Composed 1796; 13 minutes 

Beethoven greatly admired Handel’s music, especially his ability to achieve powerful effects through simple means. In one letter, Beethoven describes leading the second violin section in a mostly amateur performance of Messiah in Vienna. The scale was enormous: 144 violins, with other strings, instrumentalists, and singers to match. Late in life, bedridden and seriously ill, he still took joy in a gift of several volumes of Handel’s works— “a royal gift,” he called it.

Handel’s theme is stately and assured. Beethoven’s twelve variations follow suit, exploring different aspects of the theme and keeping to the G major tonality, except for the fourth and eighth, which veer into the minor. The seventh variation, with its rapid triplets and high-flying cello line, is technically demanding—likely inspired by Beethoven’s recent encounter with cello virtuoso Jean-Louis Duport. The variations follow a somewhat formal, though always agreeable, course until the grand restatement of the main theme on the cello in the tenth variation. In the lyrical Adagio that follows, Beethoven stretches Handel’s idea further still. The set ends with a witty Allegro, full of Haydnesque sparkle and playfulness.