Variations on a well-liked theme, mainly from contemporary operas, were extremely popular at the end of the 18th century. Even the young Beethoven made several contributions to this genre. We do not know of any concrete occasion for the composition of the three cycles of Variations for Violoncello and Piano they are on two themes from Mozarts The Magic Flute and one from Handels oratorio Judas Maccabaeus. The number of reproductions at that time does, however, reveal that they were very popular right from the beginning. Our revision is based on new findings contained in the Critical Report of the Beethoven Complete Edition.

Urtext Edition, paperbound

revised edition
replaces HN 5
with marked and unmarked string part