Anton Diabelli is probably best known as a composer of the waltz on which Beethoven composed his phenomenal Diabelli Variations, though his musical activities in Vienna extended far beyond this singular source of noteriety. Diabelli was born September 5, 1781 in Mattsee, Austria (a village near Salzburg) and died in Vienna on April 8, 1858. At 15 he entered the Raitenhasslach Cistercian Monastery, but when the Bavarian monasteries were secularized, he moved to Vienna on the advice of Haydn and began one of the most active and profitable musical careers in that city. Initially teaching piano and guitar, he soon entered the music publishing business where he proved himself a shrewd - if sometimes mercenary - businessman. His catalogue grew to include a number of works by the best composers of his time including Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and the father of modern classical guitar, Mauro Giuliani. ~ Anthony Glise - Vienna, 1993