Tag Archives: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Listening to Beethoven #143 – Neue Liebe, neues Leben WoO 127

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Neue Liebe neues LebenPeanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

Neue Liebe, neues Leben WoO 127 for voice and piano (1798-99, Beethoven aged 28)

Dedication not known
Text Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Duration 3′

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

The third of Beethoven’s songs thought to be written in 1799 – and the third different language!

Susan Nouen, in some impressively detailed notes accompanying Signum’s disc of Beethoven Lieder with Ann Murray, recounts the composer’s history with this particular song. ‘The words…were borne of Goethe’s brief betrothal for some months in 1775 to Anne Elisabeth Schönemann’, who he nicknamed ‘Lili’. Their engagement ran into trouble because of her social circle, but her presence stayed with the poet. ‘She was the first woman I truly and deeply loved’, he said. ‘I can also say that she was the last’.

Beethoven identified strongly with this poem, setting it first in sketches in 1792, then this version, and then his final encounter with the text as Op.75/2.

Thoughts

A song of great urgency and concentrated feeling. Most of Beethoven’s writing is for the upper range of the tenor voice, and with quite short notes too – the singer is not allowed to rest at any point. Although in C major the song has no sense of repose, and Goethe’s words are delivered almost breathlessly. It will be interesting to see the music Beethoven finally brings to this text, for this is restless and less than comfortable.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Peter Maus (tenor), Hans Hilsdorf (piano)

 

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1799 Salieri Falstaff o sia Le tre burle

Next up Piano Sonata no.9 in E major Op.14/1

Listening to Beethoven #97 – Erlkönig

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Goethe in c1775

Erlkönig for voice and piano (1794-6, Beethoven aged 25)

Dedication not known
Text Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Duration 3’30”

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Background and Critical Reception

Those readers who know the songs of Schubert will recognise Erlkönig as one of the composer’s most popular songs, a tumultuous setting of Goethe’s heroic poem. Yet here is a response from Beethoven some twenty years earlier, a fragment completed for publication by Reinhold Becker.

The Unheard Beethoven site helpfully goes into detail on Becker’s amendments and extensions to Beethoven’s work, adding a downloadable score and audio. It also presents the original, unmodified sketch, as written by Beethoven and transcribed by Gustav Nottebohm.

Thoughts

Beethoven’s setting is a pretty dramatic one, a turbulent piano introduction then shadowing the baritone’s bold melody. The key is D minor, which until now we have not heard Beethoven use. It is the ideal vehicle to convey the tragic-heroic text, and the composer keeps a keen air of occasion running throughout. The end is hollow on the part of the singer, who signs off with a whisper.

Recording used and Spotify link

Paul Armin Edelmann (baritone), Bernadette Bartos (piano) (Naxos)

You can compare notes with the Schubert setting below:

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1796 Haydn Saper vorrei se m’ami Hob.XXVa:2

Next up Piano Sonata no.20 in G major Op.49/2

Listening to Beethoven #41 – 8 Lieder Op.52

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

8 Lieder Op.52 for voice and piano (1790-92, Beethoven aged 21)

Urians Reise um die Welt (poet: Matthias Claudius)
Feuerfarb’ (Sophie Moreau)
Das Liedchen von der Ruhe (Hermann Wilhelm Franz Ueltzen)
Mailied (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Mollys Abschied (Gottfried August Bürger)
Lied (Gotthold Ephraim Lessing)
Marmotte (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Das Blümchen Wunderhold. (Gottfried August Bürger)

Dedication not known
Text as above
Duration 15’30”

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Background and Critical Reception

Beethoven’s Op.52 is effectively an anthology of eight songs thought to have been written before he left Bonn for Vienna, with no exact dates of composition. They set six poets in all, and in publication at least are arranged in a logical sequence. That they are rarely performed in that sequence, or in a complete state, says much for the chequered reputation Beethoven’s songs continue to receive.

