Bagatelle (Diabelli): A Song History

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Anton Diabelli (1781–1858) was born at Mattsee, near Salzburg, studied under Michael Haydn, and entered the monastery of Raitenhaslach intending to become a priest.[1] When the Bavarian monasteries were secularized in 1803 he moved to Vienna, living by teaching piano and guitar, and in 1818 he went into music publishing with Peter Cappi.[1] After Cappi withdrew, Diabelli took a new partner in 1824 and the firm traded as A. Diabelli & Cie.[2] It had begun issuing Franz Schubert’s songs in 1821,[2] Diabelli became Schubert’s chief publisher, and in 1851 he brought out the first thematic catalogue of Schubert’s works.[1] By the time he retired, his house had printed roughly 9,000 pieces of music, according to one count.[3]

Early nineteenth-century Viennese grand piano with a burl wood case and gilt mounts

Joseph Böhm, Grand Piano, Vienna, ca. 1815–20. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A Viennese piano of Diabelli’s time, shown for its period; it has no connection to the piece.

His most lasting fame comes from a short waltz of his own: in 1819 he invited a large number of composers to contribute variations on it for a patriotic anthology.[1] Beethoven, who dismissed the tune as a “Schusterfleck” (cobbler’s patch), began work in 1819, put it aside for other projects and finished it in the spring of 1823,[4] producing 33 variations that first appeared in June 1823.[3] In 1824 Diabelli issued a two-part collection under the name Vaterländischer Künstlerverein, with Beethoven’s set in the first part and fifty variations by fifty composers in the second, closed by a coda from Carl Czerny.[5] The contributors included the 11-year-old Franz Liszt and a Franz Schubert who was then little known.[3]

Besides church music and operettas, Diabelli composed light pieces for piano, guitar, flute and other instruments,[1] and several of his piano works, above all for four hands, are still used in teaching.[2] His instructional output included “scale sonatas” for practising scales[3] and the melodic exercises for piano duet, Op. 149, first published with twelve pieces in 1831 and enlarged to twenty-eight in 1838.[6] In music, the term bagatelle denotes a brief instrumental work, generally simple in style.[7] None of the sources consulted here names a Bagatelle by Diabelli, and no work of that title appears among the compositions listed under his name at IMSLP, so the original of this arrangement is not identified here.[8]

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Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Anton Diabelli".
  2. Polska Biblioteka Muzyczna (PWM) Encyclopedia: "Diabelli, Anton".
  3. Beethoven-Haus Bonn: "Variations on a walz for pianoforte alone (there are many)": exhibition guide.
  4. Beethoven-Haus Bonn: "33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli for piano (C major) op. 120".
  5. G. Henle Verlag Blog: "Beethoven's 'Diabelli' variations in a new guise".
  6. IMSLP: "28 Melodische Übungsstücke, Op.149 (Diabelli, Anton)".
  7. BBC Music Magazine (classical-music.com): "What is a bagatelle in music?".
  8. IMSLP: "Category: Diabelli, Anton".