Theme and Variations in E-flat minor, Op. 2

I wrote this piece right after the Passacaglia, Op. 1, in 2015. It consists of the theme, 12 variations (one of which is a short "fugue"), and a coda. Similar to the Passacaglia, each variation flows from one right into the other. The theme was based on a short piece I wrote for an earlier composition assignment, and I wanted to expand it into a larger form. So, I turned it into a theme and variations.

Here is my performance of it on Youtube:

I hope you all enjoy it. 🙂

Theo

@Theodore Servin

notes please.

Probably because of the key and the slow tempo, the theme is quite nice and beautiful. It is also rare to come upon pieces written in 5 or 6 flats/sharps. Can there be a pdf of the score, or you dont want to show it?

@zhenkang Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked the piece! Unfortunately, though, I'm not ready to show the score for this piece yet, as it's kind of messy, and I want to revise it somewhat in the near future. I will make the score available at some point, but as of now, it just isn't ready.

Thanks again for your appreciation, and I'm sorry about the score. Best,

Theo

I absolutely love the part 7:01 - 8:05, and 10:03 to the end, but the fugue is also great! I thought that the fugue is usualy the last in a set of variations. I can feel the emotional power of your work

Thank you immensely, @Pietro17! I'm very happy that you liked my variations! I'm also really glad you liked the fugue as well, especially because you, in my opinion, write the best fugues on this site! So I really appreciate it!

Best

Theo 😄

This is perfectly marvelous, Theo, and my compliments on your superb playing as well.

As bright and positive as E-flat major can be, how very much darker and more morose the minor seems to me - something rarely heard, possibly because of the technical difficulty of the signature (I'm one of those eccentrics who feels that the various keys have personalities).        

I hear the distinct influence of Rachmaninoff in much of this piece - the way you handle melody, harmonic development, the way the ideas flow, all seem to bear Sergei's stamp to my ears.  And yet you don't let him take over...the piece is definitely yours, particularly in the fugue, which seems very different from what Rachmaninoff might do...closer to Beethoven, at least at first.  I somehow wasn't expecting the exquisite ending - so lovely and forlorn and disconsolate.  

I usually would miss not having a score to pore over while I listen, but it didn't bother me this time.  The piece itself, in your beautiful interpretation, was enough.  

Thank you for a very enjoyable sojourn in the sound world you have created here, and again, my compliments.  

Thank you very much, @J. Lee Graham! I'm very happy that you enjoyed my piece and playing!

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As bright and positive as E-flat major can be, how very much darker and more morose the minor seems to me - something rarely heard, possibly because of the technical difficulty of the signature (I'm one of those eccentrics who feels that the various keys have personalities).        

I, too, am one of those who think that keys have personalities. I think that each key has its own emotions that are intertwined within its scale, even if all major and minor scales follow the same patterns. And I agree with your sentiments of E-flat minor: your description is apt for that key. At the time of writing this piece, I wanted to try writing in keys that aren't commonly written for, in this case, E-flat minor.

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I hear the distinct influence of Rachmaninoff in much of this piece - the way you handle melody, harmonic development, the way the ideas flow, all seem to bear Sergei's stamp to my ears.

Yes, indeed, Rachmaninoff was a major influence on this piece. Rachmaninoff is one of my heroes in music, and this was becoming apparent around the time of composing this piece.

Again, thank you for your compliments and appreciation. It means a lot to me.

All the best,

Theo