Variations on a Nursery Tune

Op. 25, for piano and orchestra, composed 1914, is Dohnányi's most frequently performed work and one of the most witty and accomplished sets of variations in the Romantic repertoire. Based on 'Ah, vous dirais-je Maman' — known as 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' — it opens with a mock-solemn introduction in which the orchestra intones a portentous theme as if introducing a great masterwork, before the solo piano presents the nursery tune in its simplest form. Twelve brilliant variations follow, each exploiting a different technical and expressive resource of piano writing and orchestration. The joke is sustained throughout with consummate skill: the contrast between the grandiose introduction and the naive tune is the source of all the wit, and Dohnányi never lets it go stale.

The introduction must be played entirely straight — no winking at the audience, no knowing irony in the phrasing. The humour depends on the soloist committing fully to the seriousness of the introduction, so that the arrival of the nursery tune is genuinely funny by contrast. The variations themselves are each a complete character piece: practise them for their individual qualities before putting the whole together. The final variation builds to a climax that needs real pianistic weight and authority — by the end, the joke has transformed into a genuine statement.