Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, composition for solo piano and orchestra by Sergey Rachmaninoff, premiered in 1934 in Baltimore, Maryland, with Rachmaninoff playing the solo part. The piece is a set of variations on Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 for solo violin.

In 1934, having already completed four piano concerti, Rachmaninoff began a new concerto-like piece consisting of 24 variations on Paganini’s well-known violin theme. The task was an ambitious one, given that the theme had already been used by other composers, notably Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. Rachmaninoff’s piece is not a concerto in the conventional sense, having only one movement rather than the usual three, but it follows the tempo pattern of a typical concerto, beginning and ending briskly, with a slower middle section. The best-known of Rachmaninoff’s variations is the lyrical 18th, which presents a melodic inversion of Paganini’s theme, meaning that rising steps are transformed into equivalent falling steps and vice versa.

Although the Paganini theme serves as the thematic foundation, a subsidiary melody, the plainchant Dies irae (“Day of Wrath”) from the requiem mass is also featured at times. This evocation of fire and brimstone appears most obviously in the 7th, 10th, and 24th variations.