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100-460: The music writer Donald Tovey called it "the greatest set of variations ever written" and pianist Alfred Brendel has described it as "the greatest of all piano works". It also comprises, in the words of Hans von Bülow , "a microcosm of Beethoven's art". In Beethoven: The Last Decade 1817–1827 , Martin Cooper writes, "The variety of treatment is almost without parallel, so that the work represents

200-680: A 1931 completion of Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue). His edition of the 48 Preludes and Fugues of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier , in two volumes (Vol. 1, March 1924; Vol. 2, June 1924), with fingerings by Harold Samuel , for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music , has been reprinted continually ever since. His completion of the (presumed) final unfinished fugue in The Art of Fugue has nothing of pastiche about it, and in fact has often been recorded as

300-538: A book of advanced studies in Beethoven's manner of expression and his use of the keyboard, as well as a monumental work in its own right". In his Structural Functions of Harmony , Arnold Schoenberg writes that the Diabelli Variations "in respect of its harmony, deserves to be called the most adventurous work by Beethoven". Beethoven's approach to the theme is to take some of its smallest elements –

400-563: A connection with Diabelli for a number of years. About a slightly earlier period, 1815, Beethoven's authoritative biographer, Alexander Wheelock Thayer , writes, "Diabelli, born near Salzburg in 1781, had now been for some years one of the more prolific composers of light and pleasing music, and one of the best and most popular teachers in Vienna. He was much employed by Steiner and Co., as copyist and corrector, and in this capacity enjoyed much of Beethoven's confidence, who also heartily liked him as

500-511: A culminating flourish consisting of a diminished seventh arpeggio is followed by a series of quiet chords punctuated by silences. These chords lead back to Diabelli's C major for Variation 33, a closing minuet . In early 1819 Diabelli, a well-known music publisher and composer, sent a waltz of his creation to all the important composers of the Austrian Empire , including Franz Schubert , Carl Czerny , Johann Nepomuk Hummel , and

600-408: A device, considering the great variety and complexity of the set, Diabelli's waltz would become superfluous, "a mere prologue to the whole." Parody is used because of the banality of Diabelli's theme. Kinderman distinguishes several forms of "parody", pointing out several examples which have no special structural significance and which were composed in the earlier period, such as the humorous parody of

700-417: A few crucial variations were added in the final stage of composition, 1822–23 and inserted at important turning-points in the series. A careful study of these late additions reveals that they stand out from the others by having in common a return to, and special emphasis on, the melodic outline of Diabelli's waltz, in the mode of parody . For Kinderman, parody is the key to the work. He points out that most of

800-446: A humorous piece, in which Beethoven "seems almost to poke fun at Diabelli's theme". Diabelli's mild opening turn is turned into the powerful chords, and his repeated chords become a long silence. The sequence is ended with two soft, anti-climactic notes. Brendel's title for this variation is Aphorism (biting) . The first slow variation, grave e maestoso . Von Bülow comments, "To imbue this wonderful number with what I should like to call

900-654: A journey from the everyday world ("Diabelli's theme conveys ideas, not only of the national, the commonplace, the humble, the rustic, the comic, but of the mother tongue, the earthly, the sensuous, and, ultimately, perhaps, of every waltzing couple under the sun" to a transcendent reality. For Solomon the structure, if there is any, consists merely of "clusters of variations representing forward and upward motion of every conceivable kind, character and speed". He sees demarcation points at Variations 8, 14 and 20, which he characterizes as three "strategically placed plateaus [which] provide spacious havens for spiritual and physical renewal in

1000-602: A later letter, "The variations were not to appear here until after they had been published in London, but everything went askew. The dedication to Brentano was intended only for Germany, as I was under obligation to her and could publish nothing else at the time. Besides, only Diabelli, the publisher here, got them from me. Everything was done by Schindler , a bigger wretch I never knew on God's earth—an arch-scoundrel whom I have sent about his business—I can dedicate another work to your wife in place of it ..." Whether Schindler's story

1100-512: A letter to the publisher Simrock , he mentioned "grand variations", as yet incomplete. Then he laid the work aside for several years – something Beethoven rarely did – while he returned to the Missa solemnis and the late piano sonatas . In June 1822, Beethoven offered to his publisher Peters "Variations on a waltz for pianoforte alone (there are many)". In the autumn of the same year he was in negotiations with Diabelli, writing to him, "The fee for

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1200-593: A lifelong fascination with variations and here he works with the structure, the harmonies, and piquant details more than with the surface of the theme, keeping the melody little in evidence. Since the work was first published, commentators have tried to find patterns, even an overall plan or structure for this huge, diverse work, but little consensus has been reached. Several early writers sought to discover clear parallels with Johann Sebastian Bach 's Goldberg Variations , without great success. Others claimed to have found symmetries, three groups of nine, for example, although

