transitions to new genres greatly transform the theme - just imagine, the theme can sound in the same work as a funeral march, and as a lyrical nocturne, and as an enthusiastic anthem. By the way, you can read something about genres in the article.
As a musical example of variations, we invite you to get acquainted with a very famous work of the great Beethoven.
L. van Beethoven, 32 variations in C minor
Rondo- Another widespread form of musical compositions. You probably know that translated into Russian from French, the word "rondo" means "circle". This is no coincidence. Once given a rondo was a group round dance, in which the general fun alternated with the dances of individual soloists - at such moments they went out into the middle of the circle and showed their skills.
So, according to the musical part, the rondo is made up of parts that are constantly repeated (general - they are called refrains) and individualized episodes that sound between refrains. In order for the rondo form to take place, the refrain must be held at least three times.
sonata form Well, we got to you! The sonata form or, as it is sometimes called, the sonata allegro form is one of the most perfect and complex forms of musical compositions.
The sonata form is based on two main themes - one of them is called "main"(the one that sounds first), the second - "side". These names mean that one of the themes takes place in the main key, and the second - in a secondary one (dominant, for example, or parallel). Together, these themes go through various tests in development, and then in the reprise, usually both of them sound in the same key.
Sonata form has three main sections:
- exposition (presentation of the first, second and other topics to the public);
- development (the stage at which intensive development takes place);
- reprise (here the themes carried out in the exposition are repeated, and at the same time their convergence occurs).
The composers liked the sonata form so much that on its basis they created a number of other forms that differ from the main model in various parameters. For example, one can name such varieties of sonata form as rondo sonata(mixing sonata form with rondo), sonata without development, sonata with episode instead of development(remember what they said about an episode in a three-part complex form? Here, any form can become an episode - often these are variations), concert form(with double exposure - for the soloist and for the orchestra, with the soloist's virtuoso cadenza at the end of the development before the start of the reprise), sonatina(little sonata) symphonic poem(huge canvas).
Fugue is a form, once the queen of all forms. At one time, the fugue was considered the most perfect musical form, and until now, musicians have a special attitude towards fugues.
The fugue is built on one theme, which is then repeated many times in turn in an unchanged form in different voices (for different instruments). The fugue begins, as a rule, in one voice and immediately with the introduction of the theme. Immediately this topic is answered by another voice, and what sounds during this answer at the first instrument is called the counterposition.
While the theme is walking through different voices, the expositional section of the fugue continues, but as soon as the theme has passed in each voice, development begins, in which the theme may not be fully carried out, compressed and, conversely, expanded. Yes, what only happens in the development ... At the end of the fugue, the main key is restored - this section is called the fugue reprise.
You can already stop at this. Almost all the main forms of musical works have been named by us. It should be borne in mind that more complex forms may contain several simple ones - learn to detect them. And also often both simple and complex forms are combined into various cycles- for example, they form together suite or sonata-symphonic cycle.
Variations - a form consisting of a theme and a number of its modified repetitions.
Song and dance origins of the thematic form of variations. The expressive and semantic meaning of the theme of variations and the principle of its structure.
Variation and cyclicity are the basic principles of the structure of the form of variations.
Classification of variational forms: strict variations, free variations. Strict and free variations as historically formed types of forms.
Types of strict variations: variations on basso ostinato, ornamental variations, variations on an unchanging melody (Glinka type). The nature of thematism, methods of development in each of the types of variations. Ladoharmonic features of variational cycles.
Free variations as a manifestation of regularities in the music of the second half of the nineteenth century. Brightness, picturesque thematics; the presence of contrast between variations; the use of certain genre features in each variation (in the style of a march, scherzo, aria, etc.), freedom of tonal relations between variations; changing the topic structure.
Techniques for combining variational cycles: the principle of rhythmic fragmentation, ladotonal patterns; methods of theme development, genre features. The formation of two private, three private, rondo-shaped signs of forms based on the combination of variations into groups.
Couplet-variation form. Its features and application in folk music and in the domestic mass song.
characteristic variations. Their features and application.
A dispersed variational cycle is a “large variational form”. The combination of variations located at a sufficient distance from each other, within a part, opera act, or within the entire work.
Variations on two themes. The nature of both topics and the principles of their relationship. Possible arrangements of themes in variations: their alternation, grouping.
Manifestation of the ostinato principle of variations in improvisational forms of pop music.
Variation forms in the music of domestic composers.
Possible interpretations of variational forms.
Literature:
1.
2.
3.
Topic 8. Cyclic forms. Suite cycles, sonata-symphony cycles, piano miniature cycles, vocal cycles.
Cyclic forms are many-part works united by a common idea.
Signs of cyclic forms and general composition: dismemberment, the principle of contrast, the principle of reprise, the creation of unity.
Two main types of cyclic forms: suite, sonata-symphony. Historical types of suite forms of suite forms: ancient suite, classical suite, suite of the 19th - 20th centuries. Genre origins of the thematics of the old suite, the principles of formation, the ratio of parts in the form. The influence of the sonata-symphonic cycle on the development of the classical suite. Suite XIX - XX centuries. – a combination of diverse pieces based on ballet,
opera music. The main factor in combining the cycle is programming.
