Program Notes

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Variations on a Theme by Rossini for Flute and Piano (1824)

Notes for: July 23, 2013

The authorship here is qualified by a question mark since the work was not published until 1955 and its authenticity is still uncertain. When it was composed about 1824, there was only one manuscript copy, and it was kept by one of the Chopin’s friends.

If Chopin did indeed write the variations, he did so at the age of 14 for his father, an amateur flutist, or for one of the other flute players that the elder Chopin often played with. Whatever the authorship, the piece is charming and fluent, and is a good example of the informal variation form popular with wind players in the first half of the 19th century.

The piece begins with a statement of the theme – an aria from the finale of Rossini’s opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella). In the aria, the heroine Angelina bids farewell tongue-in-cheek to all the days she had spent as an overworked housekeeper in her domineering stepfather’s house.

The theme is followed by four variations, which are brilliantly decorated versions of the original tune. The melodic interest remains entirely in the flute part with the piano playing accompanying chords.

Copyright © 2013 by Willard J. Hertz