Johann Nepomuk Hummel was in his time a highly esteemed pianist and composer, who excelled particularly in improvisation. He studied, among others, with Mozart, Albrechtsberger and Salieri. In his extensive creative output, the variation form is found ever and ever again, so e.g. in his early "Three Variations for Piano, op. 1". The present arrangement for oboe and piano is based on the first of these, its theme being "The Plough Boy", taken from the opera "The Farmer" by William Shield.