Biography (read more)
Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli was born on 5 September 1781 in Mattsee, then part of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, and died on 8 April 1858 in Vienna. He sang as a boy in the choir at Salzburg Cathedral, reportedly taking lessons with Michael Haydn, and trained for the priesthood before Bavaria’s monastery closures ended that path in 1803. He then moved to Vienna, where he taught piano and guitar, worked as a proofreader for a music publisher, and in 1817 started his own music publishing business, later forming the influential firm of Cappi & Diabelli.
Diabelli was best known in his lifetime as a publisher who made popular music accessible to amateur performers, but he is remembered today chiefly as the composer of the simple waltz theme on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his monumental set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations. His own guitar sonatas remain part of the early Romantic guitar repertoire.
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Repertoire
Sonata in F major, Op. 168, No. 1 – 1st and 2nd Movementsc. 1830
Le bouquetier, 4 Piano Sonatinas, No. 1 in G Major, Op. 151: I. Andantino cantabile— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
Le bouquetier, 4 Piano Sonatinas, No. 1 in G Major, Op. 151: II. Scherzo. Allegro— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
Le bouquetier, 4 Piano Sonatinas, No. 1 in G Major, Op. 151: III. Rondo. Allegretto— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
7 Piano Sonatinas, No. 6 in G Major, Op. 168: I. Allegro moderato— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
7 Piano Sonatinas, No. 6 in G Major, Op. 168: II. Andante cantabile— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
7 Piano Sonatinas, No. 6 in G Major, Op. 168: III. Rondo. Allegro— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
7 Piano Sonatinas, No. 7 in A Minor, Op. 168: I. Allegro moderato— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
7 Piano Sonatinas, No. 7 in A Minor, Op. 168: II. Andante cantabile— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
7 Piano Sonatinas, No. 7 in A Minor, Op. 168: III. Rondo. Allegretto— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
Patriotic Artists’ Association: Var. XXIV. Allegro (After Franz Liszt’s Variation on a Waltz by…— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
Patriotic Artists’ Association: Var. XVII. Allegro (After Anselm Hüttenbrenner’s Variation on a…— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
Patriotic Artists’ Association: Var. XXXVIII (After Franz Schubert’s Variation on a Waltz by…— Cyprien Katsaris
Performed by Cyprien Katsaris
Guitar Sonata in A Major, Op. 29 No. 2: II. Andante sostenuto— Julian Bream
Performed by Julian Bream
Guitar Sonata in A Major, Op. 29 No. 2: III. Minuetto. Quasi scherzo— Julian Bream
Performed by Julian Bream
Guitar Sonata in A Major, Op. 29 No. 2: IV. Rondo. Allegretto— Julian Bream
Performed by Julian Bream