7 Variations on "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen", WoO 46
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1801
- Duration
- 9'40''
- Publisher
- G. Henle Verlag
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About this piece
Beethoven's third and last set of variations for cello and piano takes its theme from the Act I duet for Pamina and Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Paper studies of the autograph show he wrote out the fair copy in 1801. The first edition, issued by Mollo in Vienna in 1802 and dated 1 January 1802, is dedicated to Count Johann Georg von Browne-Camus. Henle's preface notes that little is known about how the piece came to be, and that a deleted, no longer legible dedication in the autograph suggests Beethoven first meant it for someone else. An E-flat major theme is followed by seven variations, including a minor-key fourth variation and an Adagio sixth, and the set closes with an Allegro ma non troppo and a coda, giving cello and piano equal shares of the material. Pablo Casals and Alfred Cortot recorded it in 1927, and later recordings include Mischa Maisky with Martha Argerich and Yo-Yo Ma. Modern Urtext editions come from Henle (HN 913, with WoO 45 and Op. 66) and Bärenreiter (ed. Jonathan Del Mar), and the 1802 and Complete Edition scores are free on IMSLP.
Technical overview
Theme (Andante), seven variations and coda in E-flat major, about 9-10 minutes. Requires clean articulation in the faster variations, sustained cantabile in the Adagio (Var. 6), and close chamber partnership with an equal piano part.