Ex. 12-2: Variation 14 (edited)

Variation 14 from Beethoven's Variations and Fugue in E-flat major (Op. 35), composed in 1802. Op. 35 has fifteen variations and a closing fugue, almost all in bright E-flat major — but Variation 14 is the exception, turning to E-flat minor: a dark, serious moment in the middle of the festive set. From here the strict pattern of the earlier variations begins to loosen, leading into the slow Largo of Variation 15 and then the grand fugue.

Beethoven composed Op. 35 in 1802 — the same year that, deaf and in despair, he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament. Out of that crisis came a burst of bold new music, and he told his publisher, Breitkopf & Härtel, that these variations were written "in a truly entirely new manner."

The theme was a favorite of Beethoven's — he used it in four different works: the Contredanses (WoO 14), the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus (1801), this set of variations, and the finale of his Symphony No. 3 (Eroica, 1803–04). In a departure from tradition, the work opens not with the theme itself, but with its bass line alone, followed by three variations on the bass before the main theme finally appears — in the ballet, this represented the gradual creation of life by Prometheus. This bass-first opening, and the huge fugue that closes the work, look back to the Baroque counterpoint of Bach, whom Beethoven deeply admired.

Beethoven wanted the title page to name the theme's source — his Prometheus ballet — and told the publisher to add it at his own expense. The nickname "Eroica Variations" came only later, from the symphony that shares the theme.

Note: This version has been edited for sight-singing practice.

From the album Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 and Eroica Variations, Op. 35 by Pierre-Laurent Aimard (2021)
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