Max Reger's Variations on a theme by Beethoven was originally written for two pianos, and received a successful premiere in that form on October 25, 1904, in Munich. Near the end of his life, however, Reger decided to revisit the work. Armed with knowledge he had gained from scoring his Variations on a theme by Mozart (a work with structure similar to the Variations on a theme by Beethoven, including a closing fugue which brings back the opening theme), he decided to orchestrate the Beethoven Variations. He dropped four variations from the original work, and resequenced the others. Reger never got to hear the orchestral version; it premiered at a memorial concert in Vienna, 12 years to the day after the premiere of the original two-piano version.

The work borrows its theme from Ludwig van Beethoven's last piano Bagatelle (Op. 119/11). Reger orchestrates it simply and sweetly, warm strings alternating with limpid winds. The variations partake of standard elaborations and key transformations, not groundbreaking, but nonetheless fluent and pleasing to the ear. Despite occasional dips into the minor mode, as in the brief, stormy fourth variation, the mood remains basically relaxed and tender throughout the variations. An Andante sostenuto (variation 5), with a broad tempo and high-Romantic orchestral swellings, forms the lyrical center of the work, reaching a passionate climax and descending from it with the utmost grace, including a lovely coda. The variations close with a good-natured Allegro pomposo that has an unexpectedly demure coda, leading into the massive fugue which closes the work.

This fugue is 103 bars long, far longer than any of the variations, and begins with a vivacious con grazioso idea stated quietly in the violins, which migrates to the rest of the strings and eventually the entire orchestra. Reger was a master of fugue, and his development of the theme is expertly controlled over the long span, while his orchestration remains lucid even in the densest parts of the counterpoint. The fugue reaches a climax with the simultaneous statement of the subject in the strings and a much-enlarged version of the original theme played in the brass. The effect is overwhelming. As a contemporary critic put it, the final fugue "rounds off [Reger's] colossal edifice in symphonic breadth and sonority like a massive iron portal." The Beethoven Variations is one of Reger's finest works, and it makes a good introduction to this neglected master's œuvre.

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