Forthcoming Books and New Recordings

Beginning of article

Oxford University Press has announced the publication of William Kinderman's Beethoven 's Diabelli Variations: A Study of its Evolution and Significance in early 1987 (in the series "Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure" edited by Lewis Lockwood). Professor Kinderman's study of the compositional origins of Op. 120 is the first extended study of these sources, and concludes that the work was begun in 1819, laid aside for two years, and completed in 1822 and 1823. Beethoven's transformation, parodying, and transcendence of Diabelli's commonplace, if not banal, waltz, are explored by Kinderman, who also suggests that there is a fascinating series of historical allusions to other …