Introduction

Note: This blog is the work of an amateur who simply aims to make something useful to other amateurs. 

Brahms at 20, the age he met the Schumanns
and wrote Variations on a Theme by Schumann

Clara and Robert Schumann, at the approximate age they met Brahms

In 1852, two years before his final mental collapse, Schumann collected a number of his miniatures for solo piano, composed between 1836 and 1851, and published them under the title Bunte Blätter (Coloured Leaves), Op. 99. Several had been written for earlier publication, one (the sixth), for example, originally intended as an addition to Carnaval. The first was given to his future wife, Clara, as a Christmas gift in 1838.


Bunte Blätter consisted of two groups, Drei Stücklein (Three Small Pieces) and five pieces entitled Albumblätter (Album-leaves). The first of the Albumblätter was a favourite of his wife, Clara. The poignant theme included a sequence of notes spelling out Clara's name (C-B-A-G#-A). Schumann had used it before, for example, in the C Minor Piano Quartet and the Fourth Symphony in D minor, so often that it has been called 'Clara's Theme'.

"Clara" theme from Schumann's Bunte Blätter, Op. 99

The "Clara" theme

Clara Wieck, age 17

Clara, 1840, as a bride

In May and June of 1853 Clara wrote a set of variations on the theme (her Op. 20), dedicating it to Robert and presenting the autograph to him as a gift on his forty-third birthday, the last birthday he would spend with his family. Her inscription read, "To my beloved husband on June 8, 1853; this renewed feeble attempt from his old Clara." She composed very little after this.

Robert Schumann, 1850

Schumann's growing mental disturbances climaxed on February 27, 1854 when he attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine River. Fearing that he would harm his family, he insisted that he be sent away. On March 4 he was committed to an asylum in Endenich, near Bonn, not far from the family home in Düsseldorf. He died in the asylum two years later on July 29, 1856.

Although Brahms, aged twenty, had met the Schumanns only a few months earlier, on Sept. 30, 1853, Robert, Clara, and Johannes had quickly become devoted to each other. Upon receiving the news of Schumann's illness, Brahms returned to the Schumann household in Düsseldorf to comfort the distraught Clara, who was pregnant with her seventh child, to help with the children, to take charge of the family finances, and generally to fill the shoes of Robert. He remained in Düsseldorf for two years, supporting himself by giving a few piano lessons but mostly by borrowing money from friends. After Robert's death, Clara wrote the following about Brahms to her children:

Like a true friend, he came to share all my grief; he strengthened the heart that threatened to break, he uplifted my spirit; brightened my soul in any way he could. He was, in short, my friend in the fullest sense of the word.

 In May Clara played her variations on Robert's theme for Brahms. Brahms immediately set about writing his own set of variations on the theme, showing each variation to Clara as soon as it was completed. Of the sixteen variations in the final set, fourteen were written in May and June of that year (1854). On June 15 he sent her a completed manuscript headed 'Short Variations on a Theme by Him, Dedicated to Her'. Clara later wrote,

“He tried to bring solace to my heart. He composed variations on the beautiful, intimate theme which made such a deep impression upon me a year ago when I composed variations for my beloved Robert, and touched me deeply by his tender thoughtfulness.” 

In July Brahms sent his variations to his friend, Josef Joachim, who replied positively: "I recognize the richness of feeling and spirit . . .  each variation is a small temple to the spirit." In August Brahms wrote Joachim telling him that he had added two more variations (nos. 10 and 11), adding that in one of them "Clara speaks!" In September Clara made arrangements for Breitkopf & Härtel to publish her variations.  On September 24 Brahms offered his set to Breitkopf & Härtel and, when it was accepted for publication, wrote back, with the proofs of Clara's variations, requesting that his be published together with Clara's, which was done in November. Brahms now subtitled his work ‘Little variations on a theme of His dedicated to Her’. Clara sent a copy of each set to Schumann in the asylum. To Brahms she gave a copy of hers inscribed 'For the creator of the finest variations, these little ones' (see below). When he asked for her manuscript, she inscribed it 'For the esteemed Johannes Brahms, on friendly request'.