1300-522: A man." At the time of his project for variations on a theme of his own by various composers, Diabelli had advanced to become a partner in the publishing firm of Cappi and Diabelli. The oft-told but now questionable story of the origins of this work is that Beethoven at first refused categorically to participate in Diabelli's project, dismissing the theme as banal, a Schusterfleck or 'cobbler's patch,' unworthy of his time. Not long afterwards, according to

1400-447: A most exciting whirlwind of sound, reproduces all the sequences and rhythms of the theme so clearly that it seems much more like a melodic variation than it really is". Brendel's title for this variation is Giggling and neighing . Another variation built out of Diabelli's opening three notes, this one quiet and graceful. Kinderman points out how closely related Variations 11 and 12 are in structure. The opening of this variation appears in

1500-794: A series of programme notes, many of which were eventually collected into the books for which he is now best known, the Essays in Musical Analysis . In 1917, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . His proposers were Ralph Allan Sampson , Cargill Gilston Knott , John Horne and Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker . As he devoted more and more time to the Reid Orchestra, to writing essays and commentaries and producing performing editions of Bach and Beethoven , Tovey composed and performed less often later in life; but

1600-535: A series of regular chamber music performances. Early successes, receiving positive press notices, included the Piano Quintet in C, Op. 6, first performed at St James's Hall in London on 8 November 1900, and the Piano Quartet in E minor, Op. 12, played at the same hall on 21 November 1901. The Times judged him "a composer with serious aims and a very high standard", although the quartet "was written in

1700-844: A set of "grand variations" on Diabelli's theme is the influence of the Archduke Rudolph who, in the previous year, under Beethoven's tutelage, had composed a huge set of forty variations on a theme by Beethoven. In a letter of 1819 to the Archduke, Beethoven mentions that "in my writing-desk there are several compositions that bear witness to my remembering Your Imperial Highness". Several theories have been advanced on why he decided to write thirty-three variations. He might have been trying to outdo himself after his 32 Variations in C ;minor , or trying to outdo Bach's Goldberg Variations with its total of thirty-two pieces (two presentations of

1800-405: A solid technique is employed, and this work is the more interesting from the fact that it is elicited from a theme which no one would otherwise have supposed capable of a working-out of that character in which our exalted Master stands alone among his contemporaries. The splendid Fugues, Nos. 24 and 32, will astonish all friends and connoisseurs of serious style, as will Nos. 2, 6, 16, 17, 23, &c.

1900-509: A somewhat sombre vein". His patron Sophie Weisse helped fund his concert appearances, and also financed the publication of his epic, but not overtly virtuosic Piano Concerto in A major, Op. 15 in 1903 (though significantly it was published in Germany, not in Britain). The Concerto, with its particularly expressive F ♯ minor adagio movement, was first performed on 4 November 1903 by

2000-500: A stately pace in half- and dotted half-notes, with the bass providing a quiet accompaniment in the form of rising figures. The marking is dolce e teneramente ("sweetly and tenderly"). Brendel's title for this variation is Intermezzo (to Brahms) . This is the first variation to have a minor key. Simple but powerful, Variation 9 is constructed out of the slimmest of materials, consisting of little more than Diabelli's opening grace-note and turn repeated in various registers. The direction

2100-419: A strong melodic line, although the original theme is not obvious. Mid-way through each section echoes the rising sequence which occurred at a similar point in Diabelli's theme. In the second half, there is a remarkable pianissimo passage where the treble holds a chord for four full bars while the bass repeats a little three-note figure over and over, eight times, after which the melody proceeds as if nothing out of

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2200-656: A supportive marriage, often travelling together for Tovey's domestic and international engagements. They remained together until his death in 1940. Lady Tovey died in September 1944 at Hedenham Lodge, Norfolk. From the start, the Teutonic heavy seriousness and traditional craftsmanship of Tovey's first concert works in the early 1900s felt somewhat old-fashioned amidst the early stages of the English Musical Renaissance , but they did find more favour on

2300-521: A tumultuous relationship, in part strained by Cameron's mental health issues, the couple divorced in July 1922. She died a few years later. On the divorce from his first wife, Tovey's son John was placed under the guardianship of Weisse and Clara Georgina Wallace, who had also been a pupil of Weisse and known to Tovey since boyhood. Clara Wallace and Tovey married on 29 December 1925. She became Lady Tovey upon his knighthood in 1935. They appear to have had

2400-516: A well-known German dance"). Upon first publication, however, the title referred explicitly to a waltz by Diabelli: 33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer von Diabelli . Beethoven chose the German word Veränderungen rather than the usual Italian-derived Variationen , in a period when he preferred using the German language in expression marks and titles, such as Hammerklavier . Yet, apart from the title, we find only traditional Italian musical terms within

2500-482: Is Here He Cometh, the Chosen . One of the last variations composed, Variation 15 is short and light, setting the stage for the following two loud virtuoso displays. For Barry Cooper, this is another humorous variation poking fun at Diabelli's theme. Tovey comments, "The fifteenth variation gives the whole melodic outline [of the theme] so closely that its extraordinary freedom of harmony (the first half actually closes in

