over,
so that a restless and searching expression results. The second
variation, again, is very reposeful. The melody is only suggested in
the upper tones of the right-hand part, and the sixteenth motion is
intended to have a certain chord-like character; meanwhile the bass has
a part somewhat like a melody suitable for 'cello. The third variation
brings the melody high in the treble (later changing again to the left
hand in the middle range of the piano), while the left hand performs an
arpeggio figure in thirty-seconds. At the end a lovely coda of sixteen
measures, recalling the theme in its original form. Throughout these
variations not only is the harmony and melody of the theme never
varied, excepting in time of coming in, but the spirit of the theme is
everywhere retained. Observe that the coda is not concluded, but
interrupted by the entrance of a diminished chord, leading into the key
of F minor. In place of this chord, end with a chord of D-flat,
directly after the dominant chord preceding the diminished chord, when
the finale is not to be played.

Quite different from the foregoing are the highly humoristic variations
of the Sonata, opus 26. These, being designated in the copy, require
only mention and characterization. The theme is three periods in
length, the second opening with a syncopation. The first variation
follows the harmony of the theme, but in a broken manner, not alone in
the cutting up into sixteenth notes, but also in changes of position
upon the keyboard. This tendency to excitement continues in the second
variation, where the melody is in the bass, in octaves broken into
sixteenth notes. The third variation changes the mode to minor, and
the musical treatment contains strong syncopations, implying much
suppressed passion. The fourth variation is a scherzo, bounding from
one point of the keyboard to another, like a musical Ariel. The fifth
variation returns to the harmony and manner of the theme, but in the
first eight measures the melody is held in reserve, suggested rather
than fully brought out, in order that the complete appearance of the
melody, legato, in the ninth measure shall be more effective. The
whole closes with a beautiful coda of fifteen measures. (Count back
from the end, if you do not find it at first.)

Still more humoristic is the scherzo from the Sonata in C, opus 2, No.
3. Here the principal subject is quite in fugue style, excepting the
order of keys.