Variations sérieuses
The Variations sérieuses, Op. 54, is a set of variations on a theme in D minor, by Felix Mendelssohn. It was completed on 4 June 1841. A performance lasts about eleven minutes.[1]
The work was written as part of a campaign to raise funds for the erection of a large bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven in his home town of Bonn.[2] The publisher Pietro Mecchetti asked Mendelssohn to contribute to a 'Beethoven Album', published in January 1842, which also included pieces by Liszt, Chopin, Moscheles and others, of which the proceeds would go to the Monument.[3] (Schumann's Fantasie in C was the final result of a work originally intended for the same purpose).
Mendelssohn is known to have written three sets of piano variations, but only this one was published during his lifetime.[4]
Many of the variations require a virtuoso technique. Mendelssohn's good friend Ignaz Moscheles stated "I play the Variations sérieuses again and again, each time I enjoy the beauty again." Ferruccio Busoni also liked the work very much. Many pianists have recorded them, including Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter, Rena Kyriakou, Vladimir Sofronitsky and Murray Perahia.
References
- ^ Variations sérieuses (17) in D minor, Op. 54
- ^ New York Philharmonic
- ^ Todd, R. Larry (2003). Mendelssohn, A Life in Music, p.414. Oxford. [ISBN missing]
- ^ Variations sérieuses, for piano in D minor, Op. 54; Composition Description
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