Editing Variations on a Theme by Haydn (section)

==Form==
{{listen 
 | filename     = Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn - Theme and Variations 1-3.ogg
 | title        = Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, theme and variations I, II and III
 | description  = 
 | format       = 
 | filename2    = Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn - Variation 4.ogg
 | title2       = Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, variation IV
 | description2 = 
 | format2      = 
 | filename3    = Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn - Variations 5 and 6.ogg
 | title3       = Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, variations V and VI
 | description3 = 
 | format3      = 
 | filename4    = Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn - Variation 7.ogg
 | title4       = Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, variation VII
 | description4 = 
 | format4      = 
 | filename5    = Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn - Variation 8 and Finale.ogg
 | title5       = Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, variation VIII and finale
 | description5 =Version for two pianos. Performed by Neal and Nancy O'Doan. 
 | format5      = 
}}

The theme begins with a repeated ten-measure passage which itself consists of two intriguing{{fact|date=September 2024}} five-measure phrases, a quirk that is likely to have caught Brahms's attention. Almost without exception, the eight variations follow the phrasal structure of the theme and, though less strictly, the harmonic structure as well. Each has a distinctive character, several calling to mind the forms and techniques of earlier eras, with some displaying a mastery of [[counterpoint]] seldom encountered in [[Romantic music]].{{fact|date=September 2024}}

The finale is a magnificent{{fact|date=September 2024}} theme and variations on a ground bass, five measures in length, derived from the principal theme. Its culmination, a restatement of the chorale, is a moment of such transcendence{{fact|date=September 2024}} that the usually austere Brahms permits himself the use of a [[triangle (musical instrument)|triangle]].

Just before the end of the piece, in the [[coda (music)|coda]] of the finale, Brahms [[musical quotation|quotes]] a passage that really is by Haydn. In measures 463–464, the violas and cellos echo the cello line from measure 148 of the second movement of the latter's [[Symphony No. 101 (Haydn)|"Clock" Symphony]], one of the finest examples of Haydn's pioneering work in the symphonic [[variation (music)|variation]] form.{{fact|date=September 2024}} The reader may compare the two passages by following these links:  [http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bfk3333/sco10067.gif Brahms], [http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bgn9295/sco10040.gif Haydn] (see below for link credits). This fragmentary allusion may be the music's sole link to music known with certainty to be by Haydn.