The Lloyd Webber brothers were always very close but their two different careers (a rock musical composer and a classical cellist) meant that a collaboration seemed unlikely.

It was not until Julian beat his brother in a bet on a Leyton Orient football match that Andrew was forced to write his cello work.

The work premiered at the 1977 Sydmonton Festival with rock band Colosseum II, featuring Gary Moore, Jon Hiseman and Don Airey being joined by Barbara Thompson (sax, flute), Rod Argent (piano, synthesizer, keyboards) and Julian Lloyd Webber (cello).

The opening and closing variations have been rewritten by Laurence Roman for cello and piano, the latter of which Julian often uses as an encore, due to its amusing glissando down to Bottom A (forcing a mid piece retune) to conclude.

Also, the UK's children's programme, The Book Tower (hosted by Doctor Who actor, Tom Baker) adopted a section of "Variation 19" for its theme tune.