2600-486: Is March: gladiator, flexing his muscles . Wilhelm von Lenz called it The Mastodon and the Theme—a fable. This variation was not part of Beethoven's first series but was added somewhat later. While it returns to 4 time after the preceding march, it echoes little of Diabelli's theme. It is delicate, with a hushed, tense atmosphere. The only markings are p and leggiermente . It moves in eighth notes, allegro ,

2700-407: Is No. 25, which shifts Diabelli's monotonous rhythm from the bass to the treble and fills the bass with a simple figure endlessly repeated in a "lumbering caricature". Arriving comically after the sublime Fughetta's arresting conclusion, it opens the concluding section of the series, from the total unraveling of the following major variations and descent into minor, to the determination of the fugue, to

2800-478: Is a development of No. 11. Brendel's title for this variation is Wave Pattern . Variation 12 is another divergence from Diabelli's two-part structure. The first part is unrepeated, while Beethoven writes out the repeat of the second part in full, making small changes. Powerful, rhythmic chords, forte, each time followed by nearly two bars of silence, then a soft reply. "Eloquent pauses", in von Lenz's words. "Absurd silences", for Gerald Abraham. Barry Cooper sees it as

2900-432: Is always ascending, building toward a climax. Brendel's title for this variation is Industrious nutcracker . Like Variation No. 1, he characterizes it as "deeply serious but slightly lacking in brains". Traditionally viewed as the close of a main division of the work, Variation 10 is the most brilliant of all the variations, a break-neck presto with trills, tremolos and staccato octave scales. Tovey comments, "The tenth,

3000-442: Is defined by between-variation contrast, with nearly every sequence a stark juxtaposition, often exploited for comic and dramatic effect. The tension and disorder achieved with these contrasts gives the section a developmental quality, an instability requiring a re-synthesis. The conclusion of the fughetta no. 24, with suspension and fermata, is the second major section break. Out of the solemn silence following 24, 25 enters humorously,

3100-402: Is hammered into the ground. But any further sense of the original context of the waltz is lacking. By means of three parody variations, 1, 15, and 25, Beethoven established a series of periodic references to the waltz that draw it more closely into the inner workings of the set, and the last of these gives rise to a progression that transcends the theme once and for all. That is the central idea of

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3200-499: Is summarized by Sandra Rosenblum in her Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their Principles and Applications (Indiana University Press). Anton Schindler plays a central role in the highly fictionalized Beethoven film Immortal Beloved , in which Schindler attempts to discover the identity of the mysterious addressee of Beethoven's most famous love letter. Schindler is portrayed in

3300-463: Is taken as more legend than fact. Its origins are with Anton Schindler , Beethoven's unreliable biographer, whose account conflicts in a number of ways with several established facts, indicating that he did not have first-hand knowledge of events. At some point, Beethoven certainly did accept Diabelli's proposal, but rather than contributing a single variation on the theme, he planned a large set of variations. To begin work he laid aside his sketching of

3400-406: Is true or not that Beethoven at first contemptuously dismissed Diabelli's waltz as a Schusterfleck ( rosalia / "cobbler's patch"), there is no doubt the definition fits the work perfectly – "musical sequences repeated one after another, each time modulated at like intervals" – as can be seen clearly in these three examples: From the earliest days writers have commented on the juxtaposition between

3500-490: The Archduke Rudolph , asking each of them to write a variation on it. His plan was to publish all the variations in a patriotic volume called Vaterländischer Künstlerverein , and to use the profits to benefit orphans and widows of the Napoleonic Wars . Franz Liszt was not included, but it seems his teacher Czerny arranged for him to also provide a variation , which he composed at the age of 11. Beethoven had had

3600-475: The Diabelli Variations ." Kinderman thus sees the work as falling into three sections, Variations 1–10, 11–24 and 25–33. Each section has a certain logic and ends with a clear break. Kinderman asserts that this large-scale structure effectively follows the sonata-allegro form of Exposition-Development-Recapitulation, or more generally, Departure-Return. The first section 1–10 begins with two deliberately conservative variations followed by progressive distancing from

3700-643: The London Symphony Orchestra ) followed on 31 May 1915. However, further performances were few. Tovey made small revisions in 1923. It was revived in Edinburgh and broadcast by the BBC on 25 February 1937 with the composer conducting the Reid Orchestra. A modern recording was not issued until 2006. From 1914 his academic career took precedence over composition, although his sense of isolation from more modernist trends may also have contributed to

3800-455: The Missa solemnis , completing sketches for four variations by early 1819. (Schindler was so far off the mark that he claimed, "At the most, he worked three months on it, during the summer of 1823". Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven, claimed that "Beethoven wrote these Variations in a merry freak".) By the summer of 1819, he had completed twenty-three of the set of thirty-three. In February 1820, in

