Monday, October 11, 2010

10/11 The Diabelli Variations Manuscript

Diabelli Waltz - Page the 1st.
A few years ago an original autograph manuscript of the Diabelli Variations was being put up for sale and the Beethoven Musem in Bonn was very interested to purchase it. So interested in fact, that they appealed to Beethoven fans everywhere to donate some money so that the museum could afford to buy it.  Lo and behold (well, 2 years later) the cash materialized and now the manuscript is available for perusal to anyone with a computer and an internet hamster wheel attached -thanks to the generous people who donated (including a couple guys named Alfred Brendel and Daniel Barenboim...guess they are really into piano music or something). 

You can view this amazing document in high resolution here...(be sure to click on the very informative Commentary Link).

I wish I could do some kind of analysis on the Diabelli Variations better than the one on Wikipedia - but I can't.

This article on Dominique Prevot's Beethoven site is pretty interesting:
Beethoven's Diabelli Variations - Misunderstood Genius - By Michelle Oliver
AND you can here Friedrich Gulda perform the Diabelli Variations below (from a 1984 Eterna vinyl LP):

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