WoO 169 Ich küsse Sie, Canon
WoO 169 “Ich küsse Sie”, canon for Anna Milder-Hauptmann, enclosed with the letter of 6 January 1816. It was first published in the periodical Die Jahreszeiten on 13 January 1853, pp. 89–92; in modern times it was published by W. Hess in the fifth volume of the Supplemente zur GA. (1962). B. 322 – Hess 250 – KH (WoO) 169 – Thayer 201.
The autograph manuscript is preserved in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. Frau Milder-Hauptmann had been the distinguished interpreter of the role of Leonore in Fidelio, from the first performances of 1805 to those of 1814, which marked the opera’s definitive success. The musical idea of the canon echoes that of the opera’s overture. Hess (Supplemente, p. 92) and Misch now regard the piece not as a true canon but rather as a simple musical joke. It consists of six bars with the following text: “Ich küsse Sie, drücke Sie an mein Herz! Ich der Hauptmann! der Hauptmann!”. Beethoven plays on the double meaning of the word “Hauptmann”, which formed the second surname of the singer.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Official title: Wo O 169 Ich küsse Sie Notenscherz (Rätselkanon?, C-dur) nach einem eigenen Text Widmung: — NGAXII/2 AGA- SBG V/32 (2. Auflage: 34; Hess 250)
Origin and publication: Written on 6 January 1816 in Vienna. The first edition appeared posthumously in 1853 in the Hamburg periodical Die Jahreszeiten. The musical joke is found in a letter from Beethoven (BGA 875) to the singer Pauline Anna Milder-Hauptmann (1785–1838). Anna Milder sang the leading role of “Leonore” in all three versions of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, and the soprano parts in Beethoven’s academies: on 27 February 1814 in the trio “Tremate, empi, tremate” op.116, and finally on 29 November 1814 in the cantata „Der glorreiche Augenblick“ op.136.
In the spring of 1815 Anna Milder travelled to Berlin as a guest performer, where she obtained a permanent position at the Court Opera in 1816. Beethoven’s Fidelio was performed for the first time in Berlin on 11 October 1815. Anna Milder took on the role of Leonore on 14 October 1815 and subsequently sang it eleven times. Beethoven, who had heard of her Berlin successes in Fidelio, wrote to her on 6 January 1816, thanking her „daß sie meinem Fidelio so getreu geblieben sind“ and asking her to meet Baron Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte Fouqué in order to work on a libretto for an opera he wished to set „ausschließlich für das Berliner Theater“. Beethoven closed the main body of the letter with the words: „wie es auch sey, alles um sie her, darf sich nur Nebeln! mann nennen, ich allein nur führe mit recht den ehre[r]bietigen Namen Hauptmann“. The canon added at the end of the letter is accompanied by a corresponding note: „(fort mit allen [gestrichen: Nebenmännern] übrigen falschen Hauptmännern)“.
The identification by Kinsky/Halm as a „zweistimmiger Rätselkanon in der Oberquinte“, taken from Hugo Riemann (TDR III, pp. 536f), was seriously challenged by Ludwig Misch. Misch argues that a solution as a canon is impossible: „Man braucht hinter einem solchen Einfall eines launigen Augenblicks keine Geheimnisse zu wittern […] und darf das Sätzchen wohl aus der Liste der Kanons streichen“. Willy Hess, by contrast, offers two further attempts to resolve it as an enigmatic canon (SBG V, 2nd ed., p. 96). Rudolf Klein concludes: „Die gewaltsamen Lösungsversuche, die mit dem unklar überlieferten Text angestellt wurden, haben zu keinem brauchbaren Ergebnis geführt.“ (Klein/Kanons, p. 50.)
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
