Beethoven: Diabelli Variations Overview
Beethoven s 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli was completed in 1823. Alfred Brendel has described it as, the greatest of all piano works and in his textbook Structural Functions of Harmony, Arnold Schoenberg writes that, in respect of its harmony, it deserves to be called the most adventurous work by Beethoven. The piece was composed after Diabelli, a well-known music publisher and composer, sent his waltz to all the important composers of the Austrian Empire, asking each of them to write a variation on it. His plan was to publish all the variations in an anthology to benefit orphans and widows of the Napoleonic Wars. Upon hearing Beethoven s submission, Diabelli proclaimed that it was, a great and important masterpiece, worthy to be ranked with the imperishable creations of the old Classics and to occupy a place beside Sebastian Bach s famous masterpieces of the same type. On this eagerly anticipated release, Paul Lewis, protégé of Alfred Brendel, brings his sharp intellect and remarkable technique to bear on this towering masterwork of the period.
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