It has always been the case. To say these songs divided opinion early in their existence is to put it mildly – and as the (uncredited) booklet note for the complete songs as released by Capriccio notes, ‘the echo they met with in the musical criticism of the time is typical of the way the majority of Beethoven’s songs have been received critically up to the present day’. The example quoted is the Popular Music Newspaper in Leipzig, whose verdict in 1805 ran…’these eight songs. Is that possible? Comprehend it who can, that such thoroughly common, impoverished, dull and in parts even risible works can not only be produced by such a man, but also be presented to the public! Only the first of these songs (Urian’s Journey), as a result of the touch of the comic, and the seventh (Marmotte) as a result of a national element, which however, can be learned from any young marmot, are tolerable’.

In reality it is very unlikely the eight songs would be performed together from start to finish – performers would tend to take a song or two as part of a section of the concert dedicated to Beethoven songs. The songs vary greatly in character however. Urians Reise has 14 stanzas for its journey around the world, concluding in its various sufferings, and with a wry smile, that people are the same everywhere.

Mailied and Marmotte represent Beethoven’s first settings of a certain Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the former complemented by Susan Dunn as ‘wonderful, a variation on the antique genret of the spring song’. Mollys Abschied and Das Blümchen Wunderhold set the verses of Gottfried August Bürger, the first a ballade on the tragic death of the poet’s sister-in-law, who died in childbirth a year after they were married, and the second ‘the epitome of the folk-like Lied’.

Feuerfarb’ is an unconventional poem from Sophie Moreau, while Das Liedchen von der Ruhe speaks of a forced parting which for Dunn ‘elicited a gently lovely song’ from the composer. Lied, from the pen of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, would surely have chimed with Beethoven’s desire for a wife.

Thoughts

Once again, listening to Beethoven’s songs is a revealing exercise, and there is much in this set to note. Urians Reise is a long tale with a comedic twist – po-faced but also alternating between minor and major key in a rather more blatant manner than Schubert would eventually write. The many verses are dressed with a stentorian refrain. “There’s a thing! Well done, old chum, Er, what’s yer name, go on go on…”

Feuerfarb’ is softer, with flowing piano and a more sensitive line, and here a major-minor clash appears briefly but tellingly in the piano line. Das Liedchen von der Ruhe (A Reflection on Peace) depicts a tired, suffering man searching for the kind of rest he cannot have – with Elise – but still it looks anyway, dwelling on the thought of eternal rest and crossing into paradise.

Mailied, the first setting of Goethe, tells a first-hand account of an affair. It is bright, springlike and quite wordy, with a piano part chirping like the birds. Mollys Abschied also has a brighter tone but is a pained song, given as a farewell to ‘my man of joy and pain’. The piano is quite florid between verses – and there is definitely a sense that the piano is starting to contribute more to Beethoven’s songs, acting not just as an accompaniment but offering more comments on the text. This song is short but rather touching – and La Marmotte (Goethe again) is a quick and pictorial tale. Finally Das Blümchen Wunderhold is a song about the Wondrouswort flower, ‘more valuable than any jewel’ and with powers ‘no elixir on earth can match’. The music doesn’t perhaps reach those heights but still tells the story.

Recordings used

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Hermann Prey (baritone), Leonard Hokanson (piano) (Capriccio)

Fischer-Dieskau is imperious in these songs, commanding in Urians Reise and larger than life in La Marmotte, which is cut to a tiny version but really nicely weighted in Die Liebe. Hermann Prey and Leonard Hokanson, meanwhile, employ a unison choir to sing the choruses in the lengthier Urians Reise, an effective tactic especially when alternating between men’s and women’s voices.

Spotify links

A playlist of three different versions of the 8 Songs can be found here:

Also written in 1792 Haydn Symphony no.97 in C major

Next up 12 Variations on ‘Se vuol ballare’ Woo40

Listening to Beethoven #27 – Mit Mädeln sich vertragen

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ludwig van Beethoven, walking in Teplitz / Teplice, Czech Republic. Painted by Adolf Karpellus

Mit Mädeln sich vertragen WoO 90 for bass voice and orchestra (1790-2, Beethoven aged 21)

Dedication Joseph Lux
Text Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Duration 5′

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Background and Critical Reception

“With girls we get along, with men we brawl about”. So runs the first line of Goethe’s Mit Mädeln sich vertragen (With girls we get along), the first of his works to be utilised by Beethoven for musical gain. It is the second of two arias written for the Bonn-based bass (!) Joseph Lux.

