|
Hob. # |
Genre |
Key |
Tempo |
Title - German |
Title - English |
Poet |
|
26a:01 |
Lied |
Bb |
Adagio |
Das strickende Mädchen |
The Knitting Maiden |
Sir Charles Sedley trans. J.G. Herder |
|
26a:02 |
Lied |
E |
Allegretto |
Cupido |
Cupid |
G. Leon |
|
26a:03 |
Lied |
Eb |
Andante |
Der erste Kuss |
The First Kiss |
J.G. Jacobi |
|
26a:04 |
Lied |
G |
Allegretto |
Eine sehr gewöhnliche Geschichte |
An All-too-common Story |
C.F. Weisse |
|
26a:05 |
Lied |
g |
Adagio |
Die Verlassene |
The Abandoned Woman |
L.L. Haschka |
|
26a:06 |
Lied |
A |
Vivace |
Der Gleichsinn |
Indifference |
G. Wither trans. J.J. Eschenburg |
|
26a:07 |
Lied |
Bb |
Poco adagio |
An Iris |
To Iris |
J.A. Weppen |
|
26a:08 |
Lied |
D |
Allegro |
An Thyrsis |
To Thrysis |
1st stanza: C.M. von Ziegler rest anon. |
|
26a:09 |
Lied |
f |
Adagio |
Trost unglücklicher Liebe |
Comfort for Unhappy Love |
Anonymous |
|
26a:10 |
Lied |
C |
Allegro molto |
Die Landlust |
Country Pleasure |
Stahl |
|
26a:11 |
Lied |
D |
Adagio |
Liebeslied |
Love Song |
Leon |
|
26a:12 |
Lied |
Eb |
Allegretto |
Die zu späte Ankunft der Mutter |
The Mother's Belated Arrival |
Weisse |
[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]
Estoras, 2nd May 1781.
Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir!
I am most obliged to you for the 4 copies, so beautifully engraved. Concerning the Lieder* I have completed 14 of the same with all possible diligence, and the number would have been completed long ago if I had had the texts of them; I cannot quite understand why Herr von Greiner** does not return them to me, since at one time they were in my hands. I only wanted his opinion as to the expression contained therein and sent them to him via Herr Walther the organ builder; but now receive no answer from either of them!
If you would be good enough to try to press the matter with Herr Walther, I should be most obliged to you, for I assure you that these Lieder perhaps surpass all my previous ones in variety, naturalness, and ease of vocal execution….
*Artaria accepted the Lieder, which they published in two sets: the first in December 1781, the second three years later.
** FRANZ VON GREINER, a well-known music-lover in Vienna. His daughter, Caroline Pichler, wrote memoirs which are a useful source of information about contemporary Vienna. Mozart, Haydn, Salieri, Paisiello and Cimarosa were all friends of the house.
[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]
Estoras, 23rd June 1781.
Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir!
I received with the greatest pleasure the oil-portrait together with the twelve you enclosed of the beautifully engraved portrait. My gracious Prince, however, was even more delighted, for as soon as his attention was drawn to it, he immediately asked me to give him one. Since these 12 copies are not enough I would ask you, good Sir, to send me another six at my expense. You can subtract the sum from my fee for the Lieder, six of which I shall send you in a few weeks. Fifteen are now finished, but among them is one which the strict censorship may perhaps not allow; it is one of those which you yourself gave me, and you shall have the words of it in a few days. I should be sorry about this, for I have composed a remarkably good air to it. To this day I have not received the other Lieder from Herr von Greiner; they are certainly lost. You would therefore oblige me if you would procure a dozen others from Herr von Greiner, but only good ones and varied, so that I may have a choice: for it often happens that a certain poem has a real antipathy to the composer, or the composer to the poem. Moreover, I agree to the stipulated price of one ducat apiece, but no one should know anything about this. Also I do not want any money until all the proofs have been passed…
[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]
Estoras, 20th July 1781.
Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir!
I send you herewith the first 12 Lieder, and will endeavor to send you the second dozen, good Sir, as soon as possible: some of them are written twice over in case my handwriting should not always be entirely legible, but I would prefer that you engrave them from my autograph. In the third Lied, please note that following the completed text, at the bottom, the words "N.B." must be engraved in just the same way as I have indicated below the text. You will find the words of the 4th, 8th and 9th Lieder in Friebert's Lieder, as published by Herr von Kurzbock, but in case you cannot get them, I shall send them to you. These 3 Lieder have been set to music by Kapellmeister Hofmann, but between ourselves, miserably; and just because this braggart thinks that he alone has ascended the heights of Mount Parnassus, and tries to disgrace me every time with a certain high society I have composed these very three Lieder to show this would-be high society the difference: Sed hoc inter nos.
