Brahms, Paganini Variations

The theme of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 has inspired numerous composers to craft a set of variations based on it. In this series, we have already featured the variations of Rachmaninov, Liszt, Lutoslavksi, and Fazil Say. But I don’t think we can feature those compositions without adding Brahms to the list.

One can hardly mention Paganini without discussing extreme virtuosity. His 24 Caprices were a study in virtuosity and revolutionized violin technique. And if you go back and listen to the variations of the composers mentioned above, you will find them paying homage to Paganini by testing the limits of piano technique.

So we should keep that in mind when commentators talk about the devilish difficulty of playing Brahms’ Paganini Variations. Clara Schumann, a friend of Brahms and one of the most celebrated pianists of her time, dubbed the work Hexenvariationen (Witch’s variations) because of its difficulty. But I don’t think we do Brahms any disservice by saying that he’s not alone at the top of the virtuosity scale.

Much of Brahms’ music requires virtuosity, but we tend to think of Brahms as somewhat restrained. He generally did not exhibit the more “showy” virtuosity (meaning no disrespect) of Paganini or Liszt. But Brahms’ variations were written as a technical study, and so the technical skills required for this work is more on display.

Brahms wrote two sets of variations on this theme in 1863 (designated as Book 1 and Book 2), each consisting of 14 variations. This performance is of Book 1.