Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel

From Wind Repertory Project
Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms (tr. Graham Sheen)


General Info

Year: 1861 / 1985
Duration: c. 26:00
Difficulty: VII (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Piano
Publisher: Masters Music Publications
Cost: Score & Parts - $80.00   |   Score Only - Unknown


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II (doubling piccolo)
Oboe I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III (III doubles Bass Clarinet)
Bassoon I-II-III (III doubles contrabassoon)
Horn in F I-II-III


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, is a work for solo piano written by Johannes Brahms in 1861. It consists of a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B♭ major, HWV 434.

The great music writer Donald Tovey has ranked it among "the half-dozen greatest sets of variations ever written". Biographer Jan Swafford describes the Handel Variations as "perhaps the finest set of piano variations since Beethoven", adding, "Besides a masterful unfolding of ideas concluding with an exuberant fugue with a finish designed to bring down the house, the work is quintessentially Brahms in other ways: the filler of traditional forms with fresh energy and imagination; the historical eclectic able to start off with a gallant little tune of Handel's, Baroque ornaments and all, and integrate it seamlessly into his own voice, in a work of massive scope and dazzling variety."

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media


State Ratings

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Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer

This composer primarily wrote orchestral music. Other transcriptions of his work include:

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources