WoO 87 – Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II for soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), chorus and orchestra, February–June 1790, First published in the GA. Supplement, 1888. GA. no. 264 (series 25/1) – B. 196 – KH. (WoO)87 -P. 27 – Sch. p. 217/22 – T. 10.

News of the death of Emperor Joseph II (the Enlightened ruler), which occurred in Vienna on February 20, 1790, reached Bonn on the 24th, and the “Lese-gesellschaft” reading society decided to commemorate it with speeches and music. Thus was born the idea for this cantata, for which Severin Anton Averdonk—canon of the Ehrenstein chapter, candidate for the “Hohe Schule” in Bonn, and brother of a singer who had been a student of Beethoven’s father—wrote the (rather rhetorical) text, and the twenty-year-old Ludwig, who had many friends and admirers among the society’s members, was commissioned to compose the music. The commemoration was held on March 19, but the Cantata could not be performed because it was not completed in time and it appears that there was no adequate vocal orchestra. It remained ignored for many years. The original manuscript is lost; only a note of a few bars of the first chorus remains, along with sketches of the song “Klage,” in the archives of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. Nothing was discovered among Beethoven’s papers after his death; however, one copy, along with another of the Cantata for the Elevation of Leopold II to the Imperial Throne (referred to in the following number), was part of the library of the collector and music lover Baron von Beine de Malchamp, which was put up for public auction in Vienna in April 1813. Both were purchased by the pianist Hummel; they then passed to the antique dealer List and Frank in Leipzig and in 1884 to the Viennese music lover and writer Armin Friedmann. (The musicologist and music critic Eduard Hanslick, who had occasion to see them at the time, wrote about them in an article in the Nette Freie Presse of May 13.) Finally, they came into the possession of the K. K. Fideicommissbibliothek, today incorporated into the Nationalbibliothek. The first public performances, after all these vicissitudes, were in Vienna in November 1884 and in Bonn on June 29, 1885.

Johannes Brahms At the time of the first performance of this work he stated: «(…) Even if there were no name on the title page, one could not imagine another! It is Beethoven one hundred percent! The splendid and noble pathos, sublime in its feeling and in its imagination; the interiority, perhaps violent in its expression and, even more, the conduct of the voice and the declamation: all characteristics that we can find in the later works and associate with this one.(…) ».[1]

It is certainly the highest work composed by Beethoven up to that point, to the point that one can truly affirm that the much hoped for qualitative turning point had truly and finally occurred because, in this music, that “(…) typically Beethovenian “muscularity” in the treatment of orchestra and choir (…)”[2] truly entered the scene for the first time, as Joseph Szigeti defined it. It is a composition that should have been included in the official catalogue, It is a work that should have been included in the official catalogue, initially structured to number only the best works.

From this work, the composer recycled only a few ideas, reworking them, generating his only unique Sigspiel: Leonore-Fidelio. The opening chords of the chorus and soloists, “Tot! Tot stont es durch die ode Nacht,” are the same ones that open the Act II Prelude of Fidelio over there, where we enter the horrid, dark prison where Florestan is held. The phrasing of the following aria for bass and orchestra, “Da Kam Joseph,” recalls that of Pizarro’s aria, “Ha! Welch’ein Augenblick.” The Recitative for Soprano, Flute, and Strings, “Er schlaft,” is similar to the recitative that takes place in the pit where Florestan is held. The Aria for Soprano Solo, Quartet of soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra, “Da stingen die Menschen ans Licht,” was later reused in the final scene of Fidelio.

I would like to dwell on this Aria, because it represents the highest musical point, not only of the entire Cantata, but of all Beethoven’s music composed up to that point. The musicologist Alfred Heuss defined it as the “melody of humanity”.[3] Luigi della Croce reminds us that in it: «(…) we have a first concrete realization of that melodicism in long “spans” that will be the main characteristic of romantic music.»[4]

The Aria intones words that will be the constant theme of Beethoven’s work:

“Then men ascended to the light

and the earth revolved happier around the sun

and the sun warmed us with its divine rays!”

The Cantata, in its entirety, emphasizes a theme so dear to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Freemasonry it inspired: the victory of light over darkness, the victory of good over evil, the redemption of humanity from oppression. The following year, with this idea, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart approached the same theme in a fable-like and fabulous manner in his Singspiel Die Zauberflote, and Beethoven took it up again in Leonore-Fidelio.

• [1] Amedeo Poggi and Edgar Vallora: Beethoven. Signori il catalogo è questo! Einaudi editore
• [2]  Amedeo Poggi and Edgar Vallora: Beethoven. Signori il catalogo è questo! Einaudi editore
• [3] Alfred Heuss from Maynard Solomon: Beethoven. Editore Marsiglio
• [4] Luigi Della Croce: Ludwig van Beethoven. La musica sinfonica e teatrale. Epos editore

 [By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]

Official title: WoO 87 Kantate auf den Tod Kaiser Josephs II. after a text by Severin Anton Averdonk for soloists, choir and orchestra Widmung: — NGA

Creation and publication: late February – June 1790. The first edition of the score was published posthumously in 1888 as part of the AGA by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. On February 28, 1790, the executive committee of the Bonner Lese- und Erholungs-Gesellschaft met to discuss a funeral service in honor of Emperor Joseph II, who had died in Vienna on February 20 (news of his death reached Bonn on February 24, 1790). March 19 (Joseph II’s birthday and name day) was set as the date of the celebration. Eulogius Schneider, who was to give the memorial speech, expressed his wish during the meeting„dass entweder vor; oder nach der Rede etwas Musikalisches aufgeführt werde: Eine Cantate werde einen herrlichen Effect machen: Ein hiesiger junger Dichter habe ihm heuthe einen Text vorgelegt; welcher gewis der Bearbeitung eines Meisters würdig sey. Es komme also nur darauf an, dass Einer von den vortrefflichen Tonkünstlern, welche Mitglieder unserer Gesellschaft sind [Christian Gottlob Neefe o Anton Reicha], oder auch ein auswärtiger Tonkünstler sich die Mühe der Composition geben wollte; um die Gedächtnisfeier des unvergesslichen Monarchen vollständig zu machen“. The official commission to compose a funeral cantata cannot have been given to Beethoven until 28 February at the earliest. However the cantata WoO 87 was not performed. Two days before March 19, the meeting of the Lese- und Erholungs-Gesellschaft committee decided: „die vorgeschlagene Kantate kann aus mehreren Ursachen nicht aufgeführt werden. It is not clear exactly what the “mehreren Ursachen” were that caused the first performance of the piece to be abandoned.

It is conceivable that the Protector of the Reading and Restoration Society, the Elector of Cologne and brother of the late Emperor, organized a silent celebration—which was attended—and respected the church regulation, namely, not to use musical instruments at funerals. However, Beethoven may have completed the composition, as can be read in a letter from an anonymous person addressed to Chamberlain Clemens August Freiherr von Schall dated June 16, 1790: „Im musikalischen Fache hat Bethof eine Sonate auf den Tod Josephs II – der Text ist von Averdonk – so vollständig verfertigt, daß sie nur von einem hiesigen ganzen, oder deßgleichen Orchester aufgeführt werden kann.“ (Citato da TDR I p. 296.) The theme of the finale of the last act of the opera “Fidelio” op.72, referred to in Beethoven’s literature as “Humanitätsmelodie“, comes from no. 4 of this funeral cantata. 

Text: Severin Anton Averdonk (1768–1817). The text has survived only in the transcription of the cantata, apparently written without commission. It does not accord with the “Ode to the Dead Josephs and Elisens, by Severin Anton Averdonk, Kanonikus kapitul. in Ehrenstein, Candidate at the High School of Bonn […] Kölln Verlegts Johann Jakob Horst, zu haben bey Karl Nöggerath in Bonn.” Ernst Herttrich suspects that Schneider had an influence on the composition of the text, since the tone and word choice in the text of Averdonk’s cantata are strongly reminiscent of Schneider’s “Elegie to the Deceased Kaiser Joseph II” of February 26, 1790.

First posthumous performance after the discovery of the copyist’s copy, probably at the suggestion of Eduard Hanslick, on 23 November 1884 in the 1st concert of the 1884/85 season of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna conducted by Hans Richter. A performance of WoO 87 (or WoO 88) in September/October 1791 in Mergentheim with Franz Anton Ries conducting did not take place because „mehrere Stellen waren für die Blas-Instrumen-te so schwierig, daß einige Musiker erklärten, solche nicht spielen zu können, und so ward auf die Aufführung verzichtet“ (Wegeler/Ries p. 16).

The Sketches will be discussed in an article specifically created for the Beethoven Music Research Centre www.lvbeethoven.org