Carmen-Variations
Theme, Variations and Finale on a Theme from Bizet’s “Carmen”
[orch] 1947 durée: 20' 2.2.2.2 – 3.2.3.0 – timp.perc(2) – hp – str
Description
In 1947, during my final semester in Philipp Jarnach’s master class for composition at the Cologne University of Music, the then director Walter Braunfels gave me the diploma assignment of writing a set of variations for orchestra based on a given theme within six weeks. This theme was the “Chorus of Street Boys” at the beginning of Act 1 of Bizet’s “Carmen.” This was how my first “real” orchestral piece came into being, and it has remained my only major variation opus to date, which is now – 36 years after its completion – being launched (to paraphrase Th. Fontane: “What is good and right is never too late!”).
At that time, I composed eleven character variations on the given theme, in which the main theme and its most important motifs are processed, transformed, and combined and confronted with various well-known musical ideas from the opera in the course of the individual parts.
About the individual variations:
A few bars of the overture expose the core motif of the “Chorus of Street Boys” before the main theme is presented with chamber music-like transparency. Variations Nos. 1 and 2 develop the thematic material rhythmically, harmonically, and contrapuntally, with the first climax reached in the march of the third variation with persistent brass accents.
Then, with Variation No. 4, the “transformation” of the main theme begins: it becomes a “gypsy song.” The 5th variation combines the march fanfare with the famous beginning of the ‘Torero’ song (“Auf in den Kampf” [Off to battle]). While variations 6 and 8 are presto movements with fragments of the main theme, variation 7 turns out to be a “habanera”: the march theme is interwoven with Carmen’s fate motif and accompanied in the middle section by an ostinato (quasi-classical) bass figure. Variation No. 9 becomes a rhythmically aggressive “hit,” No. 10 an atmospheric, thoughtful elegy for horn and strings. Finally, the finale begins as a humorous fugato, builds to an artful enlargement of the main theme in the brass, before ending unexpectedly in a short coda with the “original” motif in a whole-tone scale. “original” motif unexpectedly ends in a whole-tone scale. Conclusion: A “predominantly cheerful,” contrasting suite of variations, born out of the joy of meaningfully changing and combining folk themes, “to the delight of connoisseurs and enthusiasts.”
(Jürg Baur)
MM 2304112
hire material
Description
In 1947, during my final semester in Philipp Jarnach’s master class for composition at the Cologne University of Music, the then director Walter Braunfels gave me the diploma assignment of writing a set of variations for orchestra based on a given theme within six weeks. This theme was the “Chorus of Street Boys” at the beginning of Act 1 of Bizet’s “Carmen.” This was how my first “real” orchestral piece came into being, and it has remained my only major variation opus to date, which is now – 36 years after its completion – being launched (to paraphrase Th. Fontane: “What is good and right is never too late!”).
At that time, I composed eleven character variations on the given theme, in which the main theme and its most important motifs are processed, transformed, and combined and confronted with various well-known musical ideas from the opera in the course of the individual parts.
About the individual variations:
A few bars of the overture expose the core motif of the “Chorus of Street Boys” before the main theme is presented with chamber music-like transparency. Variations Nos. 1 and 2 develop the thematic material rhythmically, harmonically, and contrapuntally, with the first climax reached in the march of the third variation with persistent brass accents.
Then, with Variation No. 4, the “transformation” of the main theme begins: it becomes a “gypsy song.” The 5th variation combines the march fanfare with the famous beginning of the ‘Torero’ song (“Auf in den Kampf” [Off to battle]). While variations 6 and 8 are presto movements with fragments of the main theme, variation 7 turns out to be a “habanera”: the march theme is interwoven with Carmen’s fate motif and accompanied in the middle section by an ostinato (quasi-classical) bass figure. Variation No. 9 becomes a rhythmically aggressive “hit,” No. 10 an atmospheric, thoughtful elegy for horn and strings. Finally, the finale begins as a humorous fugato, builds to an artful enlargement of the main theme in the brass, before ending unexpectedly in a short coda with the “original” motif in a whole-tone scale. “original” motif unexpectedly ends in a whole-tone scale. Conclusion: A “predominantly cheerful,” contrasting suite of variations, born out of the joy of meaningfully changing and combining folk themes, “to the delight of connoisseurs and enthusiasts.”
(Jürg Baur)
Première représentation
World premiere: Düsseldorf, May 23, 1983