Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 06/05/2007, uploaded on 01/22/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his Variations on a Theme of Corelli in 1931 while he vacationed in Switzerland. It was among his final creations for the piano and followed only by the popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Interestingly, it is the only solo piano work he composed outside of his native Russia. The theme of the work, though attributed to Corelli, is in fact La Folía, whose origins, at least in printed music, go back to at least the mid-17^th century and some fifty years before Corelli’s use of it in his Sonata for violin, violone, and harpsichord. It is essentially a chord progression in D minor with a few passing bars in the relative major, but it has over time taken on a distinctive melodic attribute as well. La Folía has captivated many composers’ imaginations, from the Baroque masters, Scarlatti, Handel and Bach, to a passing reference in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and its appearance in Franz Liszt’s Rhapsodie Espagnole.

Written in his drier, less Romantic style, Rachmaninoff’s Variations begins with a stately announcement of La Folía with a clarity that seems almost alien to the composer’s typically complex structures. Quite imaginatively, the twenty variations that follow are organized in a manner that almost resembles a full-scale sonata. The first thirteen encapsulate what might be considered a sonata’s first movement, traversing a variety of moods and establishing the argument of the work. An ornamental and cadenza-like “Interlude,” loosely based on the theme, then follows before proceeding to the next variations. Shifting to the key of D-flat major and thereby emphasizing the opening semitonal movement of the theme itself, the following two variations together form a sort of central slow movement and present La Folía in sweetly lyrical tones. Finally, the remaining five variations form the work’s finale, returning abruptly to the tonic key and building the theme through increasing energetic and vigorous treatments. However, it is with an air of solemnity and mystery that the work fades from the fortissimo of the final variation to close softly in the key of D minor.        Joseph DuBose

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Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op 42             Sergei Rachmaninov

Variations on a Theme of Corelli is based on a theme which Rachmaninoff attributed to Corelli, but in fact it is an ancient Spanish folk melody called "La Folia."  This theme is also present in Liszt's "Rhapsody Espagnol", which implies that Liszt knew its origins, while Rachmaninoff did not.  The composition was written in 1931, after many years of inactivity of his pen, due mostly to his busy performance schedule.  Nevertheless, it opened a new period of stylistic creativity, which was followed by the immensely popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.      Elena Ulyanova

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.