Hess 229 Languisco e moro, per te, mio ben, ch’adoro. Melodic motif for soprano and instrumental bass, and for soprano and tenor
The musical examples on this page are by Graziano Denini, Eleonora Zambon and Antonietta Cappelli .
Hess 229 – Languisco e moro, per te, mio ben, ch’adoro – 1802–1803.
Melodic idea for soprano and instrumental bass, and for soprano and tenor, with the words “Languisco e moro, per te, mio ben, ch’adoro.”
Wielhowsky Sketchbook, page 89, lines 1–6 (Fish., p. 96; L. Nohl, B.L.u.W., p. 99; Hess Catalogue 229, bars 18/15, late 1802, early 1803).
Also found in Hess/Green: Duet “Languisco e moro, per te, mio ben, ch’adoro.” Ludwig Nohl, in his work Beethoven, Liszt, Wagner. Ein Buch der Kunstbewegung unseres Jahrhunderts (W. Braunmüller, Vienna, 1874, pp. 96–101), informs us that the piece was found on pp. 88–89 of a sketchbook dating from 1802–3. This sketchbook was once owned by Mrs Senator Wenewkinow, daughter of Countess Wielhorski of St Petersburg. [Johnson and Dorfmüller transcribe the Countess’s surname as “Wielhorsky.”] Today it is held in the City Library of Leningrad [now St Petersburg].
Professor Biamonti was unable to find a source for the text, and a statement by Professor Brunelli suggests the possibility that it is not by Metastasio at all. [R. Kramer, in his article Notes to Beethoven’s Education, Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 28, 1975, pp. 72–101, identifies the source of both text and music as Mattheson (see photographs), and argues that Beethoven copied the canon into the Wielhorsky sketchbook. Kramer writes: “The song arrangement for voice and piano corresponding to Hess 229 is not a composition by Beethoven, but is taken from Der Wolkommene Capellmeister by Mattheson. The canon attempt, however, is Beethoven’s own.” I am grateful to Tadahiro Nakamoto of Osaka, Japan, for this information. The same appears to apply to no. 274.]
The so-called Wielhorsky Sketchbook was edited by Nathan Fishman and published in three volumes (facsimile, transcription, and critical apparatus) by Muzgiz, Moscow, in 1962. The song appears on p. 88, lines 1–6, of the sketchbook. A. Willem Holsbergen has pointed out to me: “Languisco e moro” is a canon and therefore does not seem to belong to the group of pieces written as part of Beethoven’s study of Italian vocal music under Salieri’s guidance. Published by Hess in SBG, vol. XIV, no. 54, p. 145 (as part of Vierte Abteilung: Nachträge zu Band 1, 2 und 5).
It seems that Hess himself acknowledged the inappropriateness of including it among the other studies for Salieri, which were instead published in vol. I of the SBG. This also explains why Professor Brunelli does not consider the text of the song to be by Metastasio — who was the near-exclusive source for all texts used by Salieri in his Italian songs — and why Professor Biamonti was unable to locate its source among Metastasio’s works.
It is in A minor.
The version for soprano with instrumental accompaniment, more likely soprano with piano accompaniment, is found on page 88 of the Wielhorsky Sketchbook, and begins with a short piano introduction.
The brief intermediate passage cited by Biamonti can be seen directly below the version for voice and accompaniment, and may represent a cadential section, possibly intended to be sung by the soprano as an alternative to bar 14.
The second version, the canon, appears on the following page (p. 89, lines 1–6).
This version is also written in A minor. The upper line lacks the soprano clef, but it can be easily deduced by comparison with the second voice, which is written in the tenor clef.
This is a canon at the octave: the second voice sings one octave below the first, a “quasi-perfect” canon, as it is slightly altered at a couple of points.
In bar 4, on the syllable “ro”, the soprano sings a B natural, while the tenor sings an A.
In bars 8–9, on the syllable “mo”, the soprano line features the notes A–G–F♯, whereas the tenor only sings an A.
From what can be deduced from the manuscript, it appears that Beethoven initially intended to continue the canon strictly, but later diverted toward a more effective, though less strict, ending.
Biamonti includes both versions in his catalogue under no. 350.
W. Hess includes them both in Volume XIV of his Gesamtausgabe, on pages 145–146, and labels them “Textdichter unbekannt” (author of the text unknown), dating them definitively to 1802.
However, Hess alters the canon, notating both voices in treble clef at the same pitch level, and in the final bars, he also modifies the text of the second voice.
