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Past exhibition
"Variations on a walz for pianoforte alone (there are many)"– Beethoven's 33 Diabelli Variations 17.12.2009 to 16.05.2010 The 33 variations on a walz by Anton Diabelli in C major op. 120 are among the most outstanding compositions of Beethoven's oeuvre as well as of piano music as a whole. The strange story of how they came to be written is characteristic of Beethoven's conception of himself as a composer. Asked by his publisher to write a variation for inclusion in a collection, he eventually produced a total of 33 variations, differing greatly in style. Beethoven wanted to demonstrate his mastery of composition by mobilising his whole range of forms of expression and his skills in the use of the instrument, merging them into a cosmos. This exhibition tells the story of their composition and introduces their initiator, the composer and publisher Anton Diabelli.
The Diabelli Variations show the composer in a way that no other work of his does: balancing on "the edge". Beethoven regularly wrote groups of works, and in his last three piano sonatas, for instance, he gave each a thematic focus and sought a unity of content. Not so in the Diabelli Variations. Here we have a very broad spectrum of forms: from the deepest tragedy to the most exalted joy of life, from the most serious emotions and the complete inner sanctity of Variation 20 to mischievous humour – all emotions are contained and juxposed within the music. Sometimes the composer relies on extreme contrasts, sometimes he groups variations together. And at the end of the cyclus we find allusions to his own last piano sonata in C minor op. 111.
Kurzführer Diabelli.pdf (1.1 MB)
Petit Guide Diabelli.pdf (1.1 MB)
Brief Guide Diabelli.pdf (1.1 MB) |
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