Mozart - 12 Variations in C Major 'Ah vous dirai-je, Maman' K.265 (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

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Cites Some_Guy · 2017-01 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Why is the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star used everywhere?”

The melody is from a French song, Ah! vous dirai-je, maman [LINK] The first known publishing of the melody dates from 1761, who knows how much further back it goes. Mozart wrote some variations based on it, which probably helped popularise it a lot greatly Nursery rhymes, sport chants, folk songs, political rally songs etc. often use existing melodies that are already well remembered, and just change the words, this happens with a lot of melodies. This particular melody? Musically, it's simple, memorable, and easy for children and adults to sing and play because of its short range (6 notes, less than an octave). It's rhythmically repetitive and pretty much as simple as you can get: 1 2 3 4 5

Cites Dom · 2017-04 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Are chord progressions used in classical music?”

I think your terminology is a bit off here. Nothing about a chord progression requires repetition although a lot of more modern pieces will use progressions that repeat, it does not speak for all progressions. In fact a lot of famous chord progressions like the one in the B section I Got Rhythm , which even has its own name - "rhythm changes" - does not repeat until the whole piece is repeated to lengthen the piece. All of those listed composers did what every good composer did which is write what's best for the piece. This wasn't necessarily with a chord progression in mind, but a general idea of harmony with tension and resolution to shape the piece. Pieces that take advantage of ideas of

Cites Laurence · 2017-09 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Difference between variation and development”

If you take a 16-bar tune and repeat it with a different accompaniment, different harmony, minor key instead of major... but it's still recognisably the same 16-bar tune, you've written a variation. If you take a melodic fragment, a rhythm, an interval even, and 'play with it', maybe combining and contrasting it with another fragment of the same (or another) tune, you're developing. I think we can let Variation go a bit beyond the Harvard Dictionary "...merely an ornamental change such as a melodic elaboration or a shift in dynamics or orchestration." But once the original structure ceases to be apparent, we're getting into the realms of development. Variations come in sets, with clearly del