Brahms composed the Handel Variations in 1861, when he was in his late twenties. The dedication is to Clara Schumann to whom Brahms presented the variations as a birthday present. Comprising twenty-five concise variations and a much more expansive closing fugue, the work is ingeniously structured in what Nicholas Cook described as ‘a series of waves, both in terms of tempo and dynamics, leading to the final fugue.’ The theme was drawn from the third movement of Handel’s Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B flat. Intriguingly, this is entitled ‘Aria con varizioni’: in other words, Brahms created a new set of variations on a theme that was originally intended to be treated that way. Brahms wrote that for him the most important feature of a variation theme was not the melody but the bass line: ‘it is the firm foundation on which I can build my stories … Over the given bass, I invent something new and discover new melodies about it.’ The essential point here is not that the bass line should be unchanged (Brahms makes plenty of changes) but that he viewed it as the way to control the overall structure. The expressive range of the Handel Variations – their emotional ebb-and-flow – is remarkable: the first five variations move from the lively syncopated accents of Variation 1, to the sinuous lines of Variation 2, the elegance of Variation 3, the powerful octaves of Variation 4 and the lyrical minor-key contrasts of Variation 5. These are all wonderful examples of the ‘new melodies’ Brahms was able to discover in Handel’s theme, and the process is continued with astonishing imagination in all the variations that follow, culminating in the magnificent final fugue, its subject derived from the opening phrase of Handel’s theme. Combining pianistic virtuosity and the most imaginative handling of counterpoint, it is a heroic peroration. 

Nigel Simeone 2024