Peanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

An die Hoffnung Op.32 for voice and piano (1805, Beethoven aged 34)

Dedication Countess Josephine von Brunsvik
Text Christoph August Tiedge

Duration 4’00”

Listen

by Ben Hogwood

Background and Critical Reception

Christoph August Tiedge’s lied An die Hoffnung had a profound effect on Beethoven, who set the text on two separate occasions – once published as Op.94 in 1816, but firstly published as Op.32 eleven years prior. Its dedication to Countess Josephine von Brunsvik is significant, for she was an unrequited love interest for the composer early in 1805. In March she wrote to her mother, “The good Beethoven has composed a lovely song for me on a text from Urania ‘An die Hoffnung’ as a gift for me”

By the summer feelings on both sides had cooled somewhat, with Beethoven removing Josephine as its dedicatee. Susan Youens, in booklet notes written for a collection of Beethoven lieder on Signum Classics, describes how the song’s ‘major mode optimism is rendered profound by darker touches of minor. The singer’s eloquent leap upward and the quiet blaze of a new (major) key for the acclamation to Hope – “O Hoffnung” – are unforgettable’.

Thoughts

This does indeed appear to be one of Beethoven’s most heartfelt utterances in the medium of singer and piano. It helps that the range of the song falls neatly within the grasp of either a baritone or tenor range, making it available for almost all male voice types.

Yet it is the elegance of the piano with which Beethoven begins, an unspoken melody spinning out with heartfelt ease. When the singer enters the mood is solemn yet rays of light are frequently shed by the piano harmonies as the music turns back to the major key.

The song makes a profound impact, both singer and pianist under the spell of Tiedge’s poetry, right up to the final line – and a final serene thought from the piano. We are in the calm of E flat major, same key as the Eroica symphony, but what a different mood we have here – vulnerability instead of heroism.

Recordings used

Werner Güra (tenor), Christoph Berner (fortepiano) (Harmonia Mundi)
Matthias Goerne (baritone), Jan Lisiecki (piano) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Ian Partridge (tenor), Richard Burnett (fortepiano) (Amon Ra)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano) (Deutsche Grammophon)
John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Iain Burnside (piano) (Signum Classics)
Hermann Prey (baritone), Leonard Hokanson (piano) (Capriccio)

Fischer-Dieskau benefits from a heavenly introduction from pianist Jörg Demus, who sets the tone for an intense and often visionary account. The two recordings with fortepiano are quite different – Werner Güra and Christoph Berner pressing on a quite a rate when compared with Ian Partidge and Richard Burnett.

Also written in 1805 Spohr String Quartet no.2 in G minor Op.4/2

Next up Leonore