Symphonic Variations (Franck)

Duration in performance is about fifteen minutes, and the instrumentation is piano solo and orchestra: pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons; four horns; two trumpets; timpani; and strings.

[6] The work was dedicated to Louis Diémer, who on 15 March 1885 had premiered Les Djinns, a symphonic poem for piano and orchestra that brought Franck one of his rare critical successes.

[7] Before and after Franck's death, however, his works were championed by his students, including Vincent d'Indy, Henri Duparc, Paul Dukas, and Ernest Chausson; and the Symphonic Variations soon entered the repertoire of major pianists.

Donald Tovey called it "a finely and freely organized fantasy, with an important episode in variation form".

The first part begins in the home key of F♯ minor with different elements of the themes played by the orchestra and the piano (Poco allegro).

Soon both themes get a proper statement, the first (ascending) in A major by the orchestra (L'istesso tempo), the second (descending) in C♯ minor by the piano (Poco più lento).

A transitional section with orchestra and piano interplay (Allegro — Allegretto quasi andante) lead to the second part of the work.

After this, the music returns to minor for a new transitional episode, in which the descending theme reappears played by the strings con sordini with a mysterious piano arpeggio accompaniment.

Second phrase, mm.5-9, the first at tempo lento, from Cesar Franck 's Variations symphoniques (1885), features chromaticism from use of borrowed chords and, "descending bass lines," ( voice leading ) and demonstrates that, "chromatic evasiveness internally in the phrases [may be] countered by cadence strength and clarity," such as the, "resolute movement from V of V to V to I ." [ 1 ] Play ⓘ