Beethoven’s piano variations WoO 75 are based on a quartet “Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen” (“Child, if you want to sleep peacefully”) from Peter Winter’s 1796 singspiel Das Unterbrochene Opferfest (“The Interrupted Sacrifice”). The singspiel is set in Peru, and chockful of exotic and magical features reminiscent of Mozart’s Magic Flute. It became one of the most successful German operas of its time, with 16 performances in 1799, the year that Beethoven wrote his variations.
Peter Winter’s singspiel was so successful that Magic Flute librettist Emanuel Schikaneder commissioned him to write a sequel to Magic Flute entitled The Labyrinth with many of the same characters. See “The ‘Magic Flute’ of Peter Winter”.
#Beethoven250 Day 118
Variations on “Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen” from Winter’s “Das unterbrochene Opferfest” (WoO 75), 1799
The disappointment of not finding any live performances of WoO 75 is alleviated only by a recording by Alfred Brendel.
#Beethoven250 Day 118
Variations on “Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen” from Winter’s “Das unterbrochene Opferfest” (WoO 75), 1799
Another studio recording of the variations by French pianist Cécile Ousset. The exotic Magic Flute-like ambiance is evident.