Editing Anton Diabelli

{{Short description|Austrian music publisher, editor and composer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2009}}
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[[Image:Diabelli by Kriehuber.jpg|210px|thumb|Anton Diabelli, lithograph by [[Josef Kriehuber]]]]

'''Anton''' (or '''Antonio''') '''Diabelli''' (5 September 1781{{spaced ndash}}8 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the [[waltz]] on which [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] wrote his set of thirty-three ''[[Diabelli Variations]]''.<ref name="AllMusic.com">[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anton-diabelli-q1666/biography AllMusic.com]</ref>

==Early life==
Diabelli was born in [[Mattsee]] in Austria, then in the [[Archbishopric of Salzburg]]. A musical child, he sang in the [[boys' choir]] at [[Salzburg Cathedral]] where he is believed to have taken music lessons with [[Michael Haydn]]. By the age of 19 Diabelli had already composed several important compositions including six masses.

Diabelli was trained to enter the priesthood and in 1800 joined the monastery at Raitenhaslach, [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]].<ref name="AllMusic.com"/> He remained there until 1803, when Bavaria closed all its monasteries.

==Career==
In 1803 Diabelli moved to [[Vienna]] and began teaching piano and [[classical guitar|guitar]] and found work as a proofreader for a music publisher. During this period he learned the music publishing business while continuing to compose. In 1809 he composed his comic opera, ''Adam in der Klemme.'' In 1817 he started a music publishing business and in 1818 he formed a partnership with [[Pietro Cappi]] to create the music publishing firm of Cappi & Diabelli.

Cappi & Diabelli became well known by [[arrangement|arranging]] popular pieces so they could be played by amateurs at home. A master of promotion, Diabelli selected widely-accessible music such as famous opera tune arrangements, dance music and popular new comic theatre songs.

The firm soon established a reputation in more serious music circles by championing the works of [[Franz Schubert]]. Diabelli recognized the composer's potential and became the first to publish Schubert's work with "[[Erlkönig (Schubert)|Erlkönig]]" in 1821. Diabelli's firm continued to publish Schubert's work until 1823 when an argument between Cappi and Schubert terminated their business. The following year Diabelli and Cappi parted ways, Diabelli launching a new publishing house, Diabelli & Co., in 1824. Following Schubert's early death in 1828 Diabelli purchased a large portion of the composer's massive musical estate from Schubert's brother [[Ferdinand Schubert|Ferdinand]]. As Schubert had hundreds of unpublished works, Diabelli's firm was able to publish "new" Schubert works for more than 30 years after the composer's death.

Diabelli's publishing house expanded throughout his life, before he retired in 1851, leaving it under the control of [[Carl Anton Spina]]. When Diabelli died in 1858 Spina changed the firm's name to “C.A. Spina Vormals Diabelli”<ref>{{Cite web |title=Diabelli – IMSLP: Free Sheet Music PDF Download |url=https://imslp.org/wiki/Diabelli |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=imslp.org}}</ref> and published much music by [[Johann Strauss II]] and [[Josef Strauss]]. In 1872 the firm was taken over by [[Friedrich Schreiber]] and in 1876 it merged with the firm of [[August Cranz]] who bought the company in 1879 and ran it under his name.

Diabelli died in Vienna at the age of 76.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Diabelli, Anton |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000007710 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=Grove Music Online |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.07710}}</ref>

==Compositions==
{{main|List of compositions by Anton Diabelli}}
Diabelli composed a number of well-known Classical works, including an [[operetta]] called ''Adam in der Klemme'', several [[mass (music)|mass]]es, songs and numerous piano and classical guitar pieces. Numerically his guitar pieces form the largest part of his works. His pieces for [[piano four hands]] are popular.

Diabelli's composition ''Pleasures of Youth: Six Sonatinas'' is a collection of six [[sonatina]]s depicting a struggle between unknown opposing forces. This is suggested by the sharp and frequent change in dynamics from ''[[Dynamics (music)|forte]]'' to ''[[Dynamics (music)|piano]]''. When ''forte'' is indicated the pianist is meant to evoke a sense of wickedness, thus depicting the antagonist. In contrast the markings of ''piano'' represent the protagonist.

