Reicha « L'Art de varier » Opus 57 | Theme

L’Art de varier, op. 57. "The Art of Variation" consists of fifty-seven variations on an original theme, composed between 1803 and 1804, at the beginning of the six-year period which Reicha spent in Vienna, where he studied with Haydn and re-kindled his friendship with Beethoven. L’Art de Varier was dedicated to Prince Louis-Ferdinand of Prussia (1772–1806), a talented pianist and composer and the dedicatee of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, op. 37 (likewise composed in 1804). Reicha recounts that the prince had offered him a position as Kapellmeister and teacher of composition, but Reicha preferred to "stay with Haydn longer" and "remain free". In his autobiography, Reicha wrote: "The quantity of works I composed during my stay in Vienna is surprising. Once I began, my imagination and verve were indefatigable. Ideas appeared to me so quickly that it was impossible to notate them all without losing some." The fifty-seven variations are of an extreme diversity and originality, as much in terms of pianistic technique as in expressivity. The variations are easy or difficult, virtuosic or not, complicated or not, polyphonic or not, in the major or, occasionally, the minor mode. The theme is sometimes intact, sometimes modified and fragmented. The piece comprises "a kaleidoscope of genres, of compositional techniques, and of often highly demanding performance techniques" (Ana Stefanović). In L’Art de Varier Reicha reveals himself as not only the successor to Bach and the contemporary of Mozart, Haydn, and above all his friend Beethoven, but also the dazzling and visionary forerunner of Chopin, Schumann, Alkan, and Liszt.