3900-753: The Theater in der Josefstadt , and from 1825 first violinist at the Theater am Kärntnertor . His acquaintance with Beethoven continued, and from 1822, he lived in the composer's house, as his unpaid secretary. Beethoven broke with Schindler in March 1825, and Karl Holz , a young violinist in the Schuppanzigh Quartet and friend of Beethoven, was engaged as the composer's secretary; though Schindler and Beethoven reconciled in August 1826, Holz continued as Beethoven's secretary with Schindler also tending to

4000-409: The aria from Mozart 's Don Giovanni (Var. 22) and the parody of a Cramer finger exercise (Var. 23). He also mentions allusions to Bach (Vars. 24 and 32) and Mozart (Var. 33). But the added, structural variations recall Diabelli's waltz, not Bach or Mozart or Cramer, and clearly highlight its most unimaginative aspects, especially its repetition of the C major tonic chord with G emphasized as

4100-452: The 'high priestly solemnity' in which it was conceived, let the performer's fantasy summon up before his eyes the sublime arches of a Gothic cathedral." Kinderman writes of its "breadth and measured dignity", adding "its spacious nobility brings the work to a point of exposure which arouses our expectations for some new and dramatic gesture." The three variations which follow certainly fulfill those expectations. Brendel's title for this variation

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4200-422: The 1990s his compositions (relatively small in number but substantial in musical content) have been recorded and performed with increasing frequency. The recordings have mostly been well received by reviewers. He was born at Eton, Berkshire , the son of Duncan Crookes Tovey, an assistant master at Eton College , and his wife, Mary Fison. As a child Tovey was privately educated exclusively by Sophie Weisse . She

4300-905: The Beethoven keyboard literature to life, based on Schindler and his testimonies, quite different from the Carl Czerny accounts on Beethoven the world has accepted since Schindler's forgeries compromised the latter's credibility. Discrepancies in metronome markings by Czerny as well as accounts of Beethoven's own rhythm and tempo choices create a worthier image of Schindler's credibility in that regard, and his valuable perspective on interpretation of Beethoven's piano music. Nevertheless, most scholars and music historians dedicated to historical performances continue to discredit Schindler, especially in his appraisal of Beethoven's alleged flexibility in tempo when performing his own music, and instead continue to take their cue more from Czerny and Ferdinand Ries, both of whom knew Beethoven far longer than Schindler. This

4400-567: The Minuet, at once a final goal and a denouement. The effect of the full cycle is the distinct sense of a dramatic arch – this could arguably be achieved to some extent from sheer duration; however, the strategically placed structural variations, meticulous sequencing, sweeping departure and return, and inspired final progression augment this effect and demonstrate its intentionality. Alfred Brendel , in his essay "Must Classical Music be Entirely Serious?" takes an approach similar to Kinderman's, making

4500-503: The Queen's Hall Orchestra, conducted by Sir Henry Wood , with Tovey himself as the soloist. (Tovey also performed Mozart 's Piano Concerto in C major, K.503 , at the same concert). It was successfully revived in 1906 under Richter, and again in 1913 in Aachen , Germany under Fritz Busch . Weisse also funded the publication of Tovey's early chamber works between 1906 and 1913, including

4600-469: The Tyrol". Sforzando octaves in the bass hand against triplets in the treble make for a brilliant, dramatic effect. Kinderman goes so far as to describe it as "harsh". Brendel's title for this variation is Sniveling and stamping . After the three loud, dramatic variations which precede it, this eighth variation offers relief and contrast in the form of a soft, strongly melodic piece, the melody moving at

4700-514: The Variat. should be 40 ducats at the most if they are worked out on as large a scale as planned, but if this should not take place , it would be set for less ". It was probably in February 1823 that Beethoven returned to the task of completing the set. By March or April 1823, the full set of thirty-three variations was finished. By April 30 a copy was ready to send to Ries in London. Beethoven kept

4800-501: The baton of Sir Henry Wood , and Tovey played it again in 1906 under Hans Richter . During this period he also contributed heavily to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica , writing many of the articles on music of the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1914, he began to teach music at the University of Edinburgh , succeeding Frederick Niecks as Reid Professor of Music ; there he founded the Reid Orchestra. For their concerts he wrote

4900-471: The beginning of the set somewhat anchored. Afterwards however, Diabelli is barely recognizable until Variation 15, the second structural variation, a brief, lightweight piece conspicuously inserted between several of the most powerful variations (Nos. 14, 16 and 17). It recalls and caricatures the original waltz by means of its prosaic harmony. The third and final structural variation, in Kinderman's analysis,

5000-411: The brilliant pianists; indeed all these variations, through the novelty of their ideas, care in working-out, and beauty in the most artful of their transitions, will entitle the work to a place beside Sebastian Bach's famous masterpiece in the same form. We are proud to have given occasion for this composition, and have, moreover, taken all possible pains with regard to the printing to combine elegance with

