In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration.
Variation forms include ground bass, passacaglia, chaconne, and theme and variations. Theme and variations is a musical form in which the fundamental musical idea, or theme, is repeated in altered form or accompanied in a different manner. It can be...
more
In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration.
Variation forms include ground bass, passacaglia, chaconne, and theme and variations. Theme and variations is a musical form in which the fundamental musical idea, or theme, is repeated in altered form or accompanied in a different manner. It can be used as a solo piece or as movement of a larger piece. Passacaglias and chaconnes are forms in which a repeating bass line or ostinato—typically shorter than a full-scale variation theme—or constantly recurring harmonic progression is heard through the entire piece. Fantasia variation is a form which relies on variation but which repeats and incorporates material freely.
Works in theme-and-variation form first emerge in the history of classical music in the sixteenth century (Sisman 2001). A favorite form of variations in Renaissance music...
less