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indeed in this way, that at first I did not know where you lived, and partly also from diffidence, which led me to think I might have been premature in dedicating a work to you before ascertaining that you approved of it. Indeed, even now I send you "Adelaide" with a feeling of timidity. You know yourself what changes the lapse of some years brings forth in an artist who continues to make progress; the greater the advances we make in art, the less are we satisfied with our works of an earlier date. My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not dissatisfied with the manner in which I have set your heavenly "Adelaide" to music, and are incited by it soon to compose a similar poem; and if you do not consider my request too indiscreet, I would ask you to send it to me forthwith, that I may exert all my energies to approach your lovely poetry in merit. Pray regard the dedication as a token of the pleasure which your "Adelaide" conferred on me, as well as of the appreciation and intense delight your poetry always has inspired, and always will inspire in me.
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You will receive with this one of my compositions published some years since, and yet, to my shame, you probably have never heard of it. I cannot attempt to excuse myself, or to explain why I dedicated a work to you which came direct from my heart, but never acquainted you with its existence, unless
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might be viewed as a kind of triumphal march in which the young lover exults in a death and a transfiguration whereby he is symbolically united with his beloved... The march crescendos and culminates on F above middle C with an impassioned outcry of the beloved's name. The final eleven measures,
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writes, "Matthisson’s poem of love unfulfilled might have been written with
Beethoven himself in mind, so closely does it conform to Beethoven’s life’s experience and his pessimism in matters of the heart: the poet wanders lonely in nature thinking of his unattainable love, consoled only by the
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than to Haydn and Mozart ... The equilibrium between harmonic and thematic development so characteristic of Haydn and Mozart is often lost in early
Beethoven, where thematic contrast and transformation seem to outweigh all other interests. Beethoven, indeed, started as a true member of his
337:. There is a triplet accompaniment in the piano, with many modulations through the flat keys, creating a dreamy atmosphere. As Cooper remarks, "the lover sees his beloved wherever he wanders, and the music correspondingly wanders through a great range of keys and rhythms."
368:. In the piano, he compresses the melodic outline from the beginning of the song, with its upbeat from F leading to repeated Ds and then the dominant seventh supporting E♭. The "compression" pointed out by Kinderman is illustrated in the following figure and sound files.
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The second part of
Beethoven's song sets the extravagant death fantasy of the final stanza, in which flowers sprout from the poet's grave to express his undying love. Strikingly, Beethoven sets this stanza in tones not of despair but of ecstasy; the tempo marking is
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Beethoven was quite late in presenting
Matthisson with a copy of his song, fearing the poet would not like it (see letter above). In fact, Matthisson appreciated the song greatly; he later wrote (in an 1825 introduction to an edition of his collected poems):
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With age, Beethoven drew closer to the forms and proportions of Haydn and Mozart. In his youthful works, the imitation of his two great precursors is largely exterior: in technique and even in spirit, he is at the beginning of his career often closer to
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The poem clearly struck a chord with
Beethoven, whose personal life often centered on his yearnings for idealized and unattainable women. The letter of thanks that Beethoven later wrote to Matthisson testifies to his emotional engagement with the poem:
80: XXVIa:42, c. 1795), written by the elder composer shortly before. Like "Adelaide", "O Tuneful Voice" sets a love poem, is in moderate tempo with a steady triplet accompaniment, and wanders from key to key in its middle section.
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Several composers have animated this little lyrical fantasy through music; I am firmly convinced however that none of them so threw the text into the shade with their melody as did the genius Ludwig van
Beethoven in
64:, Beethoven was in his mid twenties; he had come to Vienna in 1792 to pursue a career and was in the early stages of making a name for himself as pianist and composer. He had only recently completed his studies with
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is as much
Italian Romantic opera as anything else: its long, winding melody, symmetrical and passionate, its colorful modulations and aggressively simple accompaniment could come easily from an early work of
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thought of the future miraculous bloom upon his grave". Source: notes by Howard for his
Hyperion recording of Liszt piano transcriptions of Beethoven's music;
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used the song to exemplify his claim that, somewhat paradoxically, Beethoven actually drew closer to the compositional practice of his predecessors
360:, musically portray an almost post-coital relaxation of the exhausted lover into his lover's arms with a dying, prayer-like exhalation: "Adelaide."
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504:"the only song by Beethoven the loss of which would leave a gap in the emotional life of our nation." The song is less well-known today; the
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Of the music of the final section, Kinderman remarks, "Most striking of all is the musical intensification of the last stanza in the
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for voice with keyboard accompaniment. Set to music, and dedicated to the author, by LUDVIG van BEETHOVEN. Artaria and Co., Vienna.
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assigns the work of composition to "an unusually long time during 1794, 1795, and perhaps 1796." The song was published by
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is an early
Romantic poem that expresses an outpouring of yearning for an idealized and apparently unattainable woman.
688:"Yearning for the Unattainable: A Comparison of Jussi Björling's Four Recorded Performances of Beethoven's "Adelaide"
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The work was especially popular in
Beethoven's day, and went through many editions. Various composers, including
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Beethoven's Letters (1790–1826) from the collection of Dr. Ludwig Nohl, translated by Lady Grace Wallace
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in Vienna; the first edition bears no date, but an advertisement for it appeared 8 February 1797 in the
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Brown, A. Peter (2002) Notes on Joseph Haydn's lieder and canzonettas. In Darwin Floyd Scott, eds.,
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496:) prepared arrangements of the song for solo piano. Later in the nineteenth century, the critic
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345:. In an essay on this song, Carla Ramsey offers an almost lurid account of the final section:
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Beethoven dedicated the work to Matthisson. The German-language title page may be translated:
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Beethoven treated the text in two parts. The first, covering the first three stanzas, is set
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Krehbiel, H. E. (1902) Historical and critical notes. Introductory material to
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versions by other voices). A performance lasts about six minutes. The song is
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Barry Cooper's remark is taken from his commentary on the recording by tenor
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is one of the most popular, and it is included in most recorded anthologies.
