The variations on the Carnaval de Venise, held at the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv in Weimar (shelf-mark GSA 60/J, 56), are catalogued both by Raabe and Searle among Liszt’s unfinished works and Searle goes so far as erroneously to call the piece a “Paganini arrangement”. As a matter of fact is possible – although not documented – that Liszt may have heard Paganini play his own piece Introduzione e Variazioni sul Carnevale di Venezia at Paris in 1831, amongst the concerts which had such influence upon Liszt’s future direction. In any event the original theme is not Paganini’s, but belongs to Italian folkloric tradition and is found, not necessarily with the same title, in other well-known works. The piece is published here for the first time.