Neither of the arias is mentioned much by Beethoven biographers, beyond the date of composition which is thought to be 1791-92. It is not thought the works were performed in Bonn.

In his booklet notes for a new Naxos recording of the aria by Kevin Greenlaw, Keith Anderson writes of how the aria is in fact a setting of a song text from Goethe’s Claudine von Villa Bella, described as ein Schauspiel mit Gesang (‘A play with songs’), and later set by Schubert.

Beethoven revised it in 1795-96, and Anderson talks of how the songs ‘are highly typical of the genre, if not necessarily of Beethoven.’

Thoughts

Beethoven’s melodic inspiration is evident throughout this entertaining piece of music for the stage. It brings out his playful side, which we have now seen on a couple of occasions – and is certainly more lighthearted than you might anticipate for a setting of a Goethe text.

Yet this is a song for men to sing, potentially in a raucous fashion – so it helps that there is a distinctive melody that the strings latch on to, and a refrain that sticks in the head too.

Recordings used

Kevin Greenlaw, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra / Leif Segerstam (Naxos)

Thomas Hampson, Concentus Musicus Wien / Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Warner Classics)

Kevin Greenlaw is ideally suited to this aria, slightly playful and jousting with the strings of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, who enjoy their echo of his refrain. Thomas Hampson’s version is a little broader, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt allowing the horns to rasp in the introduction, giving an edge to the music. Hampson is terrific in the refrains, hurling out the words.

A quickfire version for voice and piano also exists, in the capable hands of the masterly Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Jörg Demus.

Spotify links

Kevin Greenlaw, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra / Leif Segerstam

Thomas Hampson, Concentus Musicus Wien / Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Jörg Demus

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1792 Haydn – Symphony no.98 in B flat major

Next up Violin Concerto in C major

Wigmore Mondays – Benjamin Appl & Kristian Bezuidenhout: Schumann, Loewe, Mendelssohn & Zelter

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Benjamin Appl (baritone, above), Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano, below)

Wigmore Hall, Monday 16 September 2019 (lunchtime)

You can listen to this concert on the BBC Sounds app here

Review and guide by Ben Hogwood

Lieder can be downright miserable sometimes, as Benjamin Appl acknowledged when thanking us for attending this recital of ‘jolly German music’, with which the Wigmore Hall opened their 2019-20 season of BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts.

Appl, a baritone of ever-growing reputation, was performing with Kristian Bezuidenhout, who played a Blüthner fortepiano dating back to Leipzig in 1856 – the year of Schumann’s death. The instrument, an attractive rosewood colour, proved the ideal foil for an interesting programme looking at the Lied in Germany around the first half of the 19th century. In an hour we covered some little known ground from the output of Schumann himself, complemented by settings by Mendelssohn, Zelter and Loewe.

The pairing began with three later Robert Schumann songs, all based around the character Harper, from Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. Schumann set the songs in 1849, the centenary of the poet’s birth. Appl stood tall and upright in front of the piano, communicating directly with the audience through his eyes as well as his voice. Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass (Who never ate his bread in tears) was a sombre note on which to start, though the pain eased a little before the end, Bezuidenhout’s spread chords giving an indication of the fortepiano’s rounded sound. Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt (Who gives himself to loneliness) had a penetrating delivery from the singer, with a dark and unsettled postlude from the piano, while An die Türen will ich schleichen (From door to door will I steal) had a slightly lighter touch.

