MUSICAL COMPOSITION

MELODIES AND VARIATIONS 67elaborated. The repeated B's become a tonic pedalrhythm at the close, and are finally modified thus:Ij==J j. IJ. J. IIVar.8. (Presto non troppo %" tonic minor.) Adouble variation, very contrapuntal and complicatedin detail. It begins with the first three notes of thetheme reversed, and in all other respects, except shape,is very independent. The theme appears in the tenthbar in the bass, and clamps the whole together. Theingenuity of the interchange and combinations ofthe running figures, especially in Part II., will repaythe closest study.The Finale (Andante ¢) is a series of variationsconstructed on a ground bass repeated no less thanseventeen times. It is a fine example of the speciesof variation mentioned on p. 55 of the type of Bach'sPassacaglia. The ground bass is a modification of thefirst bars of the theme and is itself in five-bar rhythm,thus preserving throughout its relationship to· it. Theseries of five-bar variations are at first so interwovenas to form a connected passage in close imitation overthe first three repetitions of the bass; at the fourthrepetition they begin to clear up, separate and becomerhythmical again; they may be classed as follows:{ l.2. Fugue and imitation.3.4. Rhythms of 6 against 4.