Developing variation
In music, developing variation is a formal technique in which the concepts of development and variation are united in that variations are produced through the development of existing material.
Though the term was coined by Arnold Schoenberg, inventor of the twelve-tone technique, he felt it was one of the most important compositional principles since around 1750[1]:
Music of the homophonic-melodic style of composition, that is, music with a main theme, accompanied by and based on harmony, produces its material by, as I call it, developing variation. This means that variation of the features of a basic unit produces all the thematic formulations which provide for fluency, contrasts, variety, logic and unity, on the one hand, and character, mood, expression, and every needed differentiation, on the other hand--thus elaborating the idea of the piece."
Source
- ^ Haimo, Ethan. 1990. Schoenberg's Serial Odyssey: The Evolution of his Twelve-Tone Method, 1914-1928, p.73n8. Oxford [England] : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-3152-60-6.
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