5100-503: The case for the work as "a humorous work in the widest possible sense" and pointing out that early commentators took a similar view: Beethoven's first biographer, Anton Schindler, says—and for once I am inclined to believe him—that the composition of this work 'amused Beethoven to a rare degree', that it was written 'in a rosy mood', and that it was 'bubbling with unusual humour', disproving the belief that Beethoven spent his late years in complete gloom. According to Wilhelm von Lenz , one of

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5200-410: The case for viewing the Diabelli Variations as a humorous work, is Alleged Waltz . Commentators do not agree on the intrinsic musical value of Diabelli's theme. While Beethoven's first variation stays close to the melody of Diabelli's theme, there is nothing waltz-like about it. It is a strong, heavily accented march in 4 time, greatly differing from the character and 4 time of

5300-462: The composer's death in 1827), and that he had exaggerated his period of close association with Beethoven (his claimed eleven or twelve years was probably no more than five or six). It is also believed that Schindler burned more than half of Beethoven's conversation books and removed countless pages from those that survived. The Beethoven Compendium (Cooper 1991, p. 52) goes so far as to say that Schindler's propensity for inaccuracy and fabrication

5400-529: The composers' needs. After Beethoven's death in 1827, Schindler moved to Budapest where he worked as a music teacher, returning to Vienna in 1829. In 1831, he moved to Münster where he was a musical director; from 1835 he lived in Aachen , where he was municipal music director until 1840. In 1840, Schindler's biography of Beethoven was published in Münster. Later editions appeared in 1845, 1860 and 1871. In 1841–42 Schindler visited Paris, and met some of

5500-417: The continent. His official opus 1, the four movement Piano Trio in B minor was already composed on a large scale. It was completed in 1895 during Tovey's first term at Balliol and dedicated "to Sir Hubert Parry as the first work of a grateful pupil". There were other chamber works during this period, most of them including a piano part for Tovey to play himself: from 1900 he energetically promoted them through

5600-434: The excitement is brought front and centre, both halves of the piece racing in crescendos toward a pair of chords marked forte . The driving rhythm emphasizes the third beat of the bar. Brendel's title for this variation is Learned ländler . This fifth variation is an exciting number with breathtaking rhythmic climaxes. For the first time in the series, there are elements of virtuosity, which will become more pronounced in

5700-630: The famous musicians of the day. Schindler possessed a great part of Beethoven's estate, in particular around 400 conversation books that Beethoven used to converse with friends in his later years. Beethoven's estate, purchased by the Royal Prussian Library in Berlin in 1845, included 136 conversation books. Schindler retained the remainder, which were likely destroyed. Schindler died on 16 January 1864 in Bockenheim . Although

5800-464: The few major pieces he did complete are on a large scale, such as his Symphony of 1913 and the Cello Concerto completed in 1935 for his longtime friend Pablo Casals . Performing also became problematic. In illustrated radio talks recorded in his last few years, his playing is severely affected by a problem with one of his hands. Tovey made several editions of other composers' music, including

5900-483: The figures 32 and 33 have their special significance: 32 sonatas are followed by 33 variations as a crowning achievement, of which Var. 33 relates directly to the thirty-second's final adagio." And Brendel adds, whimsically, "There happens to be, between the 32 Variations in C minor and the sets Opp. 34 and 35, a numerical gap. The Diabelli Variations fills it." Diabelli published the work quickly as Op. 120 in June of

6000-660: The final piece of the set. His influential Essays in Musical Analysis based on his Reid Orchestra programme notes, were first published at this time, in six volumes between 1935 and 1939. They were edited by Hubert Foss of the Oxford University Press . He was knighted by King George V in 1935, reportedly on the recommendation of Sir Edward Elgar , who greatly admired Tovey's edition of Bach. He died in 1940 in Edinburgh . His archive, including scores, letters, handwritten programme notes and annotations in

6100-411: The high note and the static harmony thus created. The first of the three added variations is No. 1, a "mock-heroic" march which immediately follows Diabelli to open the set dramatically, echoing in the right hand the tonic triad of the theme while the left hand simply walks down in octaves Diabelli's descending fourth. No. 2 even maintains the repeated root-position triad, demonstrating the intent to keep

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6200-475: The importance of understanding how musical principles manifest themselves in different ways within the context of a given piece. He was fond of using figurative comparisons to illustrate his ideas, as in this quotation from the Essays (on Brahms' Handel Variations , Op. 24, Tovey 1922): The relation between Beethoven's freest variations and his theme is of the same order of microscopical accuracy and profundity as

6300-470: The inconsistencies of Schindler's account of Beethoven's life were clear as early as the 1850s to lead Alexander Wheelock Thayer to commence research for his own pioneering Beethoven biography, it was a series of musicological articles published beginning in the 1970s that essentially destroyed Schindler's credibility. It was demonstrated that Schindler had falsified entries in Beethoven's Conversation Books (into which he inserted many spurious entries after

