LATE BEETHOVEN LATE BEETHOVEN - Luisa Guembes-Buchanan

out of nowhere to mock the original theme. Variation 20,
marked Andante, is quite unusual, and it signals a change.
Beethoven is now transforming and transcending the idea of
‘variation’ itself.
Worthy of special mention is variation 22. There
Beethoven parodies Mozart’s “Notte e giorno faticar”
from Don Giovanni. Kindermann is of the opinion that
by identifying this variation with the character Leporello,
Beethoven has brilliantly alluded to the fact that Leporello’s
relationship to his master mirrors Beethoven’s relationship
to the theme: critical, but faithful.
Variations 29, 30 and 31 take us into a totally different
realm. Beethoven has transcended the world of the
Diabelli waltz, and we find in these variations some of the
most lyrical and tender melodies he composed. This is most
especially true of variation 31, written not unlike an aria,
that leads us into a manic double fugue whose subject is the
repeated notes of the waltz and the inversion of its rising
sequences. This is as exhilarating to listen to as it is to play.
A transition much like a cadenza clears the air to the final
variation.
Variation 33 marked Tempo di Menuetto, is related
to the Arietta of op. 111 in structure, rhythmic diminutions
and ephemeral passages. Kindermann says it best: “The
Arietta movement, itself influenced by the Diabelli project,
served in turn as Beethoven’s model for the last of the variations.
Thus the final allusion became a self-reference, a
final point within an artwork whose vast scope ranges from
ironic caricature to sublime transformation of a commonplace
waltz”. 39
50