Beethoven’s piano variations WoO 76 are based on a trio “Tändeln und Scherzen” (“dallying and joking”) from the 1799 singspiel Soliman der Zweite (“Soliman II”) by Austrian composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr, best remembered these days as the man who completed Mozart’s Requiem.
Soliman II is based loosely on the life of Suleiman the Magnificent, the 16th century Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who implemented numerous reforms and married one of the women of his harem, Hürrem Sultan, of probably Lithuanian origins.
In 18th century French, British, and German theater and opera, this history was reinterpreted (often in comic ways) so that Suleiman’s wife is a Western European woman whose influence brings European values, manners, and customs to the Ottoman Empire.
In these retellings, Suleiman the Magnificent is often called Soliman II (as in the title of Süssmayr’s singspiel) under the mistaken belief that a previous sultan of the same name reigned briefly in the early 15th century.
For a fascinating history of theatrical works based on Suleiman the Magnificent, see Larry Wolff’s The Singing Turk: Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Age of Napoleon, Chapter 3.
In Süssmayr’s Soliman II, the sultana who influences the sultan has become a German woman named Marianne. The opera is also known by the title Soliman, or the Three Sultanas because the harem includes two other European women named Elmire and Delia.
As Mozart did in his 1782 singspiel Abduction from the Seraglio, Süssmayr included percussion-heavy Janissary-influenced music in Soliman II for a Turkish ambiance, although this is not evident in Beethoven’s variations.
Several copies of the libretto of Süssmayr’s Soliman II are available on Google Book Search (from 1800, for example), but none within the past two centuries, and none with an English translation.
#Beethoven250 Day 119
Variations on “Tändeln und Scherzen” from Süssmayr’s “Soliman II” (WoO 76), 1799
Italian pianist Gabriele Troisi performs Beethoven’s eight variations at English composer William Walton’s former home in Naples.
WoO 76 is the tenth set of piano variations that Beethoven wrote in the 1790s based on themes from opera or ballet. It is also the last. Beethoven’s future piano variations are based on original themes, or patriotic tunes, or a dopey waltz by a guy named Anton Diabelli.
In other 1799 news, on 9 November (18th Brumaire, Year VIII of the French Republic), a bloodless coup overthrew the ruling Directory in France, and Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul.