Variations on 'Das Fest der Handwerker'

Unlike Beethoven, whose deafness drove him from the concert platform relatively early in his career, Johann Nepomuk Hummel remained one of Europe’s most celebrated virtuosi until the early 1830s. His longevity as a performer owed as much to his vigour and resourcefulness as a composer as it did to his formidable technique as a pianist. The Variations and Finale in B flat, Op.115, composed in 1830, is introduced by a lovely 6/8 Larghetto which is unrelated to the ensuing theme and variations. The theme itself, a perky and little tune from the Berlin Local-Singspiel Das Fest der Handwerker, is a simple, symmetrical binary construction in 3/4 with repeats. Hummel’s variations are far more fluid in their construction, eschewing the obvious binary structure of the theme in order to allow a more extensive exploration of its elaborations. Some variations are linked; others are separated by brief orchestral interludes. As in the F major Variations, composed ten years earlier, there is a lengthy variation in a slower tempo – in this instance with a change of meter to 9/8 - but instead of returning to the original tempo and meter the Larghetto variation is followed by a bravura finale in 2/4 which is based loosely on the theme. In both these works Hummel displays a flexible approach to the writing of variations that owes a good deal to his improvisatory practices. They do not attempt a systematic exploration of their themes nor do they seek to develop the thematic material in what we might loosely term a ‘classical manner’. Their appeal lies in their fluidity of structure, the scintillating writing for the piano and Hummel’s subtle and effective treatment of the orchestra.