Classical four-part sonata-symphonic cycle. The nature of thematism, figurative content; function, structure, tonal patterns of each part.
Techniques for combining the cycle - thematic, structural, tonal, tempo and timbre.
Other types of sonata-symphony cycle: two-part, three-part, five-part, six-part, seven-part. Preservation of the features of four partial cycles in multi-part works based on the combination of two slow or two fast parts of the cycle.
polyphonic cycles. Principles of combining prelude and fugue.
Cycles of piano miniatures. Programming elements are the most important factor in their unification.
Features of vocal cycles. The plot orientation is an additional factor for creating the unity of the cycle.
Contrasting-composite forms as special types of cyclic forms; their features and applications.
Cyclic forms in the music of Soviet composers. Features of execution of cyclic forms.
Literature:
1. Bonfeld M.Sh. Analysis of musical works: structures of tonal music: Proc. Benefit: in 2 parts Part 2 / M.Sh. Bonfeld - M.: Vlados, 2003.
2. Royterstein M.I. Fundamentals of musical analysis: Proc. for ped. universities / M.I. Reuterstein. – M.: Vlados, 2001.
3. Sposobin I.V. Musical form: Proc. total course of analysis / I.V. Sposobin - M.: Music, 2002
To date, there are many definitions of the concept of variational form. Various authors offer their own options:
Variation form, or variations, theme with variations, variation cycle, _ a musical form consisting of a theme and its several (at least two) modified reproductions (variations). This is one of the oldest musical forms (known since the 13th century).
Variation is a form based on modified repetitions of a theme (also two or more themes).
A variational form or a variational cycle is a form consisting of an initial presentation of a theme and a number of its modified repetitions (called variations).
The variational form, in addition, bears the names “variations”, “variation cycle”, “theme with variations”, “aria with variations”, partita (another meaning of the partita is a suite of dances), etc. The variations themselves had many historical names: Variatio, Veranderungen (“changes”), double, versus (“verse”), glosa, floretti (literally “flowers”), lesargements (“decorations”), evolutio, parte (“part”), etc. Variations were also composed by the greatest composers, and concert virtuoso performers, their musical content ranges from unpretentious variation of the simplest theme (such as variations in D-dur for Beethoven's mandolin) to the heights of intellectual complexity in music (arietta from Beethoven's 32 sonatas).
It is necessary to distinguish between variational form and variation as a principle. The latter has an unlimited range of applications (a motive, a phrase, a sentence in a period, etc., can vary, up to a varied reprise in sonata form). However, a single application of the principle of variation does not create a form based on it. A variational form arises only with the systematic application of this principle, so at least two variations are necessary to create it.
The variation theme can be original (written by the composer himself) or borrowed. Variations can be filled with completely different content: from very simple to deep and philosophical. In terms of genres, the themes of variations were chorales, traditional basses, passacaglia and chaconnes, sarabande, minuet, gavotte, siciliana, aria in two meanings of this word (singing melody, as if for wind instruments, from the French “air” _ “air”, and aria from the opera), folk songs from different countries, themes for variations by other authors, and many others. etc. .
Variations are usually classified according to four parameters:
according to whether the process of variation affects the theme or only the accompanying voices distinguish: direct variations, indirect variations;
according to the degree of change: strict (the tonality, harmonic plan and form of the theme are preserved in variations), free (a wide range of changes, including harmony, form, genre appearance, etc.; connections with the theme are sometimes conditional: each variation can reach independence as a play with individual content);
according to which method of variation prevails: polyphonic, harmonic, textural, timbre, figurative, genre-specific;
by the number of themes in variations: single-dark, double (two-dark), triple (three-dark).
V.N. Kholopova in her book “Forms of Musical Works” presented the following classification option:
Variations on basso ostinato (or sustained bass, "polyphonic variations").
Figurative variations (ornamental, "classic").
Variations on a sustained melody (or on soprano ostinato, the so-called "Glinka variations").
Variations are characteristic and free.
Variant form.
In addition, double and multi-theme variations are distinguished, in which all the above types of variation occur, and variations with a theme at the end. This does not lose sight of the fact that there may be mixed kinds of variations.
Nevertheless, in the process of historical development, the prevailing types of variations with more or less stable combinations of the named signs were fixed. The main types of variations have become stronger: variations on a sustained melody, variations on basso ostinato, figurative variations and genre-characteristic variations.
These types existed in parallel (at least since the 17th century), but in different eras some of them were more in demand. Thus, composers of the Baroque era more often turned to variations on basso ostinato, Viennese classics _ to figurative ones, romantic composers _ to genre-specific ones. In the music of the 20th century, all these types are combined, new ones appear, when a single chord, interval, and even a single sound can act as a theme.
In addition, there are several specific types of variations that are less common: these are the variational cantata of the Baroque era and the variations with a theme at the end (which appeared at the end of the 19th century). The couplet-variation and couplet-variant forms have a certain relationship with the variational form. The choral arrangement of the 18th century is also close to the variations.
It is important to note that many works use different types of variation. For example, the initial group of variations can be variations on a sustained melody, then a chain of figurative variations.
