Amusement pour les Dames: Andante Cantabile
Anton Diabelli
This is the Amusement pour les Dames by Anton Diabelli (1781 - 1858).
Diabelli is best known because of his Austrian music publishing company Cappi & Diabelli that published many of the works of Franz Schubert. Additionally Diabelli was a piano and guitar teacher who composed a moderate repertoire for piano solo, piano and guitar and guitar solo and duo. Much of Diabelli’s oeuvre was directed towards his pupils, many beginning pianist will remember Diabelli’s Sonatinas.
Diabelli’s music got known in a broader context when he organized a contest that required well-known composers of his day to write variations on a waltz composed by himself. Ludwig van Beethoven accepted this challenge with great aplomb and completely moulded the simple Diabelli theme in a grandioso concert work with his 33 variations in the Diabelli Variations Op. 120.
Long ago,this piece has been published in the guitar magazine of the Freie Vereinigung zur Förderung guter Guitaremusik under the title Amusement pour les Dames. It is quite likely that the title of the original work has been adapted a bit by the editors.
It’s a two movement piece, Andante Cantabile and Rondo.
The Andante Cantabile is a quiet piece with a number of nice motives. The repeats of the motives offer the opportunity to make some variations in timbre. The key is F major, so you have to take care for the B sharps.