LDV111-2

In 1801, Beethoven again borrowed a theme from Die Zauberflöte for his Seven Variations in E flat major for cello and piano WoO 46 on the duet ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen’. ‘Ten years after Mozart’s death, his last opera was still fresh in the minds of German-speaking audiences. Of the two tunes that inspired Beethoven, this is the more serious’, says David Selig. For the theme of the duet between Pamina and Papageno gave him the opportunity to express his own passions as well as his (equally regular) disappointments stemming from abortive marriage plans. In this piece, a homage to German-language opera, neither of the two protagonists dominates the other, right from the exposition of the theme, in a densely textured Andante. Let’s stay in a lighter vein, simply joyful, with the Twelve Variations WoO 45 on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus . Composed in Berlin in 1796, these offer a splendidly virtuosic showcase for both instruments. The writing is diversified, in the galant style, and well tailored to the tastes of the work’s dedicatee Princess Christine von Lichnowsky, the wife of one of Beethoven’s patrons.