The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume IThayer, Alexander Wheelock
History
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I
Thayer, Alexander Wheelock
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827
It was not published until later, probably in 1808, when it came with
two other songs from the press of Simrock. Beethoven composed the
poem a second time, utilizing the beginning of his first melody, for
solo, chorus and orchestra (Op. 121b). To this setting we shall recur
hereafter. There is still another song which must be brought into the
story of this period. It is the “Seufzer eines Ungeliebten,” with
its two parts based on two independent but related poems by Bürger.
Particular interest attaches to the second part, “Gegenliebe,” from
the fact that its melody was used afterward by Beethoven for the
variations in the “Choral Fantasia,” Op. 80. Sketches for this melody
are found associated with sketches for “Adelaide” on a sheet in the
archives of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Nottebohm fixes the year
of the song’s origin as 1795. It was first published as late as 1837
by Diabelli along with the song, “Turteltaube, du klagest,” which was
composed much later. The Italian song, “O care selve, o cara felice
libertà” (from Metastasio’s “Olimpiade”), entered under number 1264
in Thayer’s “Chronologisches Verzeichniss,” appears as a chorus for
three voices at the end of the Albrechtsberger exercises, and hence
may be placed in the year 1795, as is done by Nottebohm, who adds that
it originated simultaneously with the setting of “Wer ist ein freier
Mann?” Here mention must also be made of two arias which Beethoven
wrote for introduction in Umlauf’s comic opera “Die schöne Schusterin.”
These songs were assigned to the Bonn period in the first edition of
this biography because the opera was performed in Bonn in the years
1789 and 1790. The two songs composed by Beethoven are an arietta, or
rather strophic song, “O welch’ ein Leben,” for tenor, and an aria,
“Soll ein Schuh nicht drücken?” for soprano. The words of the latter
are in the original libretto. The words of the tenor song, though
not part of the original text, were obviously written for the opera.
The melody was afterward used by Beethoven as a setting for Goethe’s
“Mailied,” published in 1805, as Op. 52. Both songs, as written for the
opera, were published for the first time in the Complete Edition of
Beethoven’s works from the copies preserved in the Berlin Library.
NUMEROUS PIECES OF CHAMBER MUSIC
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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