Theme and variations

A musical form in which a theme is repeated in successive versions that alter features such as melody, harmony, rhythm, or texture while retaining its identity.

Theme (music): A distinctive musical idea that can serve as the basis for a composition or a section of one. Its recognizable features anchor the successive transformations.
Goldberg Variations: Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard work consisting of an aria followed by thirty variations and a return of the aria. Its variations transform the aria's bass and harmonic framework in many different ways.
Renaissance variation: A practice of elaborating a melody through successive decorated or rhythmically altered versions during the Renaissance. It established early approaches to transforming a theme while keeping it recognizable.
Sonata form: A large-scale musical structure organized around contrasting themes, tonal movement, and a return of earlier material. Unlike a variation set, it develops contrast through tonal and thematic sections rather than successive versions.
Ground bass: A recurring bass pattern that supports changing melodies or harmonies above it. A repeating bass can provide the stable foundation for variations.
Diabelli Variations: Ludwig van Beethoven's set of thirty-three piano variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli. Beethoven turns a modest waltz into a far-reaching sequence of contrasting characters.
Division (music): An early modern practice of dividing sustained notes into faster melodic figures and ornaments. Divisions offered performers a direct method for producing variations on a written melody.
Rondo: A musical form in which a recurring principal section alternates with contrasting episodes. Rondo returns a section between episodes; variations continuously reshape one central theme.
Passacaglia: A musical form built around repeated variations over a recurring bass line or harmonic pattern. It is a closely related form whose variations often rest on a repeating bass.
Enigma Variations: Edward Elgar's orchestral work of fourteen variations on an unstated theme, each associated with a person or himself. The theme's identity and the portraits encoded in the variations make the work distinctive.

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