Franz Schubert
Variations

About Franz Schubert's Variations

The 10 Variations in F major were written in February 1815, the same month as the First Sonata. In that year Schubert joined his father as an assistant school teacher, a job which he came to dislike. Instead he devoted more and more time to composition.

At about the same time, Schubert started forming a few close friendships that were to influence him greatly. One of those was with Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a composer who studied with Antonio Salieri. It was from Anselm Hüttenbrenner that the conductor and composer Johann von Herbeck was able in 1865 to gain access to Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, which had remained in Hüttenbrenner 's possession until then. The theme for the 13 Variations, D576 comes from Hüttenbrenner's String Quartet in E major, Op. 3.

In 1821, the composer and publisher Anton Diabelli proposed a collection of variations from fifty Austrian composers on a waltz theme he had written. Schubert responded at once with a C minor variation of the original C major waltz.

ID:234
Preview TitleKey Year Level
Ten Variations  D. 156  in F Major by Schubert piano sheet music AAB Ten Variations D. 15617 F Major 1815 8+
13 Variations on a Theme by Hüttenbrenner  D. 576  in A Minor by Schubert piano sheet music AAC 13 Variations on a Theme by Hüttenbrenner D. 57630 A Minor 1817 8
Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli  D. 718  in C Minor by Schubert piano sheet music AAD Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli D. 7182 C Minor 1821 5