Robert drafted the following letter to Brahms:

My Dearest Friend,
What very great pleasure you have given me with your Variations! My Clara has already written to tell me how delighted she was with them. That you have studied counterpoint deeply is apparent in all the Variations. How tender, how original in its masterly expression, how ingenious every one of them! How I should like to hear you or Clara play them! And then, the wonderful variety! The third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth with its retrogression in the second part. The following Andante, how tender: the eighth with its beautiful second part. Then the ninth, how beautiful in form; the tenth, how full of art, how tender; how individual and delicate the eleventh, and how ingeniously the twelfth joins it! Then the thirteenth, with its sweet metaphysical tones, and next the Andante, with its witty and artistic canon in seconds, and the fifteenth in C flat major, the sixteenth beautifully and blessedly ending in F sharp major. How sincerely my Clara and I have to thank you for your dedication! I thank you also most heartily for giving so much of your previous time to my Clara. Write to me; I should be delighted.

Your admiring friend,

Robert

However, he did not send it.[1] Instead he sent the following on November 27, 1854 :

“If only I could come to you myself and see you again and hear your magnificent Variations, or my dear Clara’s, about the wonderful performance of which Joachim has written to me! How splendidly the whole is rounded off, and how one recognizes you in the richest brilliance of your imagination and again in your profound artistry in a way that I had not yet learnt to know you – the theme surging up here and there, now so secret, anon so passionate and profound.”

In Brahms’ manuscript, variations are signed with either a "B" or a "Kr," standing for Brahms or Johannes Kreisler, the fictional character created by the Romantic writer, E. T. A. Hofmann. Brahms is echoing the practice of Schumann, who created two alter egos for himself, "Florestan," representing the passionate, outgoing side of his nature and "Eusebius," the withdrawn, reflective side. The "B" variations are cooler, scholarly, reflective, while the "Kr" variations are more passionate, impulsive, lyrical.

According to Charles Rosen, in each variation it is possible to find an echo of some work of Schumann, as if Brahms is paying homage to Schumann's life work rather than just writing variations on one of his themes. The musical quotations, the counterpoint, the sudden juxtapositions, the modulation away from the key of the theme — something Brahms avoided in his later variation sets — all recall characteristic features of Schumann.

Julius Otto Grimm, a close friend of Brahms, dubbed the Schumann Variations "Trost-Einsamkeit" (Consoling Loneliness).

Julian Littlewood in his study, The Variations of Johannes Brahms, describes the work as "one of the most unguarded, personal statements he [Brahms] ever made."[2]


Note: The score for Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9 is available free from the International Music Score Library Project at
http://imslp.org/wiki/Variations_on_a_Theme_by_Robert_Schumann,_Op.9_(Brahms,_Johannes)

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1. Karl Geiringer, Brahms: His Life and Work, 1984, p. 211-12.
2. Julian Littlewood, The Variations of Johannes Brahms,  Plumbago Books, 2004, p. 253.

First Edition, Brahms, Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 9

Brahms's copy of Clara Schumann's Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 20.

 Inscribed by Clara, "Dem schöpfer der herrlichsten Variationen Johannes Brahms, 

diese kleinen" (To Johannes Brahms, the creator of the finest variations, these little ones) 

The Theme by Schumann

Theme
Ziemlich langsam (Rather slowly)
F-sharp minor
2/4 time

The theme for Brahms's set of sixteen variations. In Schumann's original, 

from his Bunte Blätter, Op. 99, the final sixteen bars are repeated.

The theme clearly divides into three parts:
bars 1-8
       9-16
       17-24.

Part 1 features a four-bar, plaintive melody which spells Clara's name (C-B-A-G#-A). This "Clara's theme," the predominant melody of the entire set, is repeated, this time with the harmony shifting and ending in the related major key, A.

Theme, part 1, bars 1-8

The "Clara" theme, with B representing L and G# representing R

Part 2 is in C-sharp minor. It consists of a two-bar pattern, a cry, appearing three times in rising intensity, each time more urgent. Julian Littlewood, in his careful study of Op. in The Variations of Johannes Brahms (Ch. 9)  aptly names this section "the cry."

Part 2 ends descending and diminuendo, as did Part 1.

Theme, Part 2, bars 9-16

Part 3 returns to the Clara theme, first presenting it, slightly altered in the first two bars, in A major. The following two bars repeat the ending of Part 1. The closing four bars almost repeat the ending of the first statement of the Clara Theme (bars 3-4) but with a stronger sense of closure given by an F-sharp-minor cadence.

