Beethoven’s importance as the creator of monumental orchestral works and of substantial chamber music and solo sonatas is so great that his rich song oeuvre is often hardly even noticed. But his Lieder offer a highly entertaining repertoire in which love songs and humorous songs alternate with serious pieces of philosophical or religious subject matter. Goethe, Claudius, Herder, Lessing, Gellert and Rousseau are among the authors whose poems he set. In this way, we are offered a panorama of the waning 18th and incipient 19th centuries with a specific blend of feeling for nature, Enlightenment thought and religious sensibility. This Henle Urtext edition in two volumes, which is based on the Beethoven Complete Edition, also contains those songs which were rediscovered long after Beethoven’s death and were therefore hardly known for a long time. A detailed preface on the history and source situation of Beethoven’s art songs rounds off this edition.
Contents
Dimmi, ben mio, che m'ami (second version) op. 82,1
T'intendo sì, mio cor op. 82,2
L'amante impaziente (Arietta buffa) op. 82,3
L'amante impaziente (Arietta assai seriosa) op. 82,4
Odi l'aura che dolce sospira (duet) op. 82,5
Wonne der Wehmut (second version) op. 83,1
Sehnsucht op. 83,2
Mit einem gemalten Band op. 83,3
An die Geliebte (first version)
An die Geliebte (third version) WoO 140
Der Bardengeist WoO 142
Des Kriegers Abschied WoO 143
Merkenstein (first version) WoO 144
Merkenstein (second version) op. 100
Das Geheimnis, Liebe und Wahrheit WoO 145
An die Hoffnung (second version) op. 94
Sehnsucht (Die stille Nacht umdunkelt) WoO 146
An die ferne Geliebte op. 98
Der Mann vom Wort op. 99
Ruf vom Berge WoO 147
So oder so WoO 148
Resignation WoO 149
Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel WoO 150
Ariette (Der Kuß) op. 128
Klage (second version) WoO 113
Erhebt das Glas mit froher Hand WoO 109
Punschlied WoO 111
An Laura WoO 112
Ein Selbstgespräch WoO 114
Oh care selve, oh cara WoO 119
Seufzer eines Ungeliebten/Gegenliebe WoO 118
Romance WoO 128
Man strebt, die Flamme zu verhehlen WoO 120
Freudvoll und leidvoll (second vocal score) op. 84,4
An die Geliebte (second version) WoO 140
Der Gesang der Nachtigall WoO 141
Die laute Klage (second version) WoO 135
Auf, Freunde, singt dem Gott der Ehen (first version) WoO 105