Any variational cycle is an open form (that is, new variations can, in principle, be added indefinitely). Therefore, the composer is faced with the task of creating a second-order form. It can be a "wave" with a rise and climax, or any typical form: most often it is a three-part form or rondo. Three-partness arises as a result of the introduction of a contrasting variation (or group of variations) in the middle of the form. Rondoformation occurs due to the repeated return of the contrast material.
Often variations are combined into groups, creating local buildups and local climaxes. This is achieved due to a single texture or due to a rhythmic increase (diminution). For the sake of giving relief to the form and in order to somehow break up the continuous flow of similar variations, already in the classical era, in extended cycles, one or more variations were carried out in a different mode. In the variations of the 19th century, this phenomenon intensified. Now, individual variations can be performed in other keys (for example, R. Schumann's Symphonic Etudes _ with the original cis-moll, there are variations in E-dur and gis-moll, the final variation is _ Des-dur).
Various endings of the variational cycle are possible. The end can be similar to the beginning or, conversely, the most contrasting. In the first case, at the end of the work, a theme is carried out in a close to the original version (for example, S. Prokofiev. Piano Concerto No. 3, 2nd part). In the second _, the ending represents the maximum progress in a given direction (for example, the smallest in the entire cycle of duration). For the sake of the contrast of the final variation, the meter and genre can change (a frequent occurrence in Mozart). As the greatest contrast to the homophonic theme at the end of the cycle, a fugue can sound (in the classical and post-classical era).
The variational method of development finds wide and highly artistic application among the Russian classics and is associated with variation, as one of the characteristic features of Russian folk art. In the compositional structure, a theme with variations is a way of developing, enriching and revealing the original image ever deeper.
In its meaning and expressive possibilities, the form of variations is designed to show the main theme in a versatile and diverse way. This topic is usually simple and at the same time contains opportunities for enrichment and disclosure of its full content. Also, the transformation of the main theme from variation to variation should go along the line of gradual growth, leading to the final result.
In the 19th century, along with many examples of the variational form, which clearly reflect the continuity of the main methods of variation, a new type of this form appears, the so-called free variations.
Variations that deviate from the theme in terms of form (structure), usually _ and tonality, are called free. The name "free" is applied mainly to the variations of the 19th, then the 20th centuries, when structural changes become the principle of organization of variational forms. Separate free variations are found in the Viennese classics in a series of strict variations.
In the future, the direction outlined in these variations received significant development. Its main features:
- 1) The theme or its elements are changed in such a way that each variation is given an individual, very independent character. This approach to the treatment of the theme can be defined as more subjective than that which was manifested by the classics. Programmatic meaning begins to be given to variations.
- 2) Due to the independence of the nature of the variations, the whole cycle turns into something similar to a suite. Sometimes there are links between variations.
- 3) The possibility of changing keys within a cycle, outlined by Beethoven, turned out to be very appropriate for emphasizing the independence of variations through a difference in tonal color.
- 4) Variations of the cycle, in a number of respects, are built quite independently of the structure of the theme:
- a) tonal relationships within the variation change;
- b) new harmonies are introduced, often completely changing the color of the theme;
- c) the theme is given a different form;
- d) variations are so far removed from the melodic-rhythmic pattern of the theme that they are pieces that are only built on its individual motifs, developed in a completely different way.
All these features, of course, are manifested in different ways in various works of the 19th-20th centuries.
Free variations _ is a type of variation bound by variation method. Such variations are characteristic of the postclassical era. The appearance of the theme then was extremely changeable, and if you look from the middle of the work to its beginning, you might not recognize the main theme. Such variations represent a whole series of contrasting in genre and meaning variations close to the main theme. Here the difference prevails over the similarity.
Although the variation formula remains A, Al, A2, A3, etc., the main theme no longer bears the original image. The tonality and form of the theme can vary, it can reach the methods of polyphonic presentation. The composer can even isolate some fragment of the theme and vary only it.
The principles of variation can be: rhythmic, harmonic, dynamic, timbre, texture, stroke, melodic, etc. Based on this, many variations can stand apart and resemble more a suite than variations. The number of variations in this form is not limited (as, for example, in classical variations, where 3-4 variations _ this is like an exposition, two middle ones _ development, the last 3-4 _ this is a powerful statement of the main theme, i.e. thematic frame) .
Variations of folk melodies are usually free variations. An example of free variations, of which some retain a significant proximity to the theme, and some, on the contrary, move away from it, can be the work “Prophetic Dream”, the processing of which was written by Vyacheslav Anatolyevich Semyonov.
Thus, the centuries-old musical practice of peoples of different nationalities served as the source of the variational form. Here we find examples of both harmonic and polyphonic styles, enumerate historical types of variation and types of variation. The variational principle of development originates in folk musical creativity, primarily song. Variation forms have received a very wide and varied application in music. They occur both as a form of a separate work, and as part of a cycle (suites, sonatas, symphonies), and as a form of a section of some complex form (for example, the middle part of a complex three-part form). In vocal music - as a form of songs, arias, choirs. The form of variations is very common in instrumental genres - solo and orchestral (a variety - orchestral variations).