There followed three songs by Mendelssohn setting the poetry of Nikolaus Lenau. The short song An die Entfernte (To the distant beloved) danced lightly and was nicely phrased, before the nocturnal Schilflied (Reed song) was distracted and occasionally lost in thought. Frühlingslied (Spring song) emphatically blew away the cobwebs, the positive energy of the new season blowing the dark thoughts away.

The music of Carl Friedrich Zelter, a good friend of Goethe, is not often heard in the concert hall these days. He had his friend’s blessing however, the author approving of his direct methods of word setting, without too much in the way of musical dressing. His three Harfenspieler are bold settings and Appl sung them with clarity here, hitting the high notes of the second song with impressive intensity. Bezuidenhout was subtle in his complementary melodic lines on the fortepiano.

Contrasting with these were the dramatic songs of Carl Loewe. Herr Oluf is a self-contained Danish legend against the dangers of meeting Elves, and was performed with no quarter given, a terrific introduction from Bezuidenhout setting the energy level high. On occasion the singer has quite an unusual melodic profile, but this was straightforward for Appl’s vivid interpretation. The mischievous Hinkende Jamben was gone in an instant, with its mannerisms and lisps, before an expansive introduction to Tom der Reimer brought a grand tone from the singer. In a legend comparable in profile to Herr Oluf, it finished with brightly ringing bells, courtesy of Bezuidenhout’s picture painting.

When Schumann made his six settings of Lenau’s verse, he added a short Requiem in the mistaken knowledge that the poet had died. However when the day of the first performance arrived in 1850, news reached the gathering that Lenau had only just passed away, making the composer’s tribute strangely prophetic.

It is a dark cycle, reflecting perhaps the struggles of both men with mental illness – but illustrating at the same time the inner strength that music and poetry gave them. The steely Lied eines Schmiedes (Blacksmith’s Song) found Appl gathering himself with impressive projection, before the mood and heart softened a little for a languid account of Meine Rose (My Rose). Meanwhile Kommen und Scheiden (Meeting and Parting) had a devastating pay-off in the form of the emphasised last word, where the ‘last dream of my youth was taking leave of me’

Die Sennin (The Cowgirl) began with flowing piano, which led to Appl’s ringing delivery of ‘spring’s first song in the trees’, one of the recital’s most memorable moments. From there the cycle took a darker tone, Bezuidenhout breeding anxiety with the restless fortepiano line of Einsamkeit (Solitude), where Appl’s vocal was bold, and then to Der schwere Abend (The Sultry Evening) which was darker still, with a cold final line ‘to wish us both dead’. Thankfully the Requiem itself – a short Latin text – offered consolation and rest, as well as a rousing central section looking to the heavens.

This was a magnificent recital, with grace and power in equal measure from both performers, and the sound of the fortepiano a real treat in complement to Appl’s caramel tone. As a bonus we heard Mendelssohn’s Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song), finishing in celebratory mood.

Repertoire

Benjamin Appl and Kristian Bezuidenhout performed the following songs (with timings on the BBC Sounds broadcast in brackets):

Schumann Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt Op.98a/6 (1:54); Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass Op.98a/4 (4:55); An die Türen will ich schleichen Op.98a/8 (all 1849)
Mendelssohn An die Entfernte Op.71/3 (1842) (9:56); Schilflied Op.71/4 (1832 (11:17); Frühlingslied Op.47/3 (14:08) 1839)
Zelter Harfenspieler I-III (18:03)
Loewe Herr Oluf Op.2/2 (24:18) Hinkende Jamben (29:51); Tom der Reimer (30:35)
Schumann 6 Gedichte von Nikolaus Lenau & Requiem, Op.90 (37:53). Individual songs: Lied eines Schmiedes (37:53), Meine Rose (39:05), Kommen und Scheiden (42:52), Die Sennin Schöne (44:00), Einsamkeit (46:08), Der schwere Abend (49:11), Requiem (50:49)

Encore – Mendelssohn Auf Flügeln des Gesanges Op.34/2 (56:07)

Further listening

Benjamin Appl has not yet recorded any of the repertoire in this concert, save the encore, but suitable recorded versions can be heard on this Spotify playlist: