DIABELLI, ANTON ANTONIO composer of pianoforte and church music, was born on Sept. 6, 1781, at Mattsee, near Salzburg, Austria. He was educated in the con vent of Raichenhaslach, it being intended that he should become a priest. He abandoned the idea of taking orders, however, on the secularization of the Bavarian convents in 1803. Diabelli went to Vienna where his piano pieces and arrangements became ex tremely popular. His other compositions included songs and an operetta, Adam in der Klemme, while his masses, particularly the Landmessen, are widely known in Austria.
With the aid of money he earned as a teacher of the guitar and pianoforte, he was able to become a partner of Peter Cappi, the music publisher, in 1818. Six years later the firm became known as Diabelli and Co., which published for Schubert, Czerny, Strauss, Lanner, and others. On a waltz of Diabelli's, Beethoven wrote his 33 Variations (Op. 12o).