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The ''33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli'', Op. 120, commonly known as the ''Diabelli Variations'', is a set of variations for the piano written between 1819 and 1823 by Ludwig van Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli. It is often considered to be one of the greatest sets of variations for keyboard along with J.S. Bach's ''Goldberg Variations''. The music writer Donald Tovey called it "the greatest set of variations ever written". The pianist Alfred Brendel has described it as "the greatest of all piano works".〔Kinderman, William, ''Beethoven'', Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 211.〕 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 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".〔Cooper, Martin, ''Beethoven: The Last Decade 1817–1827'', Oxford University Press, 1985.〕 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".〔Schoenberg, Arnold, ''Structural Functions of Harmony'', W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-00478-3, ISBN 978-0-393-00478-6, 1969, p. 91.〕 Beethoven's approach to the theme is to take some of its smallest elements – 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".〔Brendel, Alfred, "Beethoven's Diabelli Variations", in ''Alfred Brendel On Music'', a capella, Chicago, 2001, p. 114.〕 Beethoven does not seek variety by using key-changes, staying with Diabelli's C-major for most of the set: among the first twenty-eight variations, he uses the tonic minor only once. Then, nearing the conclusion, Beethoven uses the tonic minor for Variations 29–31 and for Variation 32, a triple fugue, he switches to E-flat 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, 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. == Background == The work was composed after Diabelli, a well known music publisher and composer, in the early part of 1819 sent a waltz of his creation to all the important composers of the Austrian Empire, including Franz Schubert, Carl Czerny, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and 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 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 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 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 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 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".〔Czerny, Carl, "On the Proper Performance of All Beethoven's Works for the Piano: Edited and with a Commentary by Paul Badura-Skoda", Universal Editions, 1970, p. 74〕 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.〔Kinderman, William, ''Beethoven'', Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 212.〕 In February 1820, in 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 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 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 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 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 the theme and thirty variations).〔Lockwood, Lewis, ''Beethoven: The Music And The Life'', W. W. Norton & Company, 2005, ISBN 0-393-32638-1, ISBN 978-0-393-32638-3, pp. 394–5.〕 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, 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."〔Brendel, Alfred, ''Alfred Brendel on Music: Collected Essays'', A Cappella Books, 2000, p. 121〕 Diabelli published the work quickly as Op. 120 in June of the same year, adding the following introductory note: 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''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Diabelli Variations」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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