By the end of his life, Beethoven had composed nearly seventy sets of variations. Most of the early ones were based on themes by other composers and were not given opus numbers, which Beethoven reserved for what he felt to be his more substantial, important works.

Published on February 27, 1796 by Artaria in Vienna, the Variations in C major on "Menuett à la Viganò" from Haibel's Le nozze disturbate, WoO. 68, bear no dedication. Jakob Haibel was a singer and actor at Emanuel Schikaneder's Theater auf der Wieden from around 1789. Haibel's ballet-pantomime, Le nozze disturbate, oder Die unterbrochene Hochzeit (The Interrupted Wedding), was one of his first works for the stage, premièring on May 18, 1795 and playing at least thirty-nine times that year. Beethoven attempted to capitalize on the work's success by composing a set of variations on one of its numbers, "Menuett à la Viganò," in 1795.

Haibel's theme, in C major, is in two parts, and boasts three harmonies: C, G and F major. The second half of the theme concentrates on the dominant, G major, before closing with a return to the first part. In the first variation, Beethoven immediately makes the most of Haibel's eighth-note pickups by imparting to the theme a continuous eighth-note rhythm in the first half and inverting the second half. Beethoven increases the speed in No. 2 as the tune is lost among flights of fancy and chromatic inflections. Right-hand octaves trace the theme more clearly in No. 3 as Beethoven increases the pathos in the minor variation (No. 4) with the addition of D flats and G flats that fall by half step. Harmony is about all that is left of the theme in the fifth variation while the decorative triplets of the sixth help trace its outline. The compact seventh variation returns to C minor, its loud close contrasting with the ensuing light and delicate variation. The ninth and tenth continue the highly decorative variation technique; the tenth includes a flashy crossing of the hands. Variation No. 11 is as much an expansion of No. 4 as it is of the theme, and the lengthy No. 12 incorporates most of the techniques employed in the preceding variations, closing with a transparent, contemplative Adagio passage.

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