Cover Story: Classical sampling as theme and variation

Rachmaninoff meets Paganini: A music lesson

January 22, 2004


1. A mere 20 notes -- set in a minor key with an insistent, slightly martial rhythm -- the meat of Sergei Rachmaninoff's theme in 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini' is taken from Niccoló Paganini's Caprice No. 24, composed between 1800 and 1810. Rachmaninoff's 1934 rhapsody gives the original motif to the violin section near the very beginning of the score.


2. A variation repeats a theme with changes to rhythm, harmony or other musical components. (Much like jazz improvisation.) Variation No. 8 in 'Rhapsody' maintains the basic shape of the Paganini theme. But it is played on the solo piano with added harmony moving at the same speed as in the original theme.


3. Variation No. 12 takes a triple-meter minuet beat (think of a stiff social dance at the court of Louis XIV). The melody is given to the clarinet and the harmony notes, played by the horns, are formed from little, bundled suggestions of the original theme.


4. The most radical variation in 'Rhapsody' is No. 18, which actually flips the notes of the original and, for the first time in the piece, sustains a major key. The piano plays this lushly romantic melody, followed later by the entire orchestra. One of the most popular tunes in all classical music, it has been borrowed for commercials, pop songs and the 1980 movie 'Somewhere in Time

Back to the story | Variations on a scene | Click to launch Caprice No. 24