Wegeler writes that the first sketces, at least, of Uryan’s Journey Around the World (Wenn jemand eine Reise tut) should date from many years before the period we have indicated; but we know nothing more precise, and we do not know whether it has had its present form since then. We decided, arbitrarily, not to separate it from the other songs as it was published with the others. It could be that this song, thinking it may have undergone some reworking after the first draft. The poetic text is by Mathias Claudius and consists of fourteen stanzas, to be sung on the same motif as the first, moderately lively and in a buffoonish manner, as the annotation at the beginning says. The name Urian indicates a conventional boastful character, and can also be synonymous with the devil. The song tells comic events that happened during his journey around the world and concludes that men are inept and crazy everywhere. To each stanza, which describes a stage of his journey, the chorus invariably responds (in a major key) by absenting and inviting him to continue: only at the conclusion does he rehearse it and does not want to hear anything more. text:

There are two editions of the Color of Fire (Ich weiss eine Farbe: I know a color; poem by Sophie Mereau, 1792), one and the other of the same year, but before Beethoven left Bonn, the latter in early November. Until a decade ago, only the second definitive and published in the GA was known. The first version, a manuscript from the archives of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, was published and described by Hess in 1955 and then in the fifth issue of the Supplemente Zur GA., 1962. We have no news of the autograph of the second; we can only say that Nottebohm described the sketch contained in two sheets in the Konigliche Bibliothek in Berlin (today, we suppose they are in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in the same city). Nottembon composed a distinct instrumental epilogue. Unlike the earlier version, the piano’s left hand now plays both previously separate parts, while the right hand joins the vocal melody in unison. The instrumental epilogue is a melodic corollary substituted for the “graceful guitar effect” that closed the first version and perhaps responded more appropriately – according to Hess – to the general approach of the accompanying form. Hess presents a sketch of the first 15 bars, where the new accompaniment differs from the final version, in the cited booklet of Supplemente zur GA.  On January 23, 1793, the Staatsrat Bartolomaus Fischenisch wrote about this song to Charlotte Schiller (the poet’s daughter): “I enclose a composition of the Feuerfarb, and I would like to know your opinion on the matter. It is by a young man from here, whose musical talents are generally magnified, and whom the Elector has now sent to Vienna, to study with Haydn. He will also set Schiller’s Joy to music, stanza by stanza. I expect something perfect, for, as far as I know, he is all inclined towards that which is great and noble. On the other hand, she does not concern herself with trivialities, such as the one I enclose to her, composed only to satisfy the desire of a lady.” The poetic text (eight stanzas of which the GA. does not report the fifth and sixth) celebrates the color red, which symbolizes truth and always shines like an incorruptible flame, while the other colors are destined to languish. The text:

The Song of Peace (Im A.rm der Liebe) on a text by Ueltzen (and not by Burger as some old editions say), published in the Musenalmanach of Göttingen in 1788, would have been composed, according to Schiedermair and Boettcher, around 1790. Some sketches are reported by Shediock. The opening words gave Beethoven the opportunity to later write a Canon as well. The Text:

Goethe’s Mailied (Wie herrlich lewhtet mir die Natur). Nnine stanzas. It is a hymn to spring, to the triumph of which the poet associates his joy of love. But the music of Beethoven’s Maigesang (the text differs only in the title) has a character of sweetness and serenity. There is also some analogy with the Theme of joy in the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven would take up the same melody a few years later in an Aria with orchestral accompaniment O welch ein Leben! Other analogies can also be found in a later song on lyrics also by Goethe, Rastlose Liebe, sketched in 1809-1810 and never completed. The Text:

Originally Lebewohl, du Mann der Lust und schmerzen had 7 stanzas but GA. He omitted the last 2 verses. Burger’s text is articulated; it speaks of the tender memories that the lover can leave to the beloved in parting from him. The continuous repetition of the same melody does not contribute to making everything more expressive. The final cadence, played to the piano, is pretentious. The Text:

Prod’homme in his catalogue gives information of the melody of Lessing’s Love (Ohne Liebe lebe wer da kann). There are some loose sheets from 1795 that show a sketch: four pages, listed in a Liepmannssohn autograph catalogue of 21-22 May 1909 also containing sketchs of various other unknown works. We have no further information about the manuscript, cannot confirm if 1795 is the correct date or applicable to all sketches, nor do we know how this date was determined.  The Text:

Marmotte (Marmots): Ich komme schon durch manches Land  is based on the song of the little Savoyard who travels the world with his marmot: avecque si, avecque la, avecque la marmotte, to earn his bread. The text has four stanzas and appears in Goethe’s Carnival Comedy Das Jahrmarktsfest zu Plundersweilern. The music may have been composed for a Bonn performance between 1790 and 1792.  The Text:

The frugal, but breezy melody of the enchanting little flower, Es bluht ein Blumchen Wunderhold, recalls the theme of the Rondo of Haydn’s Symphony in G major No. 88; it is repeated four times and accompanies four stanzas, respectively nos. 1, no. 2, no. 3 and no. 10 of the twelve poetic stanzas written by Burger and reported by GA. The Text