Hess 143 – An die Freude, song for voice and piano (?)

Hess 143 – An die Freude. H. 143 – KH, p. 122.

An die Freude, on a text by Friedrich von Schiller. It is said that Beethoven set this poem to music as a song for voice and piano no earlier than 1793, and that he later offered it to the Bonn publisher Simrock, together with other works, in 1803. See also the reference in Kinsky/Halm under Op. 52, p. 122.

[It is possible that there were in fact two early musical settings of Schiller’s poem. The first reference to the piece dates from 26 January 1793 and concerns Beethoven’s intention to set the poem to music. It is found in a letter written by Bartholomäus Fischenich, a friend of Beethoven and professor of law at the University of Bonn, to Charlotte von Schiller. In the letter, Fischenich states that Beethoven intended to set the famous hymn to music stanza by stanza. Charlotte was the wife of Friedrich von Schiller. The other reference to the piece was made by Ferdinand Ries in 1803. It is unclear whether Ries was referring to the setting made ten years earlier or to another one composed around 1803. Nottebohm pointed out that the Grasnick I collection contains short sketches dating from 1798–99. It is unlikely that these are remnants of the 1793 setting; they are more probably preparatory sketches for the one from 1803. This has led to the hypothesis that there were two lost settings of the poem. Biamonti catalogues this item (Hess 143, presumably referring to the 1793 setting) as Biamonti II-A7, under the title “Ati die Freude”, and catalogues the 1798–99 setting as Biamonti 189, under the title “Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen”, thus reinforcing the hypothesis of two distinct versions. There is no trace of a complete version for voice and piano of Schiller’s hymn, and until one or other of these two settings is rediscovered, there is no way of determining whether they were two separate versions or the same work referred to in different sources. The sketches are examined in Robert Winter’s essay, “The Sources for Beethoven’s Missa solemnis”, in Beethoven Essays: Studies in Honor of Elliot Forbes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1984, p. 233. See C/C, p. 265.]