6400-404: The internal evidence of the music itself has influenced subsequent writers on music. In his essays, Tovey developed a theory of tonal structure and its relation to classical forms that he applied in his descriptions of pieces in his famous programme notes for the Reid Orchestra, as well as in more technical and extended writings. His aesthetic regards works of music as organic wholes, and he stresses

6500-421: The kindly tolerance of Hans von Bülow ("quite a pretty and tasteful little piece, protected from the dangers of obsolescence by what one might call its melodic neutrality"). At the other end is William Kinderman 's contempt ("banal", "trite", "a beer hall waltz"). In liner notes to Vladimir Ashkenazy 's 2006 Decca recording, Michael Steinberg attempts to pinpoint what Beethoven might have found appealing in

6600-406: The last moment of programmatic contrast and the last structural variation, anchoring the cycle to the theme once more before heading off into the final section. Variations 25–33 form another progressive series, rather than a collection of contrasts. The familiarity of 25 (especially after its predecessors) and the ensuing return to a progressive pattern give this section a recapitulatory quality. First

6700-518: The most perceptive early commentators on Beethoven's music, Beethoven here shines as the 'most thoroughly initiated high priest of humour'; he calls the variations 'a satire on their theme'. Diabelli's theme, a waltz with off-beat accents and sharp changes in dynamics , was never intended for dancing. By this time, the waltz was no longer merely a dance but had become a form of art music . Alfred Brendel's suggested title for Diabelli's theme, in his essay "Must Classical Music be Entirely Serious?", making

6800-433: The movie Copying Beethoven as the theme of the sonata written by the copyist that Beethoven first ridicules then later, to redeem himself, begins to work on more seriously. Brendel's title for this variation is ' Innocente' (Bülow) . Ceaseless motion with many running fourths. Kinderman sees this variation as foreshadowing Number 20 because of the simple way it exposes the harmonic structure. Tovey points out that it

6900-560: The opening turn, the descending fourth and fifth , the repeated notes – and build upon them pieces of great imagination, power and subtlety. Alfred Brendel wrote, "The theme has ceased to reign over its unruly offspring. Rather, the variations decide what the theme may have to offer them. Instead of being confirmed, adorned and glorified, it is improved, parodied, ridiculed, disclaimed, transfigured, mourned, stamped out and finally uplifted". Beethoven does not seek variety by using key-changes , staying with Diabelli's C major for most of

7000-407: The ordinary had happened. This was the first variation in Beethoven's original plan. From the earliest sketchbooks, Beethoven kept it together with the following Variation 4. Both use counterpoint , and the transition between them is seamless. Brendel's title for this variation is Confidence and nagging doubt . The steady rise in drama since Variation 2 reaches a high point in this variation. Here

7100-467: The original set of twenty-three in order, but inserted nos. 1 (the opening march ), 2, 15, 23 (sometimes called a parody of a Cramer finger exercise), 24 (a lyrical fughetta ), 25, 26, 28, 29 (the first of the series of three slow variations leading to the final fugue and minuet), 31 (the third, highly expressive slow variation leading directly into the final fugue and minuet) and 33 (the concluding minuet). One suggestion on what prompted Beethoven to write

7200-568: The penultimate Fugue had to be counted as five. The work has been analyzed in terms of sonata form , complete with separate 'movements.' What is not disputed, however, is that the work begins with a simple, rather commonplace musical idea, transforms it in many radical ways, and ends with a sequence of variations that are cathartic in the manner of other late Beethoven works. Maynard Solomon in The Late Beethoven: Music, Thought, Imagination expresses this idea symbolically, as

7300-475: The relation of a bat's wing to a human hand. Similarly in his book on Beethoven , dictated in 1936 but published posthumously in 1944: We do not expect a return to the home tonic to be associated with a theme we have never heard before, any more than we expect on returning from our holiday to find our house completely redecorated and refurnished and inhabited by total strangers. Anton Schindler Anton Felix Schindler (13 June 1795 – 16 January 1864)

7400-482: The same year, adding the following introductory note: We present here to the world Variations of no ordinary type, but a great and important masterpiece worthy to be ranked with the imperishable creations of the old Classics—such a work as only Beethoven, the greatest living representative of true art—only Beethoven, and no other, can produce. The most original structures and ideas, the boldest musical idioms and harmonies are here exhausted; every pianoforte effect based on

7500-577: The scores of others, is housed in the Special Collections Unit of the University of Edinburgh library. In 2009 Richard Witts created a simple catalogue of the archival material available from the University on-line. Tovey married his first wife, Margaret "Grettie" Cameron, the daughter of Hugh Cameron R.S.A., on 22 April 1916. In May 1919 they adopted an infant son, their only child, whom they named John Wellcome Tovey. Following

