This charming work is a set of variations on an elegant and graceful minuet from an oboe concerto by the oboist and composer Johann Christian Fischer. The variations elaborately ornament the theme, whose presence is never hard to detect during the course of the work.

The theme itself is first stated in graceful two-part counterpoint. Its second part starts with an octave-jumping figure in the accompaniment. Variation 1 provides sped-up extensions of the melody for both hands, and variation 2 features sliding scalar figures and repeated notes in both parts with the left hand imitating most of the right's material. Variation 3 transforms the melody into a running figure with triplets that sometimes percolate through the accompaniment as well through the melody, and variation 4 is a study in running 16th notes in the melody line that occasionally cross into the accompaniment as well. Variation 5 features strutting chords along with the melody over running triplets in the accompaniment, and #6 features a music-box-like presentation of the melody over an Alberti bass. The seventh variation returns to the simple texture of the beginning, with several trills among the embellishing changes, and the eighth features Scotch snaps and syncopated figures in its treatment of the melody. In variation 9 the right hand often crosses into the bass, sometimes with single-note figures, sometimes with scalar runs. Variation 10 features octaves in both hands, sometimes simultaneous, sometimes broken. Variation 11 proceeds in a stately manner with some intricate ornamentation of the melody line, and variation 12 ends the work with a bang as flashy running 16-notes show up in the parts for both hands.

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