WoO 30, Three Equali for four trombones
I) Andante – II) Poco adagio – III) Poco sostenuto
WoO 30 – Three Equali for four trombones, 2 November 1812, published in the Supplement to the Gesamtausgabe in 1888. GA no. 293 (series 25/30) – Bruers 195 – KH (WoO) 30 – L. IV, p. 359/b – N. p. 161 – Thayer 171. The original manuscript is preserved in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin.
WoO 30 Drei Equale (D minor, D major, B-flat major) für vier Posaunen Dedication: – NGA VI/1 AGA 293 = Series 25/30
The term Equale (or Eguale) was used to denote, in general, a choral composition for voices of the same type—i.e., “equal” voices, all male or all female—moving together in the same rhythmic motion. Applied to the instrumental field, the term retains its original meaning: it refers to the instrumental transcription of this kind of vocal music for suitable groups of instruments. Thus, in our case, the four trombones give instrumental expression to a choir imagined for male voices.
It should be remembered that trombones, still rarely used in the regular orchestra of Beethoven’s time, were nonetheless employed often in public ceremonies, especially religious ones (services, processions, funeral rites), to which they lent a noble and solemn tone, often supporting or accompanying the voices.
The three Equali in question were composed in 1812 during Beethoven’s stay in Linz, at the invitation of the cathedral Kapellmeister Franz Xaver Glöggl, following the model of similar pieces commonly performed there during funeral processions. The manuscript bears the date 2 November 1812 (All Souls’ Day), on which they were presumably performed for the first time.
Composition and publication: Composed shortly before, or on, All Souls’ Day (2 November) 1812 in Linz. The first edition of the score was published posthumously in 1888 as part of the Allgemeine Beethoven-Gesamtausgabe by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. However, the arrangements of the Equale for male choir, which were performed in March 1827 at Beethoven’s funeral and again a year later at the dedication of his gravestone in the Währing cemetery, were published by Haslinger in Vienna in 1827 and 1829 respectively.
While Beethoven was visiting his brother Johann in Linz in October and November 1812, the cathedral Kapellmeister Franz Xaver Glöggl (1764–1839), known for his Equale (or Aequale), asked the composer to write funeral pieces for the occasion. Beethoven complied with the request during his stay, composing three short four-part wind pieces for four trombones. Since no sketches for these movements have survived, only Beethoven’s autograph date—“Linz 2 9bri 1812”—serves as a precise indication of the period of composition. However, this date may mark not the composition but the first performance.
The Linz custom was that Equale for trombones were performed publicly in the Schmiedtor Tower on the evening of All Saints’ Day (1 November) and on the morning of All Souls’ Day (2 November). Thus, the repeated claim that Beethoven’s Equale were played in Linz Cathedral is incorrect (see Wessely, Equale, p. 345f).
Glöggl described Beethoven’s visit to Linz in a letter to Robert Schumann dated 19 July 1838: “He [Beethoven] also wrote for me some funeral pieces for trombones, two of which I gave to my friend Haslinger in Vienna; one of them was performed at his [Beethoven’s] funeral. He wrote them in my room, keeping one for myself alone.” (Kopitz/Cadenbach, vol. 1, p. 354; Haslinger received the music arranged for choir from the cathedral Kapellmeister Glöggl.)
Shortly before his death, Franz Glöggl (1796–1872), son of the Linz cathedral Kapellmeister, wrote reminiscences of Beethoven, which were later used in Alexander W. Thayer’s Life of Beethoven. From these we learn that Beethoven visited the Glöggl household daily during his stay in Linz. Glöggl’s father had first asked Beethoven “to write him an Aequal for six trombones, as he possessed in his collection of old instruments a soprano and quart trombone, since normally only alto, tenor, and bass trombones were used” (TDR III, p. 342). Desiring to hear such an Equale performed during Linz’s funeral ceremonies, Beethoven himself composed one for six trombones. It is therefore possible that Beethoven wrote a fourth Equale for six trombones, which Glöggl later did not pass on to Haslinger for publication.
The autograph score of the Equali WoO 30 was in the possession of the Viennese publisher Tobias Haslinger by 1820 at the latest, as the pieces were already included in the Haslinger–Rudolphin Collection. On 2 September 1825 Haslinger wrote to Beethoven: “Then I will publish the Equale” (BKh 8, p. 79). In March 1827 he had Nos. 1 and 3 edited by Ignaz Xaver Ritter von Seyfried, who added the texts “Miserere mei Deus / Ach, erbarme, Schöpfer” and “Amplius / Salva me / Reinige, Vater, mich” for four-part male chorus; these were performed alternately with the trombone quartet at Beethoven’s funeral on 29 March 1827 (for other funeral music performed on that occasion, see Op. 26; for the spurious “Good Friday Cantata” based on Seyfried’s arrangement, see Hess Appendix 65).
At the anniversary of the funeral—the dedication of Beethoven’s gravestone in Währing Cemetery on 29 March 1828—Equale No. 2 was performed to a text by Franz Grillparzer (“Du, dem nie im Leben”; see Seyfried, Studien, p. 98). This choral arrangement too was probably by Seyfried. The two arrangements were published by Haslinger in 1827 and 1829 under the titles “Trauer-Gesang bei Beethoven’s Totenbegängnisse” (Nos. 1 and 3) and “Trauerklänge bei Beethoven’s Grabe” (No. 2).
First performance: probably on 2 November 1812 (All Souls’ Day) from the tower gallery of the Schmiedtor in Linz.
Score: Deutsche Staatsbibliothek (DB), Mus. SM. autogr. Beethoven Grasnick 9. Title: “Linz 2 9bri 1812.”
Title page: fol. 1 recto, centre: “Equale [or Equali; indistinctly written] a 4 Tromboni”; right: “de v Beethoven / Linz 2 9bri 1812.” In the upper right-hand corner, in an unknown hand: “Aller Seelentag.” Contents: 3 leaves; 4 pages of musical text (folios 1r–2v), folio 3 blank. Paper: vertical format, 37 × 26 cm, 20 staves.
Provenance: probably Franz Xaver Glöggl, Linz – Tobias Haslinger, Vienna – Carl Haslinger, Vienna – Friedrich August Grasnick, Berlin – acquired in 1879. Facsimiles: Weiner/Wo030, pp. 229–232.
A copy in A-Wgm (Haslinger–Rudolphin Collection; see AGA Series 25, Revision Report, p. VI) served as the model for the AGA edition.
Arrangements created as funeral music and for the dedication of Beethoven’s gravestone: Nos. 1 and 3 for four-part male chorus (with optional wind or piano accompaniment), June 1827. Vienna, T. Haslinger, VN 5034, plate number “T. H. 5034.” Title: Trauer-Gesang bey Beethoven’s Leichenbegängnisse in Wien den 29. März 1827. Vierstimmiger Männerchor, mit willkührlicher Begleitung von vier Posaunen, oder des Pianoforte. Aus Beethoven’s Manuscripte zu dem obigen Gebrauche mit Text eingerichtet von Ignaz Ritter von Seyfried.
| Miserère mei, Deus, secùndum magnam misericòrdiam tuam.
Et secùndum multitùdinem miseratiònum tuàrum, dele iniquitàtem meam.
|
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.
And according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my iniquity. |
| Àmplius lava me ab iniquitàte mea, et a peccàto meo munda me. | Wash me more and more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. |