The Variations sérieuses, Op. 54 is a set of variations on a theme in D minor, by Felix Mendelssohn. It was completed on 4 June 1841. The work was written as part of a campaign to raise funds for the erection of a large bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven in his home town of Bonn. The publisher Pietro Mecchetti asked Mendelssohn to contribute to a 'Beethoven Album', published in January 1842, which also included pieces by Liszt, Chopin, Moscheles and others, of which the proceeds would go to the Monument. Many of the variations require a virtuoso technique.