Theme, Part 3, bars 17-24

Schumann repeats Part 2-3. Brahms, however, takes the theme with no repeat.

A quarter-note rest separates the theme from the Variation 1.

Schumann had used "Clara's theme" several times before Bunte Blätter, Op. 99, for example, in the B major Trio, Op. 8 and in the C Minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60. It was also featured in the first movement of his Fourth Symphony in D minor, Op. 120, which, before he revised it, Schumann called his "Clara symphony"[1].Brahms kept the autograph of Schumann's Clara symphony as a treasured possession. Like Schumann, Brahms, too, used the Clara theme several times, not only in this set of variations but also in the Finale of his First Symphony (in the 'Alphorn' theme), in the Piano Quartet in C minor, and in the Intermezzo of the G minor Piano Quartet [2].

Clara's theme appears throughout this variation set, in the treble, the bass, and in canon.

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1. See Eric Sams, "Brahms and His Clara Themes," Musical Times 112 (1971), 432-4. From Schumann's diary: "Meine nächste Symphonie soll Clara heissen" (Eric Sams, "Codes and Cyphers in Music," Radio script, 1880, http://ericsams.org/index.php/on-cryptography/329-code-and-cypher-in-music

2. Michael Musgrave, The Music of Brahms, 1985, pp. 139-41.

Variation 1

Variation 1 continues the melancholy mood, the slow tempo, and the rising dotted-note rhythm of the Schumann piece. The Clara theme now appears as the bass line.

Variation 1 - Clara theme as bass line

With its dotted-note rhythm and its rising, cry-like character, the treble recalls the middle section of the original theme The two-bar cry is stated once, re-stated higher and more urgently, the third time falling away, finally a fourth time ending quietly. As in the original theme, the section ends with a shift to A major.

The middle section, marked forte, continues the dotted-note rhythm, this time in descending sequences, but each of the three repetitions begins higher and has fuller chords, creating a rising intensity until the third, which is emphasized with a rolled, six-note chord. The section ends with a descent, diminuendo, alternating the hands, the left leading the way while the right follows in staccato.

Variation 1, middle section (bars 9-17)

The third section begins with the right hand returning to repeat the first two bars of the variation, although the bass no longer plays the Clara theme, replaced now with repeated repeated low C-sharps and ended by echoing the dotted-note figure of the treble.

Variation 1, opening of section 3 (bars 17-18)

In the closing six bars, the dotted-note figure appears in the treble, the tenor, and the bass. Again the intensity rises over the first four bars of the section and falls over the final four. While section 3 begins in C-sharp minor, it moves to A major, then to D major before returning to C-sharp minor.

Variation 1, close of section 3 (bars 19-24)

Variation 2

Poco più moto (a little more motion)
9/8 time

Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9, Variation 2

Variation 1 ended by holding for a half note, thus preparing for the change that is to follow. Variation 2 breaks the melancholy mood and the slow pace set by the theme and first variation. The metre is new, 9/8, and the variation is marked poco più moto (a little more motion). Considerably more motion is created by the structure than poco più moto suggests. The sense of hurry is emphasized in the bass line, which plays the same notes as the bass in the Schumann original, but what takes three bars in the Schumann original is covered here in the first bar alone.

Also, instead of the steady, deliberate movement that has been the pattern up to this point, there is not only an increase in tempo but also a sense of instability created by sharp rhythmic differences between the right and left hands. The right hand is strongly syncopated with chords that are tied across the beat and across bar lines. The syncopation continues to the end, with the exception of a single bar, the climax. In the left hand the triple metre is clearly observed without syncopation in a hurried eighth-note pattern, contrasting with the right hand's longer quarter notes tied to eighth notes. In contrast to the chords of equal length in the right hand the left-hand rhythm is dotted-note. The effect of the contrasting rhythms is a sense that the right hand is not able to keep up with the hurrying left hand.

The first half of the variation (bars 1-6) are simply repeated for the second half, making it the only variation in the set that has a repeat. In Brahms manuscript the repeat is indicated with ad lib. da capo, but he later decided to print it in full, perhaps to make its appearance on the page more in line with the preceding variations.[1]

Some commentators have suggested a close similarity between this variation and Schumann's Impromptus on a Theme of Clara Wieck, Op. 5, perhaps thinking of No. 6:

Schumann, Impromptus on a Theme of Clara Wieck, Op. 5, No. 6

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1. Julian Littlewood, The Variations of Johannes Brahms, Plumbago Books, 2004, p. 262. Part os the book are available on Google Books.

