Theme and Variations in E-flat major

Greetings.

It has been a while since I posted something on this forum. I didn't get to review compositions by other members lately due to being busy with my studies, and I'm sorry for that.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I decided to write a theme and variations for the piano. This was my first time writing music with this structure, but it was not because I lacked inspiration. I took it as an exercise to boost my creativity and improve my composition skills.

This eight-minute-long piano piece, written in E-flat major, is one of my major works. It consists of a theme, five variations, and a short finale. These variations are based on a simple theme I created, which I finished within a few hours. On average, each section took me a day to complete. One difficulty I faced when writing this composition was to keep the material interesting while not being too distant from the theme.

Here is the breakdown of the structure of this composition:

1. Main theme (E-flat major, Maestoso, 6/8): It's an operatic yet simple theme, which opens forte and Maestoso.
2. 1st variation (E-flat major, 6/8): This variation is a berceuse with grace-note embellishments in the melody and frequent hand-crossing.
3. 2nd variation (E-flat major, Più mosso, 6/8): This playful variation features sixteenth-note figurations in the right-hand part.
4. 3rd variation (A-flat major, Sostenuto, 6/8): This variation is a serenade and the slowest among the five variations. This variation ends with a long pause, marking the beginning of the fast section towards the finale.
5. 4th variation (E-flat major, Vivace, 6/8): This variation is partly inspired by the third movement of Beethoven's fifth piano concerto. This fast section demands virtuosity and contains a short cadenza passage.
6. 5th variation (E-flat major, 2/4): This variation is an étude featuring rapid triplets in the right-hand part. This section is the shortest among all variations, lasting under a minute.
7. Finale (E-flat major, Presto, 6/8): The finale opens with tremolos and a horn-like passage restating the main theme, followed by a reprise of the fourth variation at a much quicker tempo, quickly concluding the piece.

Let me know what you think about this piece. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Carl Koh Wei Hao

P.S. The audio was generated on MuseScore 2.3.2.

Hey @Carl Koh Wei Hao,

Welcome back!

The theme for me is quite like a Chopinistic waltz in 6/8 time, but not too operatic for me.

The change of touch to appoggiaturas in variation 1 adds grace to the theme, good job on that. But maybe it will be hard for the pianist to discern the original theme since it is hidden among the appoggiaturas?

The 2nd variation reminds me of the second movement of Chopin's third piano sonata, also scherzando in nature and also in E flat major!

I love the texture of 3rd variation. You make good use of the arppeggios and the texture there is flourish and harp-like.

And the change of articulation in 4th varaition is funny! I am sure the etude can be played but it's very hard to capture the lightness of it! Weirdly it reminds me of the final movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique when the witchy theme reaches E flat major there. But I also really feel the 3rd movement of Bee's 5th Concerto here, not to lie!

I am sure you have taken Chopin's op.10 no.11 into consideration in the 5th variation with similar texture (and the same key!). 

The finale is very successful when you introduce the Naepolitan and flat submediant keys here, pushing the piece to climax!

I may wanna have some variations set in the minor keys or at least in different keys, other than the only variation in A flat major. But still this one is very enjoyable which showcase virtuosic skills and light style in romantic language.

31 minutes ago, Carl Koh Wei Hao said:

I didn't get to review compositions by other members lately due to being busy with my studies, and I'm sorry for that.

No need to feel sorry about that. There are bunches of people here who only post but never review, or don't even reply to other members' review on their own works, and you are for sure treasured here on YC!

Thx for sharing this enjoyable piece!

Henry

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu,

Thanks for your feedback! I am glad that you enjoyed my piece!

3 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

But maybe it will be hard for the pianist to discern the original theme since it is hidden among the appoggiaturas?

I agree with you on this. I may want to fix the notation in the future, but once it's played, the melody should be distinguishable. It just takes a little effort to recognize the theme from the sheet music. Maybe adding some accent marks would help.

3 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

And the change of articulation in 4th varaition is funny! I am sure the etude can be played but it's very hard to capture the lightness of it!

I usually use staccatissimo marks when notating music at rapid tempos. I am unsure why I did that, probably to emphasize that those notes should be highly detached. Liszt also used this articulation in his Grand Galop Chromatique.

3 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I am sure you have taken Chopin's op.10 no.11 into consideration in the 5th variation with similar texture (and the same key!).

Chopin's études may have influenced this variation somehow, but I feel it's more towards Czerny's style.

3 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I may wanna have some variations set in the minor keys or at least in different keys, other than the only variation in A flat major.

I thought about this before and had planned to include another slow variation in G-sharp minor. However, I did not write it eventually because I felt that five variations should be sufficient, given that each variation is more than a minute long on average. I tried to keep the length of this composition under ten minutes, or else it may become quite bland since the same idea is repeated throughout the piece, albeit with different textures and characters.

Thank you for your time reviewing my work!

Carl Koh Wei Hao

9 hours ago, Carl Koh Wei Hao said:

Thanks for your feedback! I am glad that you enjoyed my piece!

13 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

But maybe it will be hard for the pianist to discern the original theme since it is hidden among the appoggiaturas?

I agree with you on this. I may want to fix the notation in the future, but once it's played, the melody should be distinguishable. It just takes a little effort to recognize the theme from the sheet music. Maybe adding some accent marks would help.

I agree - just something to help the performer identify different things.

9 hours ago, Carl Koh Wei Hao said:

13 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I may wanna have some variations set in the minor keys or at least in different keys, other than the only variation in A flat major.

I thought about this before and had planned to include another slow variation in G-sharp minor. However, I did not write it eventually because I felt that five variations should be sufficient, given that each variation is more than a minute long on average. I tried to keep the length of this composition under ten minutes, or else it may become quite bland since the same idea is repeated throughout the piece, albeit with different textures and characters.

Thank you for your time reviewing my work!

I also agree with this - maybe the theme presented in Eb minor would've been cool, or C minor. But I also understand the time limit. But in the future adding a section in a different key would add some interest to the piece - maybe in a variation right before the finale.

This had me grinning like an idiot all throughout 😄 your variations are so clever! The 4th one in particular almost made clap at my screen!

Your writing is airtight. Not a single "wasted note", so to speak. And not just airtight, but somehow sincere and convincing, it's downright infectious.

Thanks for sharing, this was awesome 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 

Wow - great job overall!  There is much variety here never losing the interest of this listener.  There is ample harmonic contrast, especially in the variation in Ab which diverged from the original harmonic underpinning of the theme.  What I miss is some variations that diverge from the 8-bar phrase structure or mess with more metric changes.  I also didn't see much of an attempt to construct new melodies that diverged from the overall jovial atmosphere of the whole piece - although I guess that's a matter of the personal taste of this listener.  Presumably you intended this to be a showpiece/concert-piece and I think it's perfect for that venue!  Great job and thanks for sharing!

Peter