The Nyan Cat Variations

Cool!

“Nyan Cat Variations” by Craig Davis Pinson is a 17 minute musical composition for classical ensemble based on the infamous Nyan Cat theme. It was performed by the Juventas New Music Ensemble at The Boston Conservatory on February 9.

"This is a set of variations written on the melody heard in the Youtube video Nyan Cat [original]. It is an experiment, in which I tried to find the limits of how far I could transform the melody before it begins losing its identity. The theme is known as Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!, originally posted by username daniwellP on the Japanese video sharing website, Nico Nico Douga. The Nyan Cat phenomenom has become ingrained in popular culture, and amazes me both in its sheer absurdity and its freakishly colossal popularity. However, fascinating as they are to me, the origins of the theme are not played upon in this composition. Instead, I treated Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya! as pure musical material from which to generate music. The motivation to use this theme came from my repeated viewings of the video, and slowly realizing that it is a strangely alluring melody. Therefore, this is my tribute to Nyan Cat."