Variation 3

Tempo ti tema (same speed as the theme)
2/4 time

The final notes of Variation 2 are held into the first bar of Variation 3, making a smooth transition, even though Variation 3 is very different from Variation 2. Now, after the hurried pace and unsettling rhythms of Variation 2, there is a return to the slow tempo and plaintive melody of the theme, underscored by the marking Tempo ti tema.

The theme is again in the bass line and played with the left hand, as it was in Variation 1. However, now it is written in the treble clef, on the same notes as in Schumann, but played by the left hand crossing over the right. The left-over-right continues for most of the piece. While the melody is played twice in Part 1 (bars 1-8 above), the right hand plays a rising figure similar to the "cry" of Variation one, altered somewhat by triplets. The triplet cry is repeated four times, below the melody, then above it, then below it, finally high above it, emphasized with thicker chords, the last of which is rolled.

Most of the rest of the variation continues the pattern of the triplet figure followed by a slowing down and descent in the following bar.

Variation 4

Poco più  moto
2/4 time

A seamless transition is achieved by ending Variation 3 with the single note C# and beginning Variation 4 with another single note C#.

The pace is faster now with the marking poco più moto and the energy of pairs of repeated sixteenth notes, alternating between the two hands, marking a quick beat. Above this ceaseless pulsing is a gentle melody in a long phrase of four bars.

The central section breaks the phrase into shorter versions lasting only two bars, increasing in intensity for three versions, thenfalling away for the fourth with a diminuendo and sostenuto.


One of Brahms's late works, the Intermezzo, Op. 119, No. 2 in E minor, is similar to this variation.

Variation 5

Allegro capriccioso
2/4 time

Loud, fast, and dramatic, Variation 5 is a great contrast to Variation 4. However, it is linked to Variation 4's rhythmic accompaniment, which consisted of pairs of chords alternating between the right and left hands; they are now transformed into the predominant feature of Variation 5, no longer in an accompanying role, altered from thirds to octaves, and brought front and centre.

Variation 5 opens with a one-bar blast of rapid, forte, descending octaves, the hands alternating, in hammering pairs of staccato sixteenth notes. They give way immediately to two capricious bars, piano but at the same breathless pace, of a rising figure in the right hand, alternating with the left hand which plays the same two-note rhythm but descending. Then the forte octaves waken the dead again, this time climbing from the bass. They pause, and there is another capricious passage, this time in a higher register, four bars in length, ,still at the breakneck pace, ending quietly and sostenuto. The hammering octaves begin again, softly at first, thickening into three-note chords, extending into a full ten bars, becoming louder and louder to a fortissimo and reaching a climax in three-note chords in both hands marked sff.

The final twelve bar section, a coda, begins quietly, although with the same hammering figure, now with three- and four-note chords in the right hand. They descend two octaves, then turn around and begin an ascent. A crescendo takes them to the final climax marked fortissimo.

This variation  has taken liberties with the structure of the Schumann original, the first part being extended from eight to eleven bars, the second part to twelve bars, and the third part, after eight bars, extended with a twelve-bar coda.

Variation 6

Allegro 
6/8 time

In Variation 6 the clamour and  excitement begun by Variation 5 becomes a swirling rush of arpeggios. The 6/8 time set up a fast pace which is emphasized by triplets for each beat, resulting in eighteen notes per bar.

In the opening section descending arpeggios in the right hand are punctuated by pairs of low bass staccato notes, each pair hopping upward. The top treble note of each triple spells out a melody.

The middle section steadily builds toward a climax, the left hand now joining the right in counterbalancing triplets, the right hand in falling triplets, the left in rising. The melody moves upward to the climax, marked fortissimo, for which the bass holds a dotted-half-note octave at G.

The final section begins with a repeat of the opening two bars, again the bass punctuating the arpeggios with staccato pairs. For three bars the arpeggios move upward into new harmonies, then for three bars they fall into a quiet murmuring around F and G. The final three bars build to another climax, which ends with the arpeggios descending again.

The extreme excitement of Variations 5 and 6 demand respite and seem to bring to a close one part of the overall structure of the work.

Variation 7

Andante
4/4 and 3/4 time

Variation begins a subdued phase of the set which extends to the very end, with only one exception, Variation 12.

