Ludwig van Beethoven helped define the Classical period while pushing it toward the Romantic. He was born in Germany in 1770 and spent most of his adult life in Vienna, Austria, dying there in 1827.
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In 1819, music publisher sent a simple waltz theme to noted Austrian composers, asking each to provide a variation. Many returned them and these were published in the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein of 1824. Beethoven seems to have originally been put off by Diabelli's remarkable self-promotion, but later composed not one, but thirty-three separate variations. Many hold these to be among the greatest works of his later life.
Please submit information specific to the Diabelli Variations, opus 120. General sites about either Beethoven or Diabelli should be submitted to their respective categories.