Anton Diabelli was an Austrian composer, music publisher, and editor born on September 6, 1781, in Mattsee near Salzburg. Although he was trained to become a priest, he developed an interest in music and took lessons from Michael Haydn. He relocated to Vienna to teach guitar and piano before partnering with Pietro Cappi in 1818 to establish a music publishing company called Cappi & Diabelli, which later became Diabelli & Co. The firm gained popularity by arranging orchestral pieces that could be played by amateur musicians at home. They also pioneered the publishing of works by Franz Schubert, and became known in serious music circles. Diabelli published a few works, including an operetta, masses, songs, and piano and classical guitar compositions. He became famous for the waltz on which Beethoven wrote the thirty-three Diabelli Variations. Diabelli intended to publish a volume of variations on a waltz, inviting important Austrian composers to compose one variation each. Beethoven surprised him by providing thirty-three variations, which were published in a volume of their own in 1824. Diabelli retired in 1851 and left the company to Carl Anton Spina. Spina continued to manage the firm after Diabelli's death in 1858, published music by Josef Strauss and Johann Strauss II, and merged the firm with August Cranz in 1876. The collection of six sonatinas by Diabelli called Pleasures of Youth is a battle between good and evil with frequent changes between forte and pianoforte.
