From Bach's Goldberg to Beethoven's Diabelli

In From Bach’s Goldberg to Beethoven’s Diabelli: Influence and Independence, music scholar and noted pianist Alfred Kanwischer takes readers on an extended exploration in which each of the thirty-three pieces making up Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations (Op. 120) is caringly examined and assessed for its ingredients, actions, personality, and influence on the whole. Counterpoint abounds, not only in the fugal variations, which are closely parsed, but throughout the Diabelli, revealing the noticeably baroque character of the technical compositional devices Beethoven employs.

Alfred Kanwischer is a noted pianist and scholar. A pupil of Egon Petri and Bela Nagy, he received his DMA from Boston University and has performed for 35 years on three continents as soloist, and duo-pianist with his wife, under Albert Kay Concert Artists Management, New York. He has held faculty positions at Boston University, Tanglewood Institute, Peabody College, and San José State University, where he is currently professor emeritus. His articles have appeared in the Beethoven Journal, The American Music Teacher, and other music journals.