''Variations for Cello Solo'' (''Variationen für Violoncello solo'') is a composition written by

Graham Waterhouse Graham Waterhouse (born 2 November 1962) is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, '' Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' and '' Variations for Cello Solo'' for his own instrument, and str ...

in 2019. The

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individual ...

depict characters of personalities. The cellist and composer performed the world premiere in Vienna in 2020. The composition was published by Schott the same year.

History

The cellist and composer

has written many works of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

including cello, but few works for solo cello, besides the '' Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' in 1996. He composed a set of

for

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

solo in December 2019 for a family gathering. Similar to Elgar's ''

Enigma Variations Edward Elgar composed his ''Variations on an Original Theme'', Op. 36, popularly known as the ''Enigma Variations'', between October 1898 and February 1899. It is an orchestral work comprising fourteen variations on an original theme. Elgar ...

'', the character variations depict family members in characteristic moods, movements and manners. The early variations stay closely to the

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

; later variations are more loosely connected to it. The last variation is expanded to a coda, which returns to a repetition of the theme, as a symbol for the family's continuity. The composer played the public premiere at the Alte Schmiede in Vienna on 14 February 2020, as part of a chamber music program with soprano Beata Beck and pianist Nino Gurevich, including works by

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

Friedrich Cerha Friedrich Cerha (; 17 February 1926 – 14 February 2023) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and academic teacher. His ensemble in Vienna was instrumental in spreading contemporary music in Austria. He composed several operas, beginning with ...

Richard Dünser Richard Dünser (born 1 May 1959) is an Austrian composer of stage works, orchestral music and chamber music, among others. Life Born in Bregenz, Dünser studied composition after his Matura first at the of his hometown and later at the Vienn ...

Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

. The composition was published by Schott in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

the same year, dedicated to

Young-Chang Cho Young-Chang Cho (born 1958) is a South Korean classical cellist teaching at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Germany's Ruhr Area. Career Young-Chang Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1958. He began cello lessons at the age of eight. Fr ...

, the composer's former teacher at the

Folkwang Hochschule The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in ...

. The duration is given as 8 minutes. The composition is part of a concert on 6 March 2021 at the

Gasteig The Gasteig is a currently closed cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig. Most ...

in Munich, with music by Beethoven and Waterhouse for one to five players, with Katharina Sellheim, David Frühwirth, Namiko Fuse and

Konstantin Sellheim Konstantin Sellheim (born 1978) is a German classical violist, who has appeared internationally with a focus on chamber music. He is a violist of the Münchner Philharmoniker, and lecturer of viola at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Career ...

References

External links

Graham Waterhouse: ''Variations'' from ''Skylla und Charybdis'' (2021)
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{italic title Chamber music by Graham Waterhouse Contemporary classical compositions Solo cello pieces Cello Solo 2019 compositions