The (50) Variations (not by Beethoven) on a Theme by Diabelli – Monstrosity or Monument?

Abstract

Diabelli's Vaterländischer Künstlerverein (Patriotic Artists' Association) project resulted in a two volume publication that appeared in 1823-1824. The more famous Part One comprises Beethoven's final piano work Opus 120, but its companion volume has received relatively little artistic or scholarly attention. As an enterprising pedagogue, composer and publisher, Diabelli brought together a virtual kaleidoscope of composers then active in Vienna and the Austrian Imperial states. While not exactly without precedent or sequel, this unusual collective work could be described as a musical monstrosity. The 50 variations based on Diabelli's Waltz in C were published purely in alphabetical order, thus exhibiting no overriding structural logic other than the implicit unity that his fecund theme provides.