12 Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” Op.66 (1796) — Ludwig van Beethoven

If the Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from Die Zauberflöte were written in anticipation of Beethoven’s visit to Berlin in 1796 - or when he was already there perhaps - it is surprising that the cello is not more indulgently treated than it is. After all, he must have hoped that they would be played by the celebrated Jean Pierre Duport, resident cellist at the court of Friedrich Wilhlem II, or even by the King himself.

The cello does not, however, play an unambiguously starring role here. It is the piano that introduces Mozart’s theme, with good-humoured support from the cello, and it also has the first variation entirely to itself. While the cello certainly has the leading role in the second variation, the piano runs rings round the sustained notes on the cello in the third. The most effective variations are those which present the two instruments on equal terms, as in the fourth where double-stopped harmonies and expressive melodic phrases on the cello alternate with bell-like sonorities on the piano. Interesting though the early variations certainly are, the most inspired are the last three - the tenth, where first the piano and then the cello indulge in mock-operatic pathos, the sincerely eloquent eleventh, where the cello draws its melodic line over a comparatively humble piano accompaniment, and the twelfth, where the original theme returns in something like its original form on cello and where the piano surpasses its partner in assembling the bravura effects for a brilliant ending to the work.

12 Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” Op.66 (1796)

If the Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from Die Zauberflöte were written in anticipation of Beethoven’s visit to Berlin in 1796 – or when he was already there perhaps – it is surprising that the cello is not more indulgently treated than it is. After all, he must have hoped that they would be played by the celebrated Jean Pierre Duport, resident cellist at the court of Friedrich Wilhlem II, or even by the King himself.

The cello does not, however, play an unambiguously starring role here. It is the piano that introduces Mozart’s theme, with good-humoured support from the cello, and it also has the first variation entirely to itself. While the cello certainly has the leading role in the second variation, the piano runs rings round the sustained notes on the cello in the third. The most effective variations are those which present the two instruments on equal terms, as in the fourth where double-stopped harmonies and expressive melodic phrases on the cello alternate with bell-like sonorities on the piano. Interesting though the early variations certainly are, the most inspired are the last three – the tenth, where first the piano and then the cello indulge in mock-operatic pathos, the sincerely eloquent eleventh, where the cello draws its melodic line over a comparatively humble piano accompaniment, and the twelfth, where the original theme returns in something like its original form on cello and where the piano surpasses its partner in assembling the bravura effects for a brilliant ending to the work.