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.