DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (August 31, 2020)
Beethoven's Diabelli Variations: Part 5
The Biggest Change
In Part 4 of the Diabelli series, we saw how Beethoven's 1823 additions to his 1819 draft elevated the work by unifying several variations into a one. The greatest change made by Beethoven's 1823 additions was in variations 29, 30, and 31. All three are in C Minor, and flow well from one to another.
In 1819, the Beethoven presented only Variation 30:
Now, listen to all three in a row, and hear the sublime beauty. See how much better prepared we are for the transition to the triumphant fugue:
Variation 32 is the tremendous double (perhaps triple) fugue, which starts out like a Handel double fugue, but quickly becomes pure Beethoven:
If Beethoven had followed the lead of J.S. Bach in his Goldberg Variations, he would have returned to Diabelli's Waltz at the end. In Bach’s case, he was returning to his own extraordinary aria. Yet, for Beethoven to have ended with Diabelli's dance, it would have been like Dante ending his “Commedia” by returning to the Inferno. It was not the right move for Beethoven. However, Beethoven did end the Diabelli Variations with a dance—a Minuet. Why? Was he showing Diabelli what might have been a better starting point?
Pianist/musicologist William Kinderman provides many fascinating insights in this lecture, including the resemblance of this Minuet to the “Arietta” of Beethoven's last piano sonata, Op. 111. We include his very useful lecture: