SUNDAY, September 6, 2020 – 3:20 AM
Original instruments.
Beethoven – Variations on “Là ci darem la mano”, from Mozart’s Don Giovanni
He was 25 years old when he wrote this. So, how did young Beethoven come to write for two oboes and English horn using Mozart’s aria from? Apparently he was practicing writing for winds in the attempt to master their orchestration, but most interesting is his source of the theme. Mozart only died four years before he wrote this, right before his 21st birthday. The respect he had for Mozart should be pretty obvious.
- Theme. Andante (C major)
- Variation 1. Allegretto (C major)
- Variation 2. L’istesso tempo (C major)
- Variation 3. Andante (C major)
- Variation 4. Allegro moderato (C major)
- Variation 5. Moderato (C major)
- Variation 6. Lento espressivo (C minor)
- Variation 7. Allegretto scherzando (C major)
- Variation 8. Allegretto giocoso (C major)
- Coda. Vivace – Andante (C major)
For those who are not opera buffs, intimately familiar with Mozart and Don Giovanni, “Là ci darem la mano” means “”There we will give each other our hands”. It is a duet for the characters Don Giovanni (baritone) and Zerlina (soprano) in Mozart’s 1787 opera Don Giovanni (act 1, scene 3).