Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman"

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 Audio samples:
  • Tema
    Tema of Variations on "Ah vous dirais-je, Maman", piano solo
    Variation I
    First Variation of Variations on "Ah vous dirais-je, Maman", piano solo
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Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", K. 265/300e, is a piano composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composed when he was around 25 years old (1781 or 1782). This piece consists of twelve variations on the French folk song Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman. The French melody first appeared in 1761, and has been used for many children's songs, among which Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, whose words first appeared in 1806.

Contents

[edit] The music

This work was composed for solo piano and consists of 13 sections: the first section is the Thema, the other sections are Variations I to XII. Only Variations XI and XII have tempo indications, Adagio and Allegro respectively.[1]

[edit] Composition date

As for the composition date of these Variations, for a time the variations were thought to have been composed in 1778, while Mozart stayed in Paris from April to September in that year, the assumption being that the melody of a French song could only have been picked up by Mozart while residing in France. For this presumed composition date, in the chronological catalogue of Mozart's compositions the composition was renumbered from K. 265 to K. 300e.[1] Later analysis of Mozart's manuscript of the composition by Wolfgang Plath rather indicated 1781-1782 as the probable composition date.[2]

The variations were first published in Vienna in 1785.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c (in German:) Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, IX/26: Variationen für Klavier, Kritischer Bericht (Fischer, 1962), p. 54-73
  2. ^ Based on booklet notes by Robin Golding, 1991 for Daniel Barenboim's Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas and Variations, EMI Classics 8 CD box No. 5 73915 2

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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