After the rush and intensity of Variations 5 and 6, Variation 7 is slow, restful, almost motionless. Chords alternating between treble and bass are held and extend across bar lines, thereby cloaking any rhythmic drive. The interest is in small changes in harmony between the chords and at the end of each chord as one or two of its notes fall, sometimes only a semitone. The last section changes from 4/4 to 3/4 time, but the effect is not at all disruptive, merely creating a slight increase in motion. The final bar is again notated 4/4, allowing the last chord to be held one beat longer. There is a pause on the last note.

Variation 8

Andante (non troppo lento)
2/4 time

On the surface Variation 10 simply appears to re-state the Clara theme as the top notes of rolled chords in the right hand while the left hand accompanies with soft tremolos in the bass. But it is more than that. It is a canon, a rather complex one, a strict canon in the octave with the left hand following the right hand both one and two octaves below and two bars behind. The imitative voice is partially hidden within the tremolos, creating "a classic example of Romantic pianism in the service of Bachian counterpoint."[1] The closing is extended by two bars so that the left hand can complete its imitation.

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1. Liner notes, David Korevaar, Brahms Variations, Ivory Classics 

Variation 9

Hushedm rippling arpeggios in triplets run up and down almost two octaves per bar, while deep in the bass staccato notes in pairs punctuate only the second and third beat of each bar. The opening four bars are repeated. The next four bars continue the pattern of arpeggios, but in each bar they reach higher, then fall a half-step. Two bars mark diminuendo and ritardando give a brief sense of rest. The closing section begins by repeating the opening two bars of the variation, continue the pattern for two more bars, then finish with triplets in both hands, treble and bass moving in opposite directions, marked pianissimo and poco a poco rit. The final bar slows, ending on an incomplete cadence in B minor.

Variation 9 is the first of the set that is not in the key of F-sharp minor, and it is the first of a series: Variation 9 is in B minor, Variation 10 is in D major, and Variation 11 is in G major.

Variation 9 is a close imitation of the piece that follows the theme Brahms took from Schumann's Bünte Blätter, Op. 99 (see below), using the same key.

Schumann's Bünte Blätter, Op. 99, No. 4 in B minor

Variation 10

Poco adagio
2/4 time

After finishing fourteen variation during May and June of 1854, Brahms left the Schumann household in Dusseldorf. There is no doubt that he had fallen in love with Clara. In a letter to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, he wrote,

Often I have to force myself to restraint from putting my arm gently around Clara. It seems so natural for me to do this and I do not think she would think badly of me if I did. I don't think I could now love a young girl. In fact I have forgotten about them. They may promise heaven but Clara reveals it to me.

We can speculate that Brahms returned to writing variations out of lovesickness. He added two more variations, nos. 10 and 11, both very romantic. At the top of the manuscript he wrote, "Fragrance of Rose and Heliotrope" (although the words never appeared in the published version).

This remarkable, complicated piece was "written in a day."[1]

Variation 10 has a beautiful melody which might seem unrelated to the theme, but in fact it is the bass line of Schumann's theme. Brahms creates another canon, the most elaborate canon of the entire set, with the bass playing the mirror image (inversion) of the theme; that is, each interval downward in the treble is mirrored by an equal interval upward in the bass, and so on. At the same time, the original melody now appears in the inner voices but at a faster pace than the original (diminution). 

The opening canon in inversion

The theme in diminution

Then the opening canon is repeated but with the bass one bar behind the treble.[2] 

In his letter to Joachim, when Brahms says that in his new variations, "Clara speaks!" he is referring to the fourth from last bar where, in an inner voice, he has used a theme that Clara herself wrote. She used it first in her Romance variee, Op. 3, "Romanza" and later in the coda of her Op. 20 variations. Robert later wrote a set of Impromptus on this theme, so Brahms is paying tribute to both Robert and Clara.

Clara Wieck, Romance variee, Op. 3, "Romanza". 

Clara re-used this theme in the coda of her Op. 20 variations. 

