Nine Variations on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler for piano (C minor) WoO 63

Beethoven was only 11 years old when Johann Michael Götz published his Nine Variations on a March by Ernst Christoph Dressler in Mannheim. He wrote the variations while studying with Christian Gottlob Neefe, who arranged for their publication. Variation technique formed a standard part of the education of composers and virtuosos in the 18th century, and it is not surprising that Beethoven's first composition should emerge from his music lessons. After all, he was trained to become a musician just like his father and grandfather. Beethoven's father intended to turn his son into a child prodigy. In an article on the Bonn court orchestra, published in Cramer's Magazin der Musik (2 March 1783), his teacher Neefe called him 'promisingly gifted'. Of course, Neefe did not forget to mention his own contribution to the boy's musical gift and wrote that he played the piano well and forcefully. Having given him instruction in thoroughbass, Neefe was now training him in composition and arranging for the Nine Variations to be engraved in Mannheim. He concluded that the young genius would certainly become a second Mozart if he continued as he had begun. However, Beethoven did not turn into a second Mozart, nor did he become the child prodigy his father had hoped for. But the genius that Neefe noticed in the 11-year-old boy came into fruition in its own way. (J.R.)