Pianist Joanne Camilleri www.joannecamilleri.com

Variations on a Theme by Diabelli Op.120

Rage Over a Lost Penny Op.129

Tickets

can be purchased from St James Cavalier box office Tel: 21223200

or online:  http://www.kreattivita.org/event/a-beethoven-extravaganza-2/

Student discounts available

The recital is an hour long

Beethoven’s Variations Op.120 consist of 33 variations on a waltz composed by the Viennese music publisher Anton Diabelli, who also published Schubert’s set of 4 Impromptus Op.142, among others.  Diabelli had written to 51 composers with the request that each write one variation on the waltz theme which he provided; the aim being to publish them as a single collection.  Beethoven was among the composers who received this request, but instead of one variation, he turned in 33.

The waltz theme itself is nothing particularly significant (Beethoven called it a Schusterfleck – a cobbler’s patch), yet Beethoven succeeded in creating from it an epic set of variations.  The 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli represent Beethoven’s most extraordinary achievement in the art of variation-writing.  In their originality and power of invention, they stand beside other late Beethoven masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solenis, and the last quartets.

On Beethoven’s Rondo Op.129, Robert Schumann wrote of the work that “it would be difficult to find anything merrier than this whim… It is the most amiable, harmless anger, similar to that felt when one cannot pull a shoe from off the foot”.