Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

on which

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

wrote his set of thirty-three ''

Diabelli Variations 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 for ...

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Early life

Diabelli was born in Mattsee in Austria, then in the

Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (; ) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the much larger Catholic diocese f ...

. A musical child, he sang in the

boys' choir A boys' choir is a one made up of boys who have yet to begin (or are just in the early stages of) puberty and so retain their high-pitched childhood voice. Members are known as trebles ("boy sopranos") or meanes ("boy altos"), depending on their ...

Salzburg Cathedral Salzburg Cathedral () is the seventeenth-century Baroque architecture, Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg in the city of Salzburg, Austria, dedicated to Rupert of Salzburg, Saint Rupert and Vergilius of Salzburg, Saint ...

where he is believed to have taken music lessons with

Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 1737 – 10 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohra ...

. By the age of 19 Diabelli had already composed several important compositions including six masses. Diabelli was trained to enter the priesthood and in 1800 joined the monastery at Raitenhaslach,

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. He remained there until 1803, when Bavaria closed all its monasteries.

Career

In 1803 Diabelli moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and began teaching piano and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and found work as a proofreader for a music publisher. During this period he learned the music publishing business while continuing to compose. In 1809 he composed his comic opera, ''Adam in der Klemme.'' In 1817 he started a music publishing business and in 1818 he formed a partnership with Pietro Cappi to create the music publishing firm of Cappi & Diabelli. Cappi & Diabelli became well known by

arranging In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

popular pieces so they could be played by amateurs at home. A master of promotion, Diabelli selected widely-accessible music such as famous opera tune arrangements, dance music and popular new comic theatre songs. The firm soon established a reputation in more serious music circles by championing the works of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

. Diabelli recognized the composer's potential and became the first to publish Schubert's work with "

Erlkönig "Erlkönig" is a German poetry, poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking, a king of the fairy, fairies. It was originally written by Goethe as part of a 1782 ''Singspiel' ...

" in 1821. Diabelli's firm continued to publish Schubert's work until 1823 when an argument between Cappi and Schubert terminated their business. The following year Diabelli and Cappi parted ways, Diabelli launching a new publishing house, Diabelli & Co., in 1824. Following Schubert's early death in 1828 Diabelli purchased a large portion of the composer's massive musical estate from Schubert's brother

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

. As Schubert had hundreds of unpublished works, Diabelli's firm was able to publish "new" Schubert works for more than 30 years after the composer's death. Diabelli's publishing house expanded throughout his life, before he retired in 1851, leaving it under the control of Carl Anton Spina. When Diabelli died in 1858 Spina changed the firm's name to “C.A. Spina Vormals Diabelli” and published much music by

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

and

Josef Strauss Josef Strauss (20 August 1827 – 22 July 1870) was an Austrian composer. He was born in Mariahilf (now Vienna), the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim, and brother of Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss. His father wanted him to cho ...

. In 1872 the firm was taken over by Friedrich Schreiber and in 1876 it merged with the firm of August Cranz who bought the company in 1879 and ran it under his name. Diabelli died in Vienna at the age of 76.

Compositions

Diabelli composed a number of well-known Classical works, including an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

called ''Adam in der Klemme'', several

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

es, songs and numerous piano and classical guitar pieces. Numerically his guitar pieces form the largest part of his works. His pieces for

piano four hands Piano four hands (, , ) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is generally referred to as a ''piano duet, piano duo''.Bellingham, Jane"piano du ...

are popular. Diabelli's composition ''Pleasures of Youth: Six Sonatinas'' is a collection of six

sonatina A sonatina (French: “sonatine”, German: “Sonatine") is a small sonata. As a musical term, ''sonatina'' has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and ...

s depicting a struggle between unknown opposing forces. This is suggested by the sharp and frequent change in dynamics from ''

forte Forte or Forté may refer to: Music *Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong" * Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set * Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs * Forte (vocal ...

'' to ''

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

''. When ''forte'' is indicated the pianist is meant to evoke a sense of wickedness, thus depicting the antagonist. In contrast the markings of ''piano'' represent the protagonist.

Diabelli Variations

The composition for which Diabelli is now best known was actually written as part of an adventuring story. In 1819, as a promotional idea, he decided to try to publish a volume of variations on a "patriotic" waltz he had penned expressly for this purpose, with one variation by every important Austrian composer living at the time, as well as several significant non-Austrians. The combined contributions would be published in an anthology called ''

Vaterländischer Künstlerverein ''Vaterländischer Künstlerverein'' was a collaborative musical publication or anthology, incorporating 83 variations for piano on a theme by Anton Diabelli, written by 51 composers living in or associated with Austria. It was published in tw ...

''. Fifty-one composers responded with pieces, including Beethoven, Schubert, Archduke Rudolph of Austria,

Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844), also known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Jr., was the youngest child of six born to composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constanze Mozart, Constanze and the younger of his parents ...

(jun.),

Moritz, Prince of Dietrichstein Moritz, Prince of Dietrichstein (''Moritz Joseph Johann''; 19 February 1775 – 29 August 1864), was a German prince, member of the Dietrichstein, House of Dietrichstein, 10th and last Prince (''Fürst'') of Dietrichstein zu Mikulov, Nikolsburg, C ...

, Heinrich Eduard Josef Baron von Lannoy, Ignaz Franz Baron von Mosel,

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; ; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works an ...

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano in the Co ...

Simon Sechter Simon Sechter (11 October 1788 – 10 September 1867) was an Austrian music theorist, composer, conductor, and organist. He is best known as a strict music teacher, whose many students included Anton Bruckner, Sigismond Thalberg, and Henri ...

, and the eight-year-old

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

(although it seems Liszt was not invited personally, but his teacher Czerny arranged for him to be involved). Czerny was also enlisted to write a coda. Beethoven, however, instead of providing just one variation, provided 33, and his formed Part I of ''Vaterländischer Künstlerverein''. They constitute what is generally regarded as one of the greatest of Beethoven's piano pieces and as the greatest set of variations of their time, and are generally known simply as the ''

'', Op. 120. The other 50 variations were published as Part II of ''Vaterländischer Künstlerverein''.

Cultural references

of Diabelli's, presumably Sonatina in F major, Op. 168, No. 1 (I: Moderato cantabile), provides the title and a motif for the French novella '' Moderato Cantabile'' by

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

References

Published music and further reading

Anton Diabelli's guitar works – a thematic catalogue with an introduction
Doctoral Thesis by Jukka Savijoki (Sibelius Academy; 1996)

by Jukka Savijoki (Editions Orphée)
Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music
Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark

The Music Library of Sweden

* *
Free scores
at the

Mutopia Project The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. It started in 2000. The music is reproduced from old scores that are in th ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diabelli, Anton 1781 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Austrian classical composers 19th-century Austrian male musicians Austrian opera composers Austrian people of Italian descent Austrian Romantic composers Composers for piano Composers for the classical guitar Austrian male opera composers Sheet music publishers (people) People from Salzburg-Umgebung District People from the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg