The Brass Variations (last updated 12/05/2022)

I’m excited! I have a “finished” version here! (Subject, of course, to sudden changes of heart and other detail shifts.) Here you can hear how the various sections flow together, and (if you’re clever, or have read the “Thematic Fragments” page) how each variation feeds off the opening theme, and how a bunch of them gang up in the 5th variation, as things wind down. If you watch the video carefully, you can see the title of each variation appear as it starts. I’ve also listed them below for reference:

• Var. 1, “The Song” (measures 20-39)
• Var. 2, “The Skip” (measures 40-80)
• Var. 3, “The Pause” (measures 80-101)
• Var. 4, “The March” (measures 102-127)
• Var. 5, “The Chase” (measures 128-end)

If you have a sharp eye, you can see that each variation does have a firm (if short) division between it and the previous one, except for #s 2 and 3, where the transition slightly overlaps. But these divisions aren’t generally cadences — more like interruptions. You might also notice that the opening tempo (4/4, andante) is almost half as fast as the last variation (4/4, molto allegro), so the original theme, when it returns, looks half as fast…but isn’t!

As always, use these pages to view the current state of my work. Updates to everything result in deleted files/links in YouTube, so direct links there will go dead as I remove old content.

Go to The Brass Variations home page