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865:(in German). Karlsruhe: Christian Gottlieb Schmieder. 1792. p. 19.
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style and now in a late and somewhat attenuated version of the
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44:) is a song for solo voice and piano composed in about 1795 by
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In the reflection of the river, in the snows of the Alps,
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Of Beethoven's songs (a minor genre for this composer),
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Which shimmers through the swaying branches of flowers:
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Title page of the original edition; click to expand.
656:. Boston & New York: Oliver Ditson at
172:Your friend wanders alone in the garden of spring,
774:, on-line edition, article "Ludwig van Beethoven"
190:Evening breezes whisper through the tender leaves
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192:The silver bells at Maytime rustle in the grass,
783:in Honor of Theodore Front on His 90th Birthday
771:The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
831:The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
131:Einsam wandelt dein Freund im Frühlingsgarten,
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203:And clearly on every violet petal will shine:
162:Deutlich schimmert auf jedem Purpurblättchen:
140:In der spiegelnden Flut, im Schnee der Alpen,
814:. The Haydn Keyboard Project. Archived from
747:, article "Ludwig van Beethoven", section 13
185:In the fields of stars thy face beams forth,
812:"'The Spirit's Song' and 'O Tuneful Voice'"
199:Some day, o miracle! a flower will blossom,
158:Einst, o Wunder! entblüht auf meinem Grabe,
144:Im Gefilde der Sterne strahlt dein Bildnis,
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276:When playing "Adelaide," sometimes recall
151:Silberglöckchen des Mais im Grase säuseln,
133:Mild vom lieblichen Zauberlicht umflossen,
68:. A. Peter Brown suggests that in writing
848:International Music Score Library Project
201:Upon my grave from the ashes of my heart;
135:Das durch wankende Blüthenzweige zittert,
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153:Wellen rauschen und Nachtigallen flöten,
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149:Abendlüftchen im zarten Laube flüstern,
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174:Gently bathed in lovely magical light,
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792:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
261:Friedrich von Matthisson (1761-1831)
183:In the golden clouds of sinking day,
160:Eine Blume der Asche meines Herzens.
547:generation, writing now in a proto-
142:In des sinkenden Tages Goldgewölke,
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799:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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48:. The text is a poem in German by
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719:Quoted from Kindermann (2009, 33)
246:. The short concluding line, the
194:Waves roar and nightingales sing,
804:Ludwig van Beethoven: Six Songs
453:Problems playing this file? See
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411:Problems playing this file? See
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810:Lock, Cecily (September 2005).
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60:During the period he created
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108:ADELAIDE by MATTHISSON. A
56:Composition and publication
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853:Sheet music for "Adelaide"
806:. New York: G. Schirmer.
795:Kinderman, William (2009)
733:Kunitachi College of Music
510:calls it "once-popular".
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295:Beethoven as a young man
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269:MOST ESTEEMED FRIEND,--
266:Vienna, August 4, 1800.
50:Friedrich von Matthisson
785:. Theodore Front Music.
779:For the Love of Music:
529:as his career evolved:
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279:Your sincere admirer,
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41:[aːdəlaːˈiːdə]
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37:German pronunciation:
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833:. New York: Norton.
710:Kinderman (2009, 34)
46:Ludwig van Beethoven
623:Krehbiel (1902:iii)
693:2012-03-14 at the
677:, Decca 444-817-2.
486:Sigismond Thalberg
434:At "Allegro molto"
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602:Cooper (2008, 64)
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880:1790s songs
859:"Adelaide""
781:Festschrift
581:Lock (2005)
490:Franz Liszt
333:and marked
308:vocal range
212:sapphic ode
874:Categories
844:"Adelaide"
822:2012-09-12
764:References
455:media help
413:media help
320:transposed
282:BEETHOVEN.
205:Adelaide!
164:Adelaide!
797:Beethoven
790:Beethoven
745:New Grove
514:Criticism
507:New Grove
463:Reception
331:larghetto
196:Adelaide!
187:Adelaide!
178:Adelaide!
155:Adelaide!
146:Adelaide!
137:Adelaide!
691:Archived
557:Adelaide
549:Romantic
544:Clementi
502:Adelaide
479:Adelaide
300:Adelaide
123:Adelaide
85:Adelaide
70:Adelaide
62:Adelaide
28:Adelaide
735:Library
701:Society
562:Bellini
500:called
473:Vienna.
392:Opening
357:calando
354:marked
316:soprano
248:Adonius
240:trochee
236:trochee
232:trochee
221:trochee
110:cantata
93:Artaria
890:Lieder
536:Hummel
527:Mozart
306:; the
227:dactyl
632:Thus
569:Notes
540:Weber
523:Haydn
494:S.466
335:dolce
312:tenor
287:Music
216:meter
35:46, (
525:and
488:and
117:Text
78:Hob.
314:or
33:Op.
876::
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616:^
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238:–
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
