Variations sérieuses Op.54 (1841)

Mendelssohn scarcely needed to describe his Variations in D minor as “serious.” Contributing to a piano album in aid of the Beethoven momument in Bonn, he no doubt wanted to dissociate his music from the frothy virtuoso stuff that could be expected from some of the other composer-pianists – Czerny, Döhler, Henselt, Kalkbrenner, Moscheles, Taubert and Thalberg – who, along with Chopin and Liszt, had been invited to write pieces from the same album. But it is quite clear from the theme itself, an earnest idea in severe four-part harmonies, that nothing frivolous is about to happen.

The seventeen variations have their virtuoso interest, as in the application of Thalberg’s “three-hand” technique to sustain the melodic line as a middle voice in the thirteenth, and they are not without a sense of humour, at least in rhythmic terms. On the other hand, while Mendelssohn echoes the piano-writing of Schumann and anticipates that of Brahms in places, he seems to draw his basic inspiration from J.S. Bach. The fugal tenth variation, marked by a sudden drop in tempo after the gradual acceleration of the first nine, is an obvious example of that. Another is the Adagio fourteenth variation which presents the theme as a consolatory chorale in D major after the dramatic events that precede it. It is a strictly temporary consolation, however, in a work destined – as a late recall of the theme in its original harmonies over tremolando octaves suggests and as the presto coda confirms – to end in a stormy D minor.

Before 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 the exception of the latter’s double Variations in F minor, they wrote nothing in that form to compare with the best of their sonata movements – still less the best of baroque variations such as Bach’s monumental “Goldberg” structure, which remained unchallenged until Beethoven completed his Diabelli Variations in 1823. For his first dozen sets of piano variations, none of them dignified by an opus number, even Beethoven accepted the limitations of the genre. In 1802, however, with the Fifteen Variations and Fugue Op.35 he deliberately set out to change all that. So began the process by which the classical theme-and-variations form was elevated to such a status that – to take examples from this programme alone – it fulfilled the visionary requirements of the closing movement of Beethoven’s last sonata, inspired the greatest of Mendelssohn’s keyboard works and won Webern over to writing his one score for solo piano.

Mendelssohn scarcely needed to describe his Variations in D minor as “serious.” Contributing to a piano album in aid of the Beethoven momument in Bonn, he no doubt wanted to dissociate his music from the frothy virtuoso stuff that could be expected from some of the other composer-pianists – Czerny, Döhler, Henselt, Kalkbrenner, Moscheles, Taubert and Thalberg – who, along with Chopin and Liszt, had been invited to write pieces from the same album. But it is quite clear from the Mendelssohn’s earnest theme, presented in severe four-part harmonies, that nothing frivolous is about to happen.

Far from being an inconsequential series of entertaining ideas, the 17 variations are carefully structured in groups. The first half of the work is built on a gradual increase in tempo and rhythmic activity from the Andante sostenuto of the theme itself and variation No.1, by way of a strict canon in staccato semiquavers in No.4 and the agitated syncopations of No.5, to the Allegro vivace of Nos.8 and 9. The scurrying triplet semiquavers of No.9 run into the measured (Moderato) fugato of No.10, which is followed by the cantabile melancholy No.11 and the violently percussive No.12. The one concession to a virtuoso fashion of the day is the application of Thalberg’s “three-hand” technique to sustain the melodic line as a middle voice in No.13.

The way the score is set out suggests that up to this point the variations should follow each other with either the shortest of breaks or no break at all. Before No.14, however, Mendelssohn inserts a pause, presumably to highlight the consolatory aspect of the one variation in the major, an enchanting Adagio chorale. From there the tempo increases again through the syncopated chords of No.15 to the dazzling Allegro vivace of Nos.16 and 17, which last then slows down for a brief recall of the original theme over left-hand tremolandos. The haste of the Presto coda is intensified by the impression that one hand is chasing the other until they synchronise in the closing bars.