WoO 40 – 12 Variations in F major for Pino and Violin
Theme – Allegretto
WoO 40, 12 Variations in F major for Piano and Violin on the theme of the Aria “Se vuoi ballare”, from Mozart’s opera Nozze di Figaro, dedicated to Eleonore Breuning, summer 1792 – spring 1793, published in Vienna, Artaria, July 1793.GA. no. 103 (series 12/12) – B. 156 – KH. (WoO)40 – L. IV, p. 313/I/a-N. p. 144-P. 44 – Sch. p. 219/44 – T. 30.
Official Title: WoO 40 Zwölf Variationen (F-dur) über die Cavatina „Se vuol ballare“ aus der Oper „Le nozze di Figaro“ von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart für Klavier und Violine Widmung: Eleonore von Breuning NGA V/2 AGA 103 = Serie 12/12
The original manuscript is lost. Sketches are found on a sheet containing those of the aria “Que le temps me dure”. In a letter dated November 2, 1793, Beethoven, after many protests of warm friendship, wrote to Eleonore Breuning that he had dedicated one of his works to her, also announcing the sending of the same: “I only wish the work were greater, and more worthy of you. But some people in Vienna have bothered me to publish this little work. I have taken advantage of this opportunity to offer you, my adorable Eleonore, a proof of my esteem and friendship for you, and of my constant remembrance of your home.” In this work, the Variations in question for piano with violin ad libitum on Mozart’s “Se vuoi ballare” are to be identified. The sending, however, took place only several months later, as evidenced by the letter to Eleonore of June 1794, which we have already mentioned with regard to the Piano Sonata referred to in the previous no. 36, in which Beethoven says: «As a small recompense for having kindly remembered me, I take the liberty of sending you hereby, these Variations and the Rondo for a violin»; and then after the mention of the other urgent work commitments that have still distracted him from finishing the Sonata long promised: « You can have the Rondo copied and then send the score back to me»; finally in postscript: “The variations will be a bit difficult to perform, especially the trills of the Coda. But this should not frighten or discourage you. In fact, the composition is arranged in such a way that you only have to play the trills and can omit the other notes, since these also appear in the violin part. I would never have composed such a piece if I had not noticed often enough how some people in Vienna, after listening to my improvisations of one evening, the next day would write down several peculiarities of my style and proudly flaunt them as their own. So, anticipating that their pieces would soon be released, I decided to prevent these people. But there was also another reason, and that was my desire to embarrass those Viennese pianists, some of whom are my sworn enemies. In this way, I wished to avenge myself on them, because I already knew that my variations, here and there, would be presented to these gentlemen and that they would make a poor impression.” Consequently, it can also be admitted that the Variations had their first origin in improvisations on the piano, then taken up and enriched with the addition of the violin part (only one, the ninth, has remained or has been introduced from scratch for the piano alone). In any case, the work appears organically elaborated; and the violin, even when it seems to have a less important task, always constitutes an element of timbral integration. The very exposition of the pizzicato theme at the upper octave of the piano part is already in itself of a particular effect.
Helene von Breuning
Emanuel Joseph von Breuning
Eleonore von Breuning
Stephan von Breuning
Creation and publication: Sketched first in November 1792 in Bonn and then in Vienna. The original edition was published by Artaria in Vienna in July 1793.
Beethoven still used pentagrammed music paper from the Bonn period for the sketches of the theme and for variations nos. 10, 5, 11, 12, 6 and 9 (in that order); he noted an almost complete sketch of the coda on Viennese paper (Johnson/Fischhof, Vol. 1, p. 4l4f). Since Artaria advertised the variations as “completely new” in the Wiener Zeitung of 31 July 1793, the printed edition was most likely already available.
Joseph Müller-Blattau suspects that the variations for piano and violin were preceded by a version for solo piano (Müller-Blattau/Variations). Juliane Riepe has also evaluated this possibility, which could be proven by the fact that the WoO 40 variations are found in an inventory of music belonging to the voter Maximilian Franz. The piece in question is in the immediate vicinity of the piano sonatas WoO 47 (I-MOe, Cat. 53. I -II). This inventory Riepe does not exclude the possibility that the variations “tatsächlich bereits während Beethovens Bonner Zeit” (Riepe/Hofkapelle, p. 110).
