Variations on a Theme of Haydn in B-Flat Major

Composed in 1873, the Variations on a Theme by Haydn was an early success for Brahms. The title is the composer’s own, although the melody he borrowed from a woodwind partita turns out not to be by Haydn at all. The true origins of this “Chorale St Antoni” are unknown: it could be a tune by Haydn’s pupil Ignaz Pleyel or even an Austrian pilgrim’s hymn. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see why its piquant harmonic trajectory and characteristic five-bar opening phrase appealed to Brahms, and it’s these aspects that remain audible through each variation. All its varied personalities are explored, whether in the brisk second variation, or the forlorn minor-key fourth; symphonic shape is lent by the scherzo-like fifth and sixth, and the long, slow seventh, before the ominously winding canons of the eighth give way to the triumphant finale.