The Riemenschneider Bach Institute’s Freedman Collection includes a piece by Alexis Garaudé titled Air Varié. It is a set of variations for string quartet, composed for two violins, an alto and bass played by viola and cello, respectively. The cover of this work tells us that it was written for Giulia Parravicini, a notable violinist from the era. A few things to note about this particular set of music in the collection is first that the original publisher information has been covered with a “Chez Jouve” stamp, likely from the previous owner of the music. Secondly, Garaudé’s work in the collection has been bound together with a separate work by French composer C. Lafont, with the same title, Air Varié. We know that these are two different publications due to the different plate numbers on each work, L and K. Charles Philippe Lafont (1781-1839) was a French violinist and composer active around the same time as Alexis Garaudé. Unfortunately, we do not know why these two works were bound together.
In Garaudé piece, Air Varié, the first violin is featured as a soloist while the other three voices provide harmonic accompaniment. It is in the galant style with simple rhythms, consonant harmonies and beautiful melodies. The first variation of the melody is faster with complex rhythms and a significant amount of embellishment. The second variation features a repeated dotted rhythm throughout the melody. The third has the fastest moving rhythms seen so far in the work, with a melody consisting of mostly sixteenth notes. It is the most technically impressive variation in the set, aside from the final fourth variation. The fourth variation is in minor, and combines aspects from the previous three variations. The beginning is rhythmically slower, with Garaudé layering increasingly complex rhythms, including the dotted rhythms calling back to the second variation. This final variation also includes the largest leaps, as well as the largest range, spanning from a G3 to a G6 in just two measures. This quartet variation is a great representation of Garaudé’s late Classical style.
First page of Violin 1 part from Freedman Collection score