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