Variations on a Theme of Corelli (Russian: Вариации на тему А. Корелли, Variatsii na temu A. Korelli), Op. 42, is a set of variations for solo piano, written in 1931 by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. He composed the variations at his holiday home in Switzerland
🇷🇺 Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 (1931)
00:00 Theme: Andante
00:49 Var I: Poco più mosso
01:31 Var II: L'istesso tempo
02:11 Var III: Tempo di Menuetto
02:59 Var IV: Andante
03:50 Var V: Allegro (ma non tanto)
04:14 Var VI: L'istesso tempo
04:38 Var VII: Vivace
05:02 Var VIII: Adagio misterioso
06:17 Var IX: Un poco più mosso
07:24 Var X: Allegro scherzando
08:00 Var XI: Allegro vivace
08:22 Var XII: L'istesso tempo
08:58 Var XIII: Agitato
09:31 Intermezzo: A tempo rubato
10:54 Var XIV: Andante (come prima)
11:41 Var XV: L'istesso tempo
13:14 Var XVI: Allegro vivace
13:50 Var XVII: Meno mosso
14:50 Var XVIII: Allegro con brio
15:22 Var XIX: Più mosso. Agitato
15:54 Var XX: Più mosso
16:48 Coda: Andante
The theme is La Folia, which was not in fact composed by Arcangelo Corelli, but was used by him in 1700 as the basis for 23 variations in his Sonata for violin and continuo (violone and/or harpsichord) in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12. La Folia was popularly used as the basis for variations in Baroque music. Franz Liszt used the same theme in his Rhapsodie espagnole S. 254 (1863).
Rachmaninoff dedicated the work to his friend, the violinist Fritz Kreisler. He wrote to another friend, the composer Nikolai Medtner, on 21 December 1931:
I've played the Variations about fifteen times, but of these fifteen performances only one was good. The others were sloppy. I can't play my own compositions! And it's so boring! Not once have I played these all in continuity. I was guided by the coughing of the audience. Whenever the coughing would increase, I would skip the next variation. Whenever there was no coughing, I would play them in proper order. In one concert, I don't remember where - some small town - the coughing was so violent that I played only ten variations (out of 20). My best record was set in New York, where I played 18 variations. However, I hope that you will play all of them, and won't "cough".
Performers:
Boris Giltburg, piano