ABSTRACT
Schenker understands music as an art of elaboration, a point of view that is easiest to appreciate in a theme and variations, as we saw in the previous chapter. Example 2.1 shows the beginning of Beethoven’s variations on “God save the King” (or “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”). Starting at the top (Example 2.1a), Beethoven’s first variation on this theme adds a number of embellishments, some of which are labeled.
