Variations in F minor (H XVII/6)

Until Beethoven grappled with them, the conventions of classical variation form were more of an inhibition than an inspiration. There are many delightful examples by Mozart and Haydn but, with one exception, they wrote nothing in that form to compare with the best of their sonata movements or the best of baroque variations, such as Bach’s “Goldberg” set. The exception is Haydn’s Variations in F minor, a work which so successfully combines variation form with sonata form that Haydn actually called it a sonata on the manuscript and referred to it elsewhere as “un piccolo divertimento.” It was first published however (in 1799, six years after it was written) as Variations.

One rare quality of the work is that its F minor theme surpasses any ordinary sonata-form first subject both in length and in harmonic interest. Its modulations avoid the dominant and venture as far as G flat major five bars before the end. There is also a second theme for variation - a second subject, so to speak - in the tonic major. The variations, two on each theme, preserve the same bass throughout, while only the melodic figuration varies, becoming gradually more elaborate. As a kind of recapitulation, the first theme is recalled in its original form, but only up to the point where it moves to G flat. Then, instead of returning to the tonic in a mere three bars, Haydn extends the process in a remarkable combined development and coda. It is sustained to a length which exactly balances the “first subject” at the other end of the work.