Unv. 22 – Hess 149 – Rastlose Liebe. Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Sketch of a song for voice and piano.
Hess 149 – (Unv. 22) Rastlose Liebe.
Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Sketch of a song for voice and piano, 1800–1810. An incomplete facsimile was published by Elsa Bienenfeld in the Neue Wiener Journal on 27 March 1927.
Continuous sketches for a Lied on Goethe’s text Rastlose Liebe (1800–1810). [The sketches for this song were found alongside some of those for Erlkönig from 1796.] The melody is written out in full, while the refrains are only sketched. Jean Chantavoine published a completion in La Revue Musicale – Publication Mensuelle, II, H. Welter, Paris 1902, pp. 409–414. An incomplete facsimile was published by Elsa Bienenfeld in the Neue Wiener Journal on 27 March 1927.
[According to Mark Zimmer, “The sketches are currently held in Berlin, as part of the Fischhof Miscellany, and in Vienna in manuscript A 67 of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Gustav Nottebohm suggested that these sketches could have been composed at any time between 1800 and 1824. Douglas Johnson, however, verified that they were written on paper Beethoven used in Prague in early 1796. The sketches from the Fischhof Miscellany were published in transcription by Douglas Johnson in Beethoven’s Early Sketches in the Fischhof Miscellany: Berlin Autograph 28, 2 vols., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1980, pp. 1222–5.
There are, in a sense, three complete continuous sketches of this Lied — quite different melodically, yet consistent in their overall conception. I say ‘in a sense’ because Beethoven wrote only one continuous sketch, but with his characteristic corrections written over it. Nevertheless, Douglas Johnson managed to decipher all the erased notes and concluded that there are three versions written one over another (or, if you will, worked on by Beethoven on three separate occasions). In his transcription, Johnson published all three versions, while preserving the layout of Beethoven’s original manuscript. Johnson hypothesises that this Lied was written for Countess Josephine de Clary, for whom Beethoven had composed the mandolin pieces WoO 43 and 44, using the same type of paper.” If a finished version by Beethoven ever existed, no trace of it has been found.]
Dem Schnee, dem Regen,
Dem Wind entgegen,
Im Dampf der Kluefte,
Durch Nebelduefte,
Immer zu! Immer zu!
Ohne Rast und Ruh’
Lieber druch Leiden
Moecht’ ich mich schlagen,
Also so viel Freuden
Des Lebens ertragen.
Alle das Neigen
Von Herzen zu Herzen,
Ach, wie so eigen
Schaffet das Schmerzen!
Wie, soll ich fliehen?
Waelderwarts ziehen?
Alles vergebens!
Krone des Lebens,
Glueck ohne Ruh’
Liebe, bist du!
Beethoven made the first sketches at the beginning of 1796. In 1823 he planned to resume work on the piece, but no sketches from that period have been traced.
These sketches were produced early in 1796, though there may have been earlier drafts. Douglas Johnson considers it possible that Beethoven worked on the songs Rastlose Liebe and Erlkönig (WoO 131) at the request of Josephine von Clary-Aldringen, for whom he may also have written Op. 65 (Johnson, Fischhof, vol. 1, p. 460).
On 8 February 1823 Beethoven informed Goethe of his plan to publish some of Goethe’s poems in the near future:
„Es dörften bald vieleicht mehrere ihrer immer einzig bleibenden Gedichte in Töne gebracht Von mir erscheinen, worunter auch ,Rastlose Liebe‘ sich befindet, wie hoch würde ich eine Allgemeine Anmerkung überhaupt über das komponiren oder in Musick sezen ihrer Gedichte achten!“ (BGA 1562).
(“It may perhaps soon happen that several of your ever-unique poems will appear set to music by me, among them Rastlose Liebe; how highly I would value a general comment from you on the setting of your poems to music!”)
Consequently, around 1823 Beethoven appears to have been re-engaged with older drafts of songs on Goethe’s texts, as also evidenced by the sketches for the song Heidenröslein (Unv. 23), on which Beethoven again worked between 1818 and 1823—also left unfinished.
The poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was written in 1776. It was printed in Vol. 8 of Goethe’s Schriften (Leipzig, 1789, p. 1470), from which Beethoven probably took the text for Erlkönig (see the unfinished works WoO 131).
Sketches:
(1) D-B, Mus. SM. autogr. Beethoven 28 (“Fischhof”), page I4r.
Dating: 1796.
Facsimile: SBB.
Transcriptions: Chantavoine/Beethoveniana; Johnson/Fischhof vol. 2, pp. 159–162.
(2) A-Wgm, A 67, fols. 1r–2r.
Dating: early 1796.
Transcriptions: Chantavoine/Beethoveniana; partial transcription in Johnson/Fischhof vol. 2, pp. 159–162; Nottebohm/Beethoveniana II, p. 575.
Document: letter BGA 1562.
Bibliography:
Bienenfeld/Unv. 22 – Chantavoine/Beethoveniana – Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1, pp. 458–460 – Johnson/Tour 1796.
