First written copy
August 21, 1928
Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien
“Doubtless orchestral variations approximate to symphonic construction. […] Variations are like an album with views of some place or landscape, showing you particular aspects of it. A symphony, on the other hand, is like a panorama in which one certainly views the pictures separately; but in reality they are closely linked and merge into each other.” (Arnold Schönberg, Radio lecture on the Variations for Orchestra, op. 31, 1931)