The Northport Arts Coalition with the cooperation of The Northport Public Library presents 34 Pianists in performance of The Diabelli Variations by Ludwig van Beethoven Friday April 19th 2002, 7:30 PM at the Northport Public Library Admission free.  Reservations required.

This opus, that Alfred Brendel has described as, "The greatest of all piano works," might justifiably be considered an afterthought of Beethoven's.

According to most accounts, in 1819 Anton Diabelli, a composer and prominent music publisher, sent a copy of a waltz theme he had just written to 50 composers, requesting that each of them write one variation on the theme for a composite set. He intended to publish this set and to use the profits from sales to benefit orphans and widows of the Napoleonic Wars, but he probably also wanted to promote his new publishing firm. Beethoven was one of the recipients of the theme, but he is said to have refused to participate in the project, referring to the waltz as a "cobbler's patch," or, by some accounts, "trash." The composite set was indeed published, but without a contribution from Beethoven. Nevertheless, the theme must have eventually grabbed his attention, because by 1820, in a letter to one Peter Joseph Simrock, of the Bonn publishing house, Beethoven refers to his work on the variations as, "grand variations on a German waltz."

Martin Cooper, in his book entitled, Beethoven/The Last Decade, states, "Diabelli's waltz revealed an unexpected number of characteristics necessary in a variation theme---a strong if primitive harmonic structure, salient rhythmic traits and a melodic nullity that was itself a kind of virtue." Evidently, the limits of Diabelli's talents as a composer allowed Beethoven's limitless talents to flourish.

Cooper goes on to characterize this opus as, "an epitome or microcosm of his musical world. 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 was probably elaborating on a statement by Hans von Bulow, a 19th century piano virtuoso and student of Liszt, who referred to the variations as, "a microcosm of Beethoven's art."

It's amazing, sometimes, what you can find in the trash.