Chaconne in G major (with 21 Variations) HWV 435 (before 1720)

The second of the three sets of variations in today’s programme is in a form quite different from that adopted by Beethoven and Brahms. The basis of chaconne variations as practised by Handel and his contemporaries – Bach’s “Goldberg” set is the supreme example – is not so much melody as harmony, the constant factor being the bass line rather than the melodic line of the theme presented at the outset. In Handel’s Chaconne in G, although it is the elaborately decorative right-hand part that commands attention as the theme is presented in the opening bars, it is the harmonies in the left hand that will be echoed in each of the following 21 variations – all of them, like the theme itself, in triple time and eight bars in length,.

If that seems a rigidly restrictive way to organise a piece of music, it does in fact offer ample scope to a resourceful composer’s imagination while ensuring a clearly defined shape to the work as a whole. The right hand can add a rhythmic figuration to the harmonies in the left hand as in variation No.1 or, conversely, it can take over the harmonies while the left hand occupies itself with the new figuration as in No.2. There is a similar division and exchange of responsibilities in the next three, ever busier pairs of variations (Nos.3 to 8). The most significant departure comes with No.9, where a change of key to G minor is accompanied by a change of tempo to Adagio and where Handel taskes the opportunity to insert two or three more expressive episodes. The tempo accelerates but the G minor tonality is retained until No.17 in G major, which marks the beginning of a closing section increasing in brilliance with each variation until the dramatically conclusive No.21.