Whether Schoenberg worked in the tonal or twelve-note idiom, his procedures remained the same. One such procedure that runs throughout his development is that of variation. Composed between August and October 1941 in response to a commission, Schoenberg wrote the Variations on a Recitative, for organ in D minor, Op. 40, at the tail end of a very slow period in his career—since 1936 the only original works he had completed were the Kol nidre and the Second Chamber Symphony. During this time, Schoenberg began re-exploring the potentials of the tonal idiom he had set aside years before. This re-exploration is evident in the constant reference to the "tonic" pitch in the Variations, Op. 40. However, the piece borrows from serialism. The Variations for Organ are composed on a massive scale in the tradition of Beethoven's "Prometheus" Variations, Op. 35, and Brahms' Händel Variations, Op. 24.

The Variations, Op. 40 are occasionally said to be in D minor, although the key is often lost in a haze of chromaticism, and the idea of "cadence" in the tonal sense is absent. There is no motion, harmonic or melodic, that articulates the minor mode. Furthermore, there is a preponderance of fourth chords, as well as harmonic movement by half step on almost every beat.

In the Variations, Op. 40, Schoenberg's first work for organ, the composer's exploitation of timbre and color is as great as in any of his orchestral works. Here we find unusual registrations and great contrasts between registers. Similar procedures, including grounding a work on a pitch center, appear in the Theme and Variations for wind orchestra, Op. 43, re-orchestrated as the Theme and Variations for full orchestra, Op. 43b, both from the summer of 1943.

The recitative on which the variations are based consists of motivic cells, a feature made clear at the opening of the piece. A three-note figure experiences several melodic accretions before the variations begin and the work becomes polyphonic. Schoenberg first explores the lower registers of the organ in this continuously developing opening variation. Intermittent, exposed appearances of the first motive provide an aural foothold, although this is easy to lose in the wide dynamic contrasts and very dense textures. What sounds like a grand close, near the end, is deceptive, and Schoenberg leaves a single pitch hanging in the air, initiating further variation within the powerful coda. The chromatic motion is perpetual, creating a restless work that one writer has suggested is an essay in "cruelty."

© John Palmer, Rovi