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"