LATE BEETHOVEN LATE BEETHOVEN - Luisa Guembes-Buchanan

33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton
Diabelli, op. 120
The 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, op. 120 represent
Beethoven’s most extraordinary single achievement
in the art of variation writing. In their originality and
power of invention they stand with other late masterpieces
such as the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis and the
last string quartets. The remarkable creativity of this composition
makes it both a microcosm of Beethoven’s work
and a monument to musical art.
The Austrian publisher and composer Anton Diabelli
(1781-1856) wrote some sonatinas in the Viennese style of
the day and a great deal of music for the guitar, including
some very popular sets of Ländler, which were usually
performed by small bands in Viennese taverns. Schubert is
said to have been very fond of them. Around 1819, Diabelli
asked fifty of the most popular composers of the time to
each contribute a variation on an original waltz theme.
His intent was to publish their offerings as a collection.
Beethoven at first declined to participate but later offered
to provide a set of variations on the Diabelli theme. He
began to compose the variations in 1819 and over time
broadened the scope of his efforts. The variations were
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completed in 1823 and dedicated to Antonia Brentano.
Beethoven published them in June 1823 under the title
“33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer von A. Diabelli”.
Beethoven used the term Veränderungen, following Bach’s
title for his “Aria mit 30 Veränderungen” (the Goldberg
Variations).
Together with the Bagatelles op. 126 published in
1825, the Diabelli Variations represent Beethoven’s final
contribution to the piano literature. We know from the
sketches and drafts of the variations that he originally
planned to compose a large number, but he abruptly abandoned
the project and set to work on the Missa Solemnis
and the last three piano sonatas. At the end of 1822
Beethoven resumed his work on the variations and finished
them in early 1823. The work as we know it is thus to a
great extent the product of two conceptions: an original
conception and a superimposed conception.
Over the years, this extensive composition has been
the subject of numerous studies and theories. Hans von
Bülow is said to have advocated that artists perform selected
variations, but not the whole work. August Halm underscores
the architectural unity of the work and divides it into
seven related sections. Karl Geiringer points out that as the
original theme consists of thirty-two measures, so the collec-