The Arietta Label

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Arietta's label incorporates a fragment of the original manuscript of the Arietta movement of Beethoven's last piano sonata, Opus 111. This movement, one of the pinnacles of classical music, is comprised of an Arietta (song) followed by four variations of increasing complexity. Beginning with the serene "Arietta," the movement grows organically into an earthy, classical "boogie-woogie," dissolves into musical timelessness, and finally rises to a startlingly modern, contemplative, and ethereal climax. Beethoven's tempo indication, "Adagio molto semplice e cantabile" (very slowly, simply, and songlike) is handwritten above the first two bars of the music on all Arietta labels except Variation One, which features the opening measures of the first of the four variations.