You will find the texts of the 10th and 12th Lieder among those you sent me, and I enclose herewith the texts. Under No. 12 you will find the text of which I recently expressed some doubt as to the censorship…
Above all I ask you to engrave the musical signs as I have written them….
I pray you especially, good Sir, not to let anyone copy, sing or in any way alter these Lieder before publication, because when they are ready, I shall sing them myself in the critical houses. By his presence and through the proper execution, the master must maintain his rights; these are only songs, but they are not the street songs of Hofmann, wherein neither ideas, expression nor, much less, melody appear.
I know in this day and age, it is a commonly held belief that the German Lied was invented by Franz Schubert, and when he died, he took the recipe with him. But this is one of those stories which has elements of truth but is totally wrong in its conclusion. Perhaps it is inevitable when a form peaks so early in its existence, as this one did, that this sort of thinking gets applied. Of course, Schubert neither began nor ended the Lied, and the Lieder of Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf, for example, are proof of its continued existence and well-being. I have never heard anyone argue, though, that their efforts equaled or surpassed Schubert's. But then, I have rarely heard anyone at all mention the Lieder which preceded Schubert's!
As I have mentioned here, more than a few times, the salon is a vitally important part of culture in Vienna. By this time it has been an established presence for only ten years or so, unlike the two hundred years which it had graced Paris. It's very existence is almost certainly due to the ascension of a woman, Maria Theresia, to the throne of Holy Roman Empress which made possible the major cultural shift it took to allow salons into the position which they now occupied. Why? Well, they were run by women; intelligent, socially influential women. Austria at the time didn't even allow women an identity apart from 'wife of…', so this was a big deal. Since one has to tell history in order to, umm, tell history, I must tell you the first Viennese salon was begun by a lady named Charlotte Greiner, who had been a lady-in-waiting at the court and who married a bureaucrat named Frans Sales von Greiner. They began a salon in 1773, and soon had attracted the cream of the Viennese and visiting intelligentsia to their door on a weekly basis. As Maria Theresia's 'reader', Charlotte had acquired a tremendous education in several languages, as well as the social skills which come with being a courtier. Her husband was wealthy, intelligent and also well-connected at court and in government in general. In short, they were the perfect couple to host an open-house party which lasted for the next thirty years and beyond! Much of the information we have about salon life comes from the autobiography of their daughter, Caroline Pichler, who grew up with Mozart and Haydn in her living room, and went on in the 19th century to host cultural icons of the class of Beethoven and Grillparzer!
In reviewing Haydn's letters to Artaria above, we note the name of 'von Greiner' as the supplier of the verses used in the twelve (eventually twenty-four) Lieder in question. The Lied itself was a new phenomenon. It isn't just the literal translation 'song', there is a specific meaning to it, best translated or thought of as German Art Song. It isn't folk music, it is German poetry with (usually keyboard) accompaniment which does more than play a directional chord for the singer. The Greiner salon was Haydn's entrée into the literary world, something his education and experience until now hadn't prepared him for very well. Anybody who was anybody, as they say, was there regularly, and the opportunity to hear science theories, poetry, political essays, music and other cultural forms, presented by their originators, was as important and influential for him as it was for others to hear him and Mozart, for example, presenting their own music either personally or by proxy. Thus Haydn's statement to Artaria above, "I shall sing them myself in the critical houses". Let us not forget, Haydn was a great singer, trained at Stephansdom, and he never lost the ability; as we shall see, he would one day sing duets with the Queen of England!
In any case, the recently invented Lied was a staple of salon life, and Haydn was a contributor to the scene. The twelve of the present instance are not Schubertian, they lack the device which Schubert's genius contributed to the Lied; obbligato interweaving of the keyboard into the vocal line. However, they are far more than mere accompaniment of keyboard and voice. At first they may seem like mere accompaniment, but further listening will reveal a rich palette of expression and construction. They represent many moods, and even though the German critics of the time faulted him for using poetry which wasn't on par with his musical talent, clearly the music buying public during his lifetime didn't agree, as these were consistent bestsellers in the sheet music shops.
So once again we see the evils of comparing things from different times or places. Schubert didn't create his stupendous oeuvre of songs ex nihilo, he worked in a genre and for a market which had been developed by those who came before. And critics of Northern Germany, with a different perspective on poetry from talents such as Goethe, were not really in a suitable position to objectively criticize Austrian tastes, for this is what was actually going on. But the net result is the shrouding, to the point of ignoring, some marvelous music by composers which include not only Haydn, but Mozart and Beethoven too! I commend these works to you. These twelve can be had either alone, or in a set which includes the second volume. Take a chance!
Next time we will look at the year 1782. Our entrepreneur is just beginning!
Thanks for reading!