Chapter 13

CHAPTER VIII

THE VARIATION FORM

Monotony, as previously suggested, is more unendurable in mu-
sic than in any of the other arts. We should therefore expect to
find musicians inventing new devices to vary their thoughts so
that the interest of the hearer might be continually sustained
and refreshed. Thus there gradually grew up the form known as
the Varied Air—a term meaning the presentation of the same
musical material under different aspects. As far back as we can
trace the development of instrumental structure, there appears
this instinct for varying a simple tune by embellishments of a
rhythmical and melodic nature. Examples abound in the works
of the early Italian masters, in the harpsichord pieces of the En-
glish composers Byrd and Bull[80] and in the music of Couperin
and Rameau. But all these Variations, however interesting from
a historical point[81] of view, are very labored and lack any real
poetic growth. They are, moreover, often prolonged to an in-
terminable length—one example, as late as Handel, consisting
of an Air with sixty-two Variations; prolixity or “damnable it-
eration” being as bad a blemish in music as in any of the other
arts. In the early days of instrumental composition, about all
that composers could do was “to put the theme through its
paces.” That is, there was no unfolding of the poetic possi-
bilities of the melody. The successive variations were all in the
same key; the harmonic basis was practically unchanged and the