Steve Reich (b.1936)
Autograph manuscript signed ('Steve Reich'), eight bars from the Variations for Winds, Strings & Keyboard, 1980
A fragment from the first orchestral work by this influential minimalist composer.

Full score, bars numbered 494 to [501], in black ink on on page, approx. 124 x 352mm, on a single system of six staves, from 2 overlapping sections of 6-stave manuscript paper, annotated with title and date at right margin.

Provenance:
(1) War Child Exhibition and auction of 'Little Pieces from Big Stars' at the Royal School of Art, London, 27 September 1994 (as noted in Sotheby's description).

(2) Sotheby's, 10 June 2009, lot 100.

(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 5428.

The Variations for Winds, Strings & Keyboard was Reich's first orchestral work, described by the composer as being in the form of a chaconne. It was first performed on 19 February 1980 at the Carnegie Hall, New York in a chamber version, before its full premiere by the San Francisco Symphony at the War Memorial Auditorium, San Francisco, on 14 May. The instruments for this section are indicated on the score as '3 oboes + Electric Organs / Strings + Electric Organ / Trumpets / Trombones + Tuba'.