Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33

Program notes

About the Work

Tchaikovsky adored Mozart, ‘a sunny genius’ whose music, he said, ‘moves me to tears’, and he regarded the Classical era as a lost paradise of grace and proportion. The Variations on a Rococo Theme, written between December 1876 and March 1877, are his loving homage to that world: a piece that deliberately turns away from his own lush Romanticism toward the elegance, transparency and wit of the eighteenth century. It is the closest he came to writing a cello concerto. The ‘Rococo’ theme is not a genuine antique but Tchaikovsky’s own invention in the Classical manner, a graceful, courtly tune that he then decorates through a series of increasingly brilliant variations.

He wrote the piece for, and with the help of, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a German cellist and his colleague at the Moscow Conservatory, who gave the premiere in Moscow on 30 November 1877 under Nikolai Rubinstein. Here lies the work’s famous controversy. Fitzenhagen, exercising the privileges of a virtuoso, extensively reworked the solo part, reordered the variations and cut one of them entirely, and it was his altered version, not Tchaikovsky’s original, that was published and became standard for generations. Tchaikovsky, characteristically, let it stand, though he grumbled. Whichever version is played, the result is one of the most delightful and demanding works in the cello repertoire: a sparkling showpiece that asks for both flawless technique and Classical poise.

What to Listen For

After a brief orchestral introduction, the cello presents the elegant ‘Rococo’ theme, poised, courtly and Mozartean, and from it the variations unfold, each a different character study. Listen for the way Tchaikovsky (and his cellist-collaborator) make ever greater demands on the soloist: rippling runs, high lyrical singing, rapid passagework, and graceful ornamentation, all wrapped in light, transparent orchestration that never covers the solo line.

Keep your ear out for the contrasts between variations, some brisk and brilliant, others tender and songful. The slow, minor-key variation near the heart of the work is especially beautiful, a moment of real Tchaikovskian melancholy amid the Classical sparkle. And listen for the dazzling final variation and coda, where the cello takes off in a display of virtuosity that brings the piece to an exhilarating close. Throughout, this is Tchaikovsky on his best behaviour, charm and brilliance in perfect balance: a Romantic composer’s heartfelt bow to the age of Mozart.