WoO 77 – Light Variations (6) in G major for piano on an original theme, 1800 (before December), published in Vienna by Traeg in December 1800. GA 176 (series 17/15) – B. 188 – KH (WoO) 77 – L. IV, p. 320/11 – N. p. 158 – P. 109 – T. 84.

The original manuscript is unknown. Nottebohm refers to the sketches—found together with the nearly finished sketches for the final movement of the String Quartet Op. 18 No. 2, likewise in G major—and he reproduces the theme followed by several indications for the layout of the individual variations. The thematic idea is identical to that of the secondary theme of the Rondo in the Piano Sonata Op. 22. From the first variation, extremely simple, we move to the more animated figurations of the second and third. The fourth (Poco sostenuto, minor) concentrates its effect in the dark color of the bass octaves, which restate the theme without harmonies (in the first part; at the beginning of the second it appears in a faint counterpoint). The lively interplay of the fifth returns to the major and restores to the thematic nucleus its serene smile, which then expands into festive brilliance in the sixth and final variation.