7600-465: The set: among the first twenty-eight variations, he uses the tonic minor only once, in Variation 9. Then, nearing the conclusion, Beethoven uses C minor for Variations 29–31 and for Variation 32, a triple fugue , he switches to E ♭  major . Coming at this late point, after such a long period in C major, the key-change has an increased dramatic effect. At the end of the fugue,

7700-656: The silence. The Bride of Dionysus , an ambitious music drama based on the Greek legend , was begun in 1907, using a text written by his friend R. C. Trevelyan . It took over ten years for Tovey to complete it, and then it had to wait a further decade before its premiere in 1929. There was very little else after that apart from the Cello Concerto, Op. 40, begun in 1933 for Pablo Casals , and first performed by him on 22 November 1934 in Usher Hall , Edinburgh. The Times described it as "a work of considerable power and beauty", but

7800-408: The story, upon learning that Diabelli would pay a handsome price for a full set of variations from him, Beethoven changed his mind and decided to show how much could be done with such slim materials. (In another version of the legend, Beethoven was so insulted at being asked to work with material he considered beneath him that he wrote 33 variations to demonstrate his prowess.) Today, however, this story

7900-402: The subsequent London performances, on 11 and 12 November 1935, were ill-prepared and the press notices were negative. Famously, in reviewing a later Queen's Hall performance and broadcast on 17 November 1937 Constant Lambert commented that "the first movement...seemed to last as long as my first term at school". Tovey's belief that classical music has an aesthetic that can be deduced from

8000-403: The theme and thirty variations). There is a story that Diabelli was pressing Beethoven to send him his contribution to the project, whereupon Beethoven asked, "How many contributions have you got?" "Thirty-two", said Diabelli. "Go ahead and publish them", Beethoven is purported to have replied, "I shall write thirty-three all by myself." Alfred Brendel observes, "In Beethoven's own pianistic output,

8100-449: The theme is subdivided and abstracted to the point of disintegration with 25–28. Variations 29–31 then descend into the minor, culminating in the baroque-romantic largo 31, the emotional climax of the work and the groundwork for the sense of transcendence to come. A dominant segue seamlessly heralds the massive fugue 32 – the 'finale' in its relentless energy, virtuosity, and complexity. The intensely suspenseful final transition dissolves into

8200-431: The theme, writing: Diabelli's theme is a thirty-two bar waltz laid out in symmetrical four-bar phrases and is almost tuneless, as though both hands were playing accompaniments. Midway through each half the harmony becomes slightly adventurous. Beginning with a perky upbeat and peppered with unexpected off-beat accents, its mix of neutrality and quirkiness makes it a plastic, responsive object for Beethoven's scrutiny. He had

8300-404: The theme. This sharp break from Diabelli announces that the series will not consist of mere decorative variations on a theme. The first variation, according to Tovey, gives "emphatic proof that this is to be a very grand and serious work", describing it as "entirely solemn and grand in style". Kinderman, on the other hand, whose researches among the Beethoven sketchbooks discovered that Variation 1

8400-477: The tonic) produces no effect of remoteness." Brendel's title for this variation is Cheerful Spook . Tovey gives a similar analysis of the variations: Donald Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 1875 – 10 July 1940) was a British musical analyst , musicologist , writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his Essays in Musical Analysis and his editions of works by Bach and Beethoven , but since

8500-454: The transcendence of the minuet. Kinderman summarizes, "Diabelli's waltz is treated first ironically as a march that is half-stilted, half-impressive, and then, at crucial points in the form, twice recapitulated in amusing caricature variations. At the conclusion of the work, in the Fugue and last variation, reference to the melodic head of Diabelli's theme once again becomes explicit – indeed, it

8600-449: The treble and bass rapidly alternating throughout the entire piece. Near the end, the tension is increased by syncopations . Brendel suggests the delicacy of this variation by entitling it Snowflakes . Beethoven diverges from Diabelli's structure of two equal parts, each one repeated, by omitting a repeat for the first part. Artur Schnabel , in his famous recording, repeated the first part anyway. Marked dol ( dolce ), this variation has

8700-591: The two String Quartets, Opp. 23 and 24 (both composed in 1909 ) and his fourth and final Piano Trio in D major, Op. 27 of 1910. But the most significant new work after the Piano Concerto was another full-scale orchestral piece. The Symphony in D, Op.32, commissioned by Busch after the success of the Piano Concerto performance in Aachen, was written under great time pressure in 1913 and first performed in Aachen under Busch on 11 December 1913. A London performance (by

8800-497: The utmost accuracy. In the following year, 1824, it was republished as Volume 1 of the two-volume set Vaterländischer Künstlerverein , the second volume comprising the 50 variations by 50 other composers. Subsequent editions no longer mentioned Vaterländischer Künstlerverein . The title Beethoven gave to the work has received some comment. His first reference was in his correspondence, where he called it Große Veränderungen über einen bekannten Deutschen Tanz ("Grand Variations on