Robert Schumann used this as his theme in his Impromptus, Op. 5

Brahms's insertion of the theme in Variation 10

 Jan Swafford sums up the marvel of technique the twenty-year-old Brahms has created as "a contrapuntal tour de force: the theme he extracted from the original bass line works as counterpoint to a diminution of the main Schumann theme, works both in simultaneous mirror to itself and also as a canon in inversion, and can be superimposed on Clara's melody. All of that must be made to work by strenuous thought and patient craft."[3] 

Years later Brahms marked this piece with an N.B., which is understandable because of its high degree of craftsmanship, but also with a question mark, perhaps reflecting second thoughts about its complication.[4] 

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1.  Karl Geiringer, Brahms: His Life and Work, Da Capo, 1984, p. 211.

2. Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms: A Biography, Vintage, 1999, p. 126. This last canon is all too complicated for me to see, but I certainly take Mr. Swafford as an authority.

3. Swafford, p. 126.

3. Geiringer, p. 217.

Variation 11

Un poco piu animato
4/16 time

Variation 11, marked sempre pp and dolciss., is light, quiet, and mysterious. The right hand plays high octaves in sixteenth notes, beginning with repeated Cs, moving down by steps, then up by steps. The bass begins each bar with a low D in an eighth note that is repeated through most of the piece, followed by a two-note chord. The first half ends with three-note chords in the right hand, syncopated, accompanied by quarter-note octaves in the bass. The second half is an exact repeat of the first half, although ending with slightly altered different chords.

Variation 12

Allegretto, poco scherzando 
2/4 time

This jerky, scherzo-like variation with its wildly accelerating close, is the only fast and lively piece after Variation 6. It returns us to the key of F-sharp minor, after Variations 9-11 have taken us away.

In bars 1-4 the top notes in the right hand clearly play the theme, but the rhythm is very unbalanced. Each bar plays sixteenth notes in two groups, but with a rest replacing the third note, possibly an allusion to Schumann's "Fabel" from his Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 (see below). The bass constantly leaps from low to high. 

The middle section rises in three steps toward a climax, but each time is interrupted and pauses, suddenly switching from sixteenth to eighth notes marked sostenuto. The third pause is more pronounced, extended from one bar to two bars, marked with a with a crescendo, each of three thick climactic chords marked sfozando, and a marked pause on the last note. After a return to another quiet version of the opening pattern, there is a rise to yet another climax.

The piece ends with a five-bar coda, increasing in speed and volume. A cross-rhythm is created by emphasizing every third note. In the final two bars the molto crescendo e stringendo acceleration is increased by emphasizing every second note. The final bar, leaping downward for a highly dramatic close, is marked presto.

Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, "Fabel"

Variation 13

Non troppo Presto
2/4 time

Light and delicate, Variation 13 flutters in the higher registers like a butterfly.

The first four bars are repeated. This is the only place in the set where there is a repeat sign.

Variation 13 resembles Schumann's powerful Tocccata, Op. 7 in its figuration, if not in its character.

Variation 14

Andante

3/8 time

Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9, Variation 14

Variation 14 is another canon, as were nos. 8, 10, and 15. The following voice is two bars behind the leading voice and one step higher ("canon in seconds"). Both voices are in the right hand. The left hand accompanies with arpeggios that cover two bars and rise and fall more than two octaves.

Pianist David Korevaar describes Variation 14 as "worthy of Bach’s Goldberg Variations" and "carried out in a way redolent of Schubertian melancholy."[1]

Variation 14 resembles the "Chopin" section of Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9.

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1. David Korevaar, Liner notes, Brahms Variations, Ivory Classics.

Variation 15

Notated in G-flat, Variation 15 returns to the home key of F-sharp minor.

Like the preceding Variation 14, there is a beautiful melody in the right hand with an accompaniment of arpeggios in the left hand that continue throughout. This time the arpeggios only rise, without the rise-and-fall of Variation 14.

In yet another canon the right-hand melody is followed in the left-hand at a distance of one bar and an interval of a sixth ("canon in sixths").

Variation 15 seems to make reference to an Impromptu by Schubert (Op. 90, No. 2), a composer much beloved by Robert Schumann, and it may allude to the opening section of Schumann’s Humoreske.

Variation 16

Adagio
6/4 time

Variation 16 continues without pause from Variation 15. There is nothing climactic about this final variation which is very slow and very simple, consisting mainly of prolonged octaves in the bass in dotted half notes and dotted whole notes. The melody line of Schumann's theme is, surprisingly, not used, replaced by the bass octaves echoing of the lush melody of Variation 10, which in turn originated in the bass line of Schumann's theme. The effect is deeply contemplative, perhaps elegiac.