Glinka Variations on a Theme of Mozart

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

In Variation 3 of the Glinka Variations on aTheme of Mozart, there is an indication of “sons harmoniques” below the bass line at the beginning. However, as the variation progresses, there are places where harmonics cannot work. Even if you assume that they are to be played the octave below, that doesn’t work either. There are octaves in the first and second endings with no indication of whether the bottom one is supposed to be a harmonic, but obviously, both can’t. So, where do the harmonics end? And are they played where they are written, or where they sound? Another question: in Variation 4, is the eighth note pickup in the eighth bar supposed to be a sixteenth, or is it correct?

[unknown-user]

Hello Elizabeth,

I have the Sikorski edition, and variation III is marked with harmonics, in the treble until bar 4 which goes into the bass – G below middle C.

The first time bar has a harmonic on the first crotchet (quarter note) an E above middle C, then the 3rd and 4th beats are

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

Thank you for your quick response! It has been very helpful!

[unknown-user]

Not sure how clear I was in the last post, so have sent you some clarification via your email address. Hope the info helps.

[lydia-weaver-haywood]

I was just wondering if anyone else has trouble playing the high E harmonic in variation three (measure 14).

[unknown-user]

That E is a little awkward – but I can’t say its a problem for me. I do have small hands and a concert grand though.

Different harps do have different string lengths, and some seem to get harmonics out easier than others. The only thing I can think of to suggest is that you push the harp forward a little with your knee, as sometimes

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

You can use the right hand-type position to play high harmonics with the left hand. I always found that one painful. I like using the other version that omits that variation.

[lydia-weaver-haywood]

Interesting – I didn’t think about trying LH harmonics with the RH positions.

[Tacye]

I have never heard this piece with more than the bottom note of the octave as a non-harmonic. Edward Witsenburg at a masterclass at the Edinburgh festival last year was very definite that the harmonics were written at sounding pitch- this does not seem to be a universally accepted truth among UK harpists and I learnt them played at written pitch. I toy with the idea of playing both notes of the octaves as harmonics, either by damping the lower note with my little finger or by taking the top note in the RH. It is possible and just over half the time I think it a good idea.

[unknown-user]

Hello Tayce,

Thanks for that info. I learnt the work with the harmonics written where you make the note, not where they sound – so that is interesting.

Maybe I have an unusual edition (Sikorski, Hamburg 1972), but if the harmonics are written where they sound and made an octave lower on the string, this would create problems in the fourth bar – as you would be making the

[Tacye]

Come to think of it, I think I have heard that octave played with both notes loco-(sounded rather like a heffalump to me- as does the base note alone- hey I haven’t tried base note harmonic and top natural.) I play, and think I have always heard, the B upbeat in the 1st time bar as harmonic, I certainly play it that way. I read Rosemary’s first post too rapidly and thought she said it turned to natural notes in bar 4 which would have been very odd! Played at sounding pitch I have seen the 7th E harmonic played natural up an octave, but with practice it is possible to get a clear harmonic there. It does have the two hands very seperated in pitch, but seems to be much easier to get the phrasing of the harmonics. There are enough different ideas about this piece that I doubt a definitive interpretation exists.

I have the Salvi reprint with ridiculous page turns which just asks for harmonics at the start of the movement.

[unknown-user]

Hello Tacye,

Thanks for that clarification, sounds like there are different editions. I should have realised when Elizabeth said that her version was marked “sons harmoniques” – as mine is just notated with the circle for harmonics over the note.

Sorry if I added to any confusion – I must say that i sometimes find it hard to describe well what I’m seeing on the page.

Sent you some clarification via your email Tacye.

Regards,

Rosemary.

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

I checked with Dorothy Remsen about the harmonics, and she reported that the AHS Competition Chair, JoAnn Turovsky, said that they will accept any of the above solutions to the harmonics question. So, chacun a son gout (French for “to each his own”)!

[carl-swanson]

Or ‘Debrouillez- vous!’

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

I was just teaching this piece, and I have come up with an idea for the harmonics: I play them where they sound until the second beat C of the third bar of that variation. I play that C and the rest of the notes until the end of bar 4 (the low E flat) where they’re written. In bar 5, I go back to playing them where they sound. This allows you to keep that octave jump to the low E flat, and the phrase comes out nicely as well. Has anyone else ever done this?

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