Richard Lane

Theme and Variations

Theme and Variations is based on 'Sweet Adeline', a very romantic but outdated American melody from the end of the 18th century, which was often successfully programmed by the so-called barbershop quartets (male vocal quartets), mostly parodying male drunkenness. Hence Richard Lane's note at the beginning of the score: 'always with serious expression' followed by a shaggy, smiling male head caricature. The piece is dedicated to the flautist Adeline Tomasone but written for her husband, the horn player David Wetherill. Both studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, USA, and were friends of the composer. Wetherill was successively principal horn at La Scala in Milan, with Pierre Boulez's Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris and for 30 years alternated as principal horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra. David Wetherill played the work in a recital in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1991.