DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (October 7, 2020)
The last few episodes of the “Daily Doses" have been taxing on one's concentration. What else might one expect from Beethoven's late quartets? The following few episodes of our offerings shall be easier: they are of one of the most beautiful love song(s) ever composed.
When we think of song-cycles, we think of Schubert, Loewe, Schumann, Brahms, and others. But they are all the children of Beethoven. Some think of "An die Ferne Geliebte" as Beethoven's first song-cycle, but we disagree. The “Gellert Lieder”, which we discussed in the posts of August 3, 4, 5, and 6, display an ordering of ideas that qualify them as a song-cycle.
This work though, is of a higher order. Beethoven did not call it a cycle (zyklus), but a circle (kreis), and indeed, the piece finishes with the same music with which it began.
But, beware of circular reasoning! Beethoven would never, ever, ever, leave his audience in the same place where they began. He always elevates us to a higher level. Perhaps a complete rotation of a spiral on a cone is a more appropriate image. It ends up at the same place, at the same time, but does not.
THE POET
In song-settings, the poet is often seen as secondary to the composer. This sometimes is the case, as when a great composer sets a minor poem. Nonetheless, it is our own experience that the quality and musicality of the poetry makes a great difference as to what the composer can do, and the two should be seen as co-creators of a song.
The poet in this case, was a young Jewish fellow named Alois Jeitteles (1794-1858), who was a doctor, poet, translator, and a journalist. Dr. Jeitteles was a fearless lover of humanity, and risked his life to save his fellow citizens during a cholera outbreak. He composed these poems in 1815 at the age of 21. Beethoven set them the next year at the age of 46, and is reported to have thanked the poet for the inspiration. However, upon examination, we wonder whether the older artist took the opportunity to lovingly uplift the younger above youthful impetuousness, or was it the other way around.
The poems, titled: "An die Ferne Geliebte"-"To the Distant Beloved", are pure, short, and simple-yet profound.
Translations are a problem. Poetry is the most difficult form to capture all the essence through translation; and most translations are incoherent. We offer our own combination of a literal translation and a poetic one. If any of our readers can do better, we welcome your submission!
The first song concerns two lovers who are separated by a great distance. Although the poetry strongly suggests the love of a woman, such as Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved", there are reasons why we can believe that the object of the poet's love, is God the Creator, or even one's own lost creativity. These meanings need not be mutually exclusive.
The words of song one are:
Auf dem Hügel sitz ich spähend
(On the hill, I sit gazing)
In das blaue Nebelland,
(Into the blue and foggy land)
Nach den fernen Triften sehend,
(Looking into distant ranges,)
Wo ich dich, Geliebte, fand.
(Where I found you, my beloved.)
Weit bin ich von dir geschieden,
(I am separated from you,)
Trennend liegen Berg und Tal
(By wide mountains and vales,)
Zwischen uns und unserm Frieden,
(Dividing us and our peace,)
Unserm Gluck und unsrer Qual.
(Our fortune and our trevails.)
Ach, den Blick kannst du nicht sehen,
(You can't see glowing visions,)
Der zu dir so glühen
(Which I rush towards you,)
Und die Seufzer, sie verwehen
(And our sighs, blown away)
In dem Raume, der uns theilt
(In the space, that parts us.)
Will denn nichts mehr zu dir dringen,
(Can nothing reach you,)
Nichts der Liebe Bote sein?
(With my messages of love?)
Singen will ich, Lieder singen,
(Then I would sing, sing songs,)
Die dir klagen meine Pein!
(Which speak to you of my pain!)
Denn vor Liebesklang entweichet
(For a love song rejects)
Jeder Raum und jede Zeit,
(All of space and all of time,)
Und ein liebend Herz erreichet
(And a loving heart arrives at)
Was ein liebend Herz geweiht!
(What a loving heart makes Holy)
Beethoven sets this poem in a pure and innocent manner—in the key of Eb.
The song is both strophic, and through-composed. It is strophic in that the voice always repeats the same melody, yet through-composed, in that Beethoven changes the piano part for each verse. In the second verse, which speaks of the wide spaces separating the lovers, the piano gives us some large leaps in the right hand. When discussing how a love song transcends space and time, he marks it "more and more quickly". The song ends with an Eb chord, that changes to G, but with minimal change in the "voice-leading."
Please enjoy this performance of just the first song, by Gerhard Husch.