Beethoven - Variations on Ukrainian Themes, Op. 107, Nos. 3 and 7 (Transcribed for Cello and Piano)

Beethoven's friendship with Count Andrey Razumovsky sparked Beethoven's interest in the music from the Russian Empire. Many string players are familiar with Beethoven's Razumovsky String Quartets, Op. 59. Each quartet includes a "theme Russe." Beethoven also used themes from the region now known as Ukraine for two of his Ten National Airs with

Beethoven's friendship with Count Andrey Razumovsky sparked Beethoven's interest in the music from the Russian Empire. Many string players are familiar with Beethoven's Razumovsky String Quartets, Op. 59. Each quartet includes a "theme Russe." Beethoven also used themes from the region now known as Ukraine for two of his Ten National Airs with Variations, Op. 107 for piano with flute ad libitum.

No. 3 of the set is based on the song "Пожалуйте, сударыня!" (Please, Madame) by Sergey Nikiforovich Marin (a Russian officer during the Napoleonic wars, as well as a poet satirist). Beethoven identifies the melody as from "petite Russe" (Little Russia, aka Ukraine), but the song was at best heard in Ukraine and is not Ukrainian in origin. While there are 7 variations, Beethoven only marked five of them.

No. 7 of the set is based on, arguably, the most famous Ukrainian song "Їхав козак за Дунай" (The Kozak rode beyond the Danube) written by the philosopher Semen Klymovskyj. This variation set by Beethoven also has seven variations. The song came to Western Europe under the title "Schöne Minka," under which title Weber, Hummel, and others wrote their own variation sets. During the Soviet times, the song was popularized under the title "Ти ж мене підманула" (You lied to me), which is a humorous days-of-the-week song where the guy gets stood up at different venues. This version has been covered by artists from all over the world and from different genres. The song "Orysya" by the Ukrainian folk group Mandry is also based on the "Kozak" theme.

We would like to offer transcriptions for cello and piano of the two variation sets by Beethoven to add to the three already-existing sets (based on Mozart's Magic Flute and Handel's Judas Maccabeus). The piano part was kept as Beethoven wrote it and the flute part was made idiomatic for the cello with appropriate transpositions.