Beethoven: 7 Variations on 'Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen', WoO 75

Introduction

As most know Beethoven wrote many variation works for piano based on themes from popular operas of his day. In 1795 alone he wrote three such works, including Nine Variations for Piano, in A major, on Paisiello's Quant è Più Bello, WoO 69, and in 1799, the year he composed this set he also produced Sussmayer's Tändeln und Scherzen, WoO 76.

The work under examination here is based on the theme in the quartet "Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen", from Peter Winter's opera Das unterbrochene Operfest, which was staged in Vienna in 1796, with many subsequent performances there over the next several years. It is doubtful that Beethoven actually felt Winter's rather simple theme possessed any true thematic appeal, at least for him, but as was often the case, he recognized its potential yield in the realm of keyboard variation. Moreover, such a work based on a then-popular theme could bring substantial monetary rewards, as he had discovered long before.

As suggested above, the theme itself is rather trite, possessing the qualities of a melody one might find in some generically-named piece that first- and second-year piano students play in grade-school recitals. Beethoven, however, makes the best of its limited nature, adding color and grace in the first variation, humor and playfulness in the second, and a bustling energy in the third.

The fifth offers some interesting counterpoint, and the last is perhaps the most colorful and brilliant of the seven. The lengthy coda is also most attractive.

In the end, this is not among Beethoven's finer variation works for keyboard, but the music has appeal and, considering the source theme, the whole is quite inventive. The score was first published in Vienna in 1799. A typical performance of the work lasts from ten to twelve minutes.