===Diabelli Variations===
{{listen|filename=Beethoven - Diabelli Variations - 00.ogg|title=Diabelli's Theme|description=Performed by Neal O'Doan}}
The composition for which Diabelli is now best known was actually written as part of an adventuring story. In 1819, as a promotional idea, he decided to try to publish a volume of [[variation (music)|variation]]s on a "patriotic" waltz he had penned expressly for this purpose, with one variation by every important Austrian composer living at the time, as well as several significant non-Austrians. The combined contributions would be published in an anthology called ''[[Vaterländischer Künstlerverein]]''. Fifty-one composers responded with pieces, including Beethoven, Schubert, [[Archduke Rudolf of Austria (1788–1831)|Archduke Rudolph of Austria]], [[Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart]] (jun.), [[Moritz, Prince of Dietrichstein]], [[Eduard de Lannoy|Heinrich Eduard Josef Baron von Lannoy]], [[Ignaz von Mosel|Ignaz Franz Baron von Mosel]], [[Carl Czerny]], [[Johann Nepomuk Hummel]], [[Ignaz Moscheles]], [[Simon Sechter]], and the eight-year-old [[Franz Liszt]] (although it seems Liszt was not invited personally, but his teacher Czerny arranged for him to be involved). Czerny was also enlisted to write a [[coda (music)|coda]]. Beethoven, however, instead of providing just one variation, provided 33, and his formed Part I of ''Vaterländischer Künstlerverein''. They constitute what is generally regarded as one of the greatest of Beethoven's piano pieces and as the greatest set of variations of their time, and are generally known simply as the ''[[Diabelli Variations]]'', Op. 120. The other 50 variations were published as Part II of ''Vaterländischer Künstlerverein''.<ref name=":0" />

==Cultural references==
A [[sonatina]] of Diabelli's, presumably Sonatina in F major, Op. 168, No. 1 (I: Moderato cantabile), provides the title and a motif for the French novella ''[[Moderato Cantabile]]'' by [[Marguerite Duras]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Champagne |first=Roland A. |date=1975 |title=An Incantation of the Sirens: The Structure of Moderato Cantabile |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/389171 |journal=The French Review |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=981–989 |jstor=389171 |issn=0016-111X}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Romantic guitar]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Published music and further reading==
*[http://ethesis.siba.fi/showrecord.php?language=en_EN&ID=122896 Anton Diabelli's guitar works – a thematic catalogue with an introduction]; Doctoral Thesis by Jukka Savijoki (Sibelius Academy; 1996)
*[http://www.editionsorphee.com/books/diabelli.html Anton Diabelli's Guitar Works: A Thematic Catalogue] by Jukka Savijoki (Editions Orphée)
*[https://rex.kb.dk/F?func=find-c&ccl_term=(WRD=Diabelli%20AND%20WWW=http%20NOT%20WWW=sheetmusicnow%20NOT%20WWW=freehandmusic%20NOT%20WWW=hebeonline)&local_base=mus01&con_lng=ENG Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music] Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080310003646/http://www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/boije/Boije_d.htm Boije Collection] The Music Library of Sweden
*[http://www.karadar.com/Dictionary/diabelli.html www.karadar.com/Dictionary/diabelli.html]
* {{IMSLP|id=Diabelli, Anton|cname=Anton Diabelli}}
* {{ChoralWiki}}
*[http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?Composer=DiabelliA Free scores] at the [[Mutopia Project]]

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0224421|name=Anton Diabelli}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diabelli, Anton}}
[[Category:1781 births]]
[[Category:1858 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Austrian classical composers]]
[[Category:19th-century Austrian male musicians]]
[[Category:Austrian opera composers]]
[[Category:Austrian people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Austrian Romantic composers]]
[[Category:Composers for piano]]
[[Category:Composers for the classical guitar]]
[[Category:Austrian male opera composers]]
[[Category:Sheet music publishers (people)]]
[[Category:People from Salzburg-Umgebung District]]
[[Category:People from the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg]]