Beethoven's Obsession: The 33 Variations
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/arts/music/08tomm.html?pagewanted=all
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"AT the core of Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations, an esoteric and astonishing piano piece lasting some 50 minutes, is one of the intriguing mysteries of music history. Why did Beethoven, during the difficult last decade of his life, when he was deaf, chronically ill and often in financial straits, become nearly obsessed with writing an extensive and complex set of variations on a dumpy little waltz, a theme he had first dismissed as a “cobbler’s patch”?
That question drives “33 Variations,” the latest play by Moisés Kaufman, which opens on Monday at the Eugene O’Neill Theater. The production is directed by Mr. Kaufman, best known for “The Laramie Project.” Jane Fonda, in her first performance on a Broadway stage in 46 years, plays Dr. Katherine Brandt, an American musicologist who becomes as obsessed with solving the mystery of the “Diabelli” Variations as Beethoven was with composing the piece.
Whatever one’s take on “33 Variations” as a theater piece, it is an innovative and engrossing exercise in music appreciation. The pianist Diane Walsh plays extended excerpts from the “Diabelli” Variations, elegantly, in full view of the audience. In a way Ms. Walsh is a character in the play. I don’t think Ms. Fonda would object to my saying that Beethoven’s music is the star."
That question drives “33 Variations,” the latest play by Moisés Kaufman, which opens on Monday at the Eugene O’Neill Theater. The production is directed by Mr. Kaufman, best known for “The Laramie Project.” Jane Fonda, in her first performance on a Broadway stage in 46 years, plays Dr. Katherine Brandt, an American musicologist who becomes as obsessed with solving the mystery of the “Diabelli” Variations as Beethoven was with composing the piece.
Whatever one’s take on “33 Variations” as a theater piece, it is an innovative and engrossing exercise in music appreciation. The pianist Diane Walsh plays extended excerpts from the “Diabelli” Variations, elegantly, in full view of the audience. In a way Ms. Walsh is a character in the play. I don’t think Ms. Fonda would object to my saying that Beethoven’s music is the star."
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