BEETHOVEN'S DIABELLI VARIATIONS

The Diabelli Variations must be the most well-known set of keyboard variations after my beloved Bach's Goldbergs. In 1819, Anton Diabelli, a composer and publisher of piano music for children, wrote a simple waltz and invited the 50 most famous composers of the time to contribute a variation of it. Among those asked were Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt and Beethoven himself, who thought poorly of the waltz and simply ignored the entire enterprise. However, the mercurial composer changed his mind quickly, and submitted 23 variations to Diabelli, adding a further nine 4 years later. The contributions of the other 49 composers are today largely forgotten, but Beethoven's 32 variations are still regarded as a work of compositional genius. And the way Piotr Anderszewski plays and explains them in a DVD I have put Piotr at the same level with G. Gould, both players play and interpret the music just like they are composing it.

Beethoven took the seed of Diabelli's waltz and spun out a profound document of his own wit and craft. The work runs a full specter of emotions from the comic to the solemn, from virtuoso presdigitation to ethereal sparseness. Beethoven mercilessly made fun of material that musicians of the time would instantly recognize, such as Cramer's Piano Method and his five-finger exercises and an aria from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

The early variations stay close to the basic form of the theme, but Beethoven is willing to experiment and try radical things in the later variations. The original waltz is transformed into far-ranging forms, such as a German dance in Nos. 15, 25 and 28. Beethoven also reflects upon his own work, the closing variations being closely related to his last piano sonatas. Taken as a whole, the work is clear testimony of Beethoven's limitless variety and inspiration. It is an essential part of the music collection of every student of the piano and collector of piano players’ movies such as me.