WoO 165 Glück zum neuen Jahr, Canon
WoO 165 “Glück zum neuen Jahr”, Canon for New Year’s greetings to Baron Pasqualati, 1 January 1815, published in Vienna by J. Reidl as part of a collection of songs by Goethe and Matthisson set to music by Beethoven, May 1816. GA No. 256/16 (series 23, p. 200) Bruers 220 KH (WoO) 165 – L. IV, p. 351/s Nottebohm p. 162/7 – Thayer 200.
The autograph manuscript is unknown.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Official title: WoO 165 Glück zum neuen Jahr! Freier Kanon (Es-dur) nach einem eigenen Text Widmung; – NGA XII/2 AGA 256/16 = Serie 23/S. 200
Origin and publication: Written on 1 January 1815 in Vienna as a New Year’s greeting for Johann Baptist von Pasqualati. The original edition was published by Riedl in Vienna and Pest in May 1816. The dating is based on a copy by Anton Diabelli, who likely possessed the autograph. For information on Johann Baptist von Pasqualati, see Op. 118 and WoO 161. Rudolf Klein expressed doubts as to whether it is truly a canon, as the composition “cannot be presented in closed form” (Klein/Kanons, p. 50). The autograph or sketches are lost. In D-BNba (BH 136) there exists an open-score copy by Anton Diabelli titled Canon / Am ersten Tage des Jahrs 1815 / bey Bar. v. Pasqualati / geschrieben und ihm gewidmet / von / Lud: van Beethoven.
Original edition 1816 (May). Vienna and Pest, J. Riedl, PN 765 (Wiener Zeitung, 25 May 1816). Title: LIEDER / von / Göthe und Matthisson / in Musik gesetzt von / L. van Beethoven / (nebst dessen vierstimmigem Neujahrs-Canon, als Anhang) / [1.:] 765 / Wien und Pest / in J. Riedl’s Kunsthandlung. Klein/Kanons, p. 50. Indices: B&H/1851, p. 141 – Thayer/1865, no. 200 (p. 130) – Nottebohm/1868, p. 162f, no. 17. See also op. 75.