After receiving a copy of the original edition, Beethoven asked for numerous improvements to the musical text, especially in the piano part, in an undated letter, sent to an unknown person (after 19 June 1793, perhaps to Nikolaus Zmeskall, Tranquillo Mollo or Giovanni Cappi; BGA 10). To date, only copies with these improvements have survived, we do not know if incorrect copies have been delivered. L’indicazione “Violon ad lib” nel titolo dell’edizione originale fu cambiata in “Violon obligé” nelle edizioni successive e la numerazione “Oeuvre I” fu cambiata in “Nro I” dopo la pubblicazione dei Trii per pianoforte op. 1 (1795).
Theme: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Le nozze di Figaro” KV 492, Atto I, no. 3, Figaro’s Cavatina “Se vuol ballare”. In the season from October 1789 to February 1790 Beethoven took part in four performances of this opera in Bonn (Thayer/Forbes p. 97). In 1790 Reilstab published in Berlin the first edition of the piano reduction of the Cavatina; the first edition of the complete piano score was published by Simrock in Bonn in 1796.
Dedication: Eleonore Brigitte von Breuning, baptized on 23 April 1771 in Bonn, died on 13 June 1841 in Koblenz, eldest daughter of Helene von Breuning, née von Kerich (1750-1838) and Emanuel Joseph von Breuning (1741-1777), sister of Stephan (1774-1827; see Op. 61), Christoph (1773-1841) and Lorenz (1776-1798). She married in March 1802 Franz Gerhard Wegeler (1765-1848), a physician and friend of Beethoven, and moved with him to Koblenz in 1807. Beethoven met the von Breuning family in 1782 as a piano teacher to Eleonore and Lorenz. According to Wegeler, it was„bald als Kind des Hauses behandelt; er brachte nicht nur den größten Theil des Tages, sondern selbst manche Nacht dort zu. Hier fühlte er sich frei, hier bewegte er sich mit Leichtigkeit, Alles wirkte zusammen, um ihn heiter zu stimmen und seinen Geist zu entwickeln“ (Wegeler/Ries p. 10). All four children were among his closest friends and Stephan remained a confidant to him throughout his life. Beethoven was also in contact with Eleonore and her husband until his death (probably Eleonore was not Beethoven’s first great love at all, as is often claimed). Beethoven informed Eleonore von Breuning of the dedication of the variations in a letter dated November 2, 1793: „sie erhalten hier eine dedication von mir an sie“ (BGA 11). It is not known if the consignment already contained a dedicated copy. Leopold Schmidt’s thesis (Schmidt/Briefe pp. 95-98) that Beethoven did not send the dedicated copy of the variations to Eleonore von Breuning attached to this letter, but only later, is based on the dating of a letter sent by him in 1794 (Schiedermair/Beethoven p.204f, KH p.484f and Brandenburg/NGA V/2 p.Vllf). In the BGA, the letter is dated 1792 and it is assumed that the variations that Beethoven sent to Eleonore along with the Rondo WoO 41, are not the WoO 40 variations, but rather the variations on a theme of Dittersdorf WoO 66 (BGA 4). For Eleonore von Breuning Beethoven also composed the sonata WoO 51. First execution unknown.
Autographs and sketches (1) A-Wgm, A 61, bl. 1. Date: November 1792, before Beethoven left Bonn (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 415), transcription: Johnson/Fischhof vol. 2 pp. 119-122. (2) D-B, Mus. SM. Beethoven autograph 28 (“Fischhof”)> folio 6r. Date: before July 1793 (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 415; cf. Source III), facsimile: SBB, transcription: Johnson/Fischhof vol. 2 pp. 122-123.
First edition: 1793 (July). Wien, Artaria & Comp., VN/PN 437. – Title: „XII VARIATIONS / Pour le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte / avec un Violon ad lib. / Composées et Dediés [!] / a Mademoiselle Eleonore de Breuning / par / MR BEETHOVEN. / Oeuvre I. / a Vienne chez Artaria Comp. /
WoO 40 is part of the “Research Becomes Art” project.
A New Life for the Unknown Works of Ludwig van Beethoven: An Artistic Exploration by the pianist Professor Antonietta Cappelli