8900-423: The variations do not emphasize the simple features of Diabelli's waltz: "Most of Beethoven's other variations thoroughly transform the surface of Diabelli's theme, and though motivic materials from the waltz are exploited exhaustively, its affective model is left far behind". The purpose of the new variations is to recall Diabelli's waltz so that the cycle does not spiral too far from its original theme. Without such

9000-426: The variations which immediately follow. Brendel's title for this variation is Tamed goblin . Both this and the following variations are brilliant, exciting, virtuoso pieces. This sixth variation features a trill in nearly every bar set off against arpeggios and hurried figures in the opposite hand. Brendel's title for this variation is Trill rhetorics (Demosthenes braving the surf) . Wilhelm von Lenz called it "In

9100-413: The wake of the exertions which have preceded them".). Thus, his analysis yields four sections, variations 1–7, 9–13, 15–19 and 21–33. The most influential writing on the work today is William Kinderman 's Beethoven's Diabelli Variations , which begins by carefully tracing the development of the work through various Beethoven sketchbooks. Of great significance, according to Kinderman, is the discovery that

9200-419: The waltz – in tempo, subdivision, extremity of register, and abstraction. Thus the effect of this section is expositional, with a grounded start and a sense of departure. The brilliant variation 10 is a clear climax, with no logical continuation other than a reset – indeed, the subdued, suspended 11 opposes 10 in practically every musical parameter, and the contrast is striking. Thus begun, the second section 11–24

9300-436: The waltz's simplicity and the vast, complex musical structure Beethoven built upon it, and the widest possible range of opinions of Diabelli's theme have been expressed. At one end of the spectrum is the admiration of Donald Tovey ("healthy, unaffected, and drily energetic", "rich in solid musical facts", cast in "reinforced concrete") and Maynard Solomon ("pellucid, brave, utterly lacking in sentimentality or affectation") and

9400-467: The work, suggesting that Beethoven was probably trying to make a point in his use of Veränderungen . Since Veränderungen can mean not only "variations" but also "transformations", it is sometimes suggested that Beethoven was announcing that this work does something more profound than had hitherto been done in variation form. Although some commentators find significance in the work's dedication to Mme. Antonie von Brentano , offering it as evidence that she

9500-441: Was Beethoven's " Immortal Beloved ", she was not Beethoven's first choice. His original plan was to have the work sent to England where his old friend, Ferdinand Ries , would find a publisher. Beethoven promised the dedication to Ries's wife ("You will also receive in a few weeks 33 variations on a theme dedicated to your wife". Letter, April 25, 1823). A delay in the shipment to England caused confusion. Beethoven explained to Ries in

9600-492: Was an Austrian law clerk and associate, secretary, and early biographer of Ludwig van Beethoven . Schindler was born on 13 June 1795 in Medlov . He moved to Vienna in 1813 to study law, and from 1817 to 1822 was a clerk in a law office there. He was a competent, though not exceptional violinist, and played in various musical ensembles, first meeting Beethoven in 1814. He gave up his law career, becoming in 1822 first violinist at

9700-488: Was impressed by his musical gifts evident at an early age and took it upon herself to nurture him. Through her network of associates he was introduced to composers, performers and music critics. These included Walter Parratt , James Higgs and (from the age of 14) Hubert Parry for composition. In 1898, Tovey graduated from Balliol College at Oxford University , where he had studied the classics and developed his interest in music, particularly that of Bach . When Tovey

9800-399: Was inserted late into the work, deems it a "structural variation", echoing Diabelli more clearly than the non-structural variations and, in this case, parodying the weaknesses of the theme. Its character is, for Kinderman, "pompous" and "mock-heroic". Alfred Brendel takes a view similar to Kinderman's, characterizing this variation as "serious but slightly lacking in brains". The title he offers

9900-621: Was seven or eight years old, he met violinist Joseph Joachim , another acquaintance of Weisse. Tovey played piano with the Joachim Quartet in a 1905 performance of Brahms's Piano Quintet , in F minor, Op. 34. By then Tovey was already composing and had gained some moderate fame, with works performed in Berlin , Vienna , and London. His large scale Piano Concerto (with Tovey as soloist) made its debut at Queen's Hall in November 1903 under

10000-736: Was so great, virtually nothing he has written about Beethoven can be accepted as fact unless it is supported by other evidence. More recently, Theodore Albrecht has re-examined the question of Schindler's reliability, and as to his presumed destruction of a huge number of conversation books, concludes that this widespread belief could possibly have been exaggerated. Although Anton Schindler forged documents and otherwise became notorious as an unreliable biographer and music historian , his accounts on Beethoven's style of performing his own piano works remain indispensable sources. Dr. George Barth, in his book The Pianist as Orator (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press , 1992) brings to light an approach to bringing

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