Variation form occupied Beethoven throughout his composing career. This first volume of Henle's two-volume edition of all his piano variations includes works from Beethoven's time in Bonn as well as his early years in Vienna, composed between 1783 and 1799. Beethoven mostly took his themes from arias or songs from stage works that were popular at the time. Besides offering simple figurations around the melodic lines, he also made more radical variations of his chosen material, pointing the way forward to his future “character variations.” The musical text of this Urtext edition has been completely revised on the basis of the critical report of the Beethoven Complete Edition. There is also a detailed preface and commentary.

• 9 Piano Variations on a March by Dressler (first version) WoO 63
• Piano 6 medium

• 6 Piano Variations on the Swiss Song "Es hätt e' Buur e' Töchterli" WoO 64
• Piano 4 medium

• 24 Piano Variations on "Venni Amore" by Righini WoO 65
• Piano 7 difficult

• 13 Piano Variations on "Es war einmal ein alter Mann" by Ditters von Dittersdorf WoO 66
• Piano 6 medium

• 12 Piano Variations on the "Minuet à la Viganò" de Haibel WoO 68
• Piano 6 medium

• 9 Piano Variations on "Quant' è più bello" from La Molinara by Paisiello A major WoO 69
• Piano 5 medium

• 6 Piano Variations on "Nel cor più non mi sento" by Paisiello WoO 70
• Piano 4 medium

• 12 Piano Variations on a Russian Dance by Wranitzky WoO 71
• Piano 6 medium

• 8 Piano Variations on "Mich brennt ein heißes Fieber" by Grétry WoO 72
• Piano 5 medium

• 10 Piano Variations on "La stessa, la stessissima" by Salieri WoO 73
• Piano 6 medium

• 7 Piano Variations on "Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen" by Winter WoO 75
• Piano 7 difficult