Page 66 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 3.12
The Opera House in the harbor of Sydney, Australia. Here we see a theme (a rising, pointed arch) that displays a new variation each time it appears in a differ- ent position.
Listening Cue
Statement of theme
Variation 1
Variation 2
Variation 3
Variation 4
reAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online.
LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online.
WATCH . . . an animation of an equally beautiful strophic song by Brahms, online.
Theme and Variations
The working of theme and variations form is obvi- ous: one musical idea continually returns but is varied in some fashion, by a change in the melody, harmony, texture, or timbre. In classical music, the more varia- tions the composer writes, the more obscure the theme becomes; the listener is increasingly challenged to hear the new as an outgrowth of the old. Theme and varia- tions form can be visualized (Figure 3.12) in the follow- ing scheme:
A A1 A2 A3 A4
<
Neale Cousland/Shutterstock.com
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Variations on “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” (c. 1781)
Download 6
what to listen for: How the theme is altered, one way or another, within each new variation. The familiar theme begins at 0:00, and the variations appear at intervals of thirty seconds thereafter.
reAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online.
LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online.
DO . . . Listening Exercise 3.5, Mozart, Variations on “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” online.
44 chapter three color, texture, and form
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