BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, October 30, 1824

Today’s Vienna musikalische Zeitung (Nr.87) includes at 346-347 a review by editor Friedrich August Kanne of the Six Variations with Coda on a Theme of Beethoven for violin and piano by the composers Joseph Mayseder, Franz Clement, Joseph Böhm, Ignaz Schuppanzigh, Hellmesberger and Léon de Saint-Lubin. The theme is identified as being one from Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and the variations are “a brilliant showpiece for violinists, of compounded interest because of the different treatment of the violin as presented in this compilation.”

Mayseder’s variation is “an extremely effective piece of music” without being overloaded with back-breaking difficulties. “This variation is another example of his graceful style.” The second variation, by Clement, is less successful, and the editor has already heard dozens of more beautiful variations played by the composer completely impromptu.

Some skill will be required of the performer in the third variation, by Böhm, which is full of double stops and bold staccato upbows, “but the effect is rewarding, as is always the case with Böhm’s compositions.” The fourth variation, by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, is nothing new and rather easy, but then Herr Schuppanzigh is not a composer. Hellmesberger’s variation sounds bizarre in the beginning, as the bass in the third bar is not right. But the variation is pleasant and makes for a good performance.

The final variation, by Saint-Lubin, is extremely brilliant, and beautifully maintained much like the variations of Ludwig Spohr. “The bow strokes give the whole thing a fresh color; the appended coda [also by Saint-Lubin] is a captatio benevolentiae [an earner of goodwill] which no one now becoming a virtuoso may ignore.”

“The work is interesting in every respect for the violin player. We just wish it wouldn’t be so limited in scope. If a composer actually wants to write variations, he will always wish to express his opinion through at least three numbers, because the space in which he moves is so small.” But there is a significant variety of style, well put together, and the printing is nice and clear.