WoO 104 Gesang der Mönche: Rasch tritt der Tod den Menschen an for three male voices (two tenors and a bass) a cappella
Ziemlich Langsam
WoO 104 – Gesang der Mönche: “Rasch tritt der Tod den Menschen an” (Death strikes man swiftly), for three male voices (two tenors and a bass) a cappella, 3 May 1817. First published by Robert Schumann in the Sammlung von Musikstücken alter und neuer Zeit als Zulage zur neuen Zeitschrift für Musik, Issue VI, June 1839 (Collection of Musical Pieces of Old and New Times, as a supplement to the New Journal for Music, booklet VI, June 1839). GA No. 255 (series 23/42) Bruers 197 – KH (WoO) 104. L.IV, page 252/z – Nottebohm, page 161 – Thayer 209.
The original manuscript is preserved in the Koch Collection in Wildegg. It consists of twelve choral bars, set to Schiller’s sombre text from William Tell, and written for the album of the musicologist F. S. Kandler on the occasion of his departure from Vienna; but also “in memory of the sudden death of our Krumpholz” (Wenzel Krumpholz, violin and mandolin virtuoso, member of theatre orchestras, and an old friend of Beethoven).
[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 104 Gesang der Mönche Lied (c-moll) aus dem Schauspiel „Wilhelm Teil“ von Friedrich von Schiller für drei Männerstimmen Widmung: — NGA XII/2 AGA 255 = Serie 23/42
Origin and publication: Written on “1817 am 3ten May” in Vienna. The first edition appeared posthumously in June 1839 as a separate musical supplement to the Leipziger Neuen Zeitschrift für Musik. The composition was created “zur Erinnerung an den schnellen unverhoften Tod unseres Krumpholz”. The Bohemian Wenzel Krumpholz (c. 1750–1817) was the first violinist of the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra from 1796 and a friend of Beethoven; according to Ferdinand Ries, he also taught Beethoven to play the violin (Wegeler/Ries, p. 119). According to Aloys Fuchs, Krumpholz died “eines plötzlichen Todes, indem er am 3. Mai 1817 auf einem Spaziergange auf dem Glacis vom Schlage getroffen wurde” (Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung 6, 1846, 31 March 1846, p. 153). Beethoven wrote the song WoO 104 in the family album of the music writer Franz Sales Kandler (1792–1831) when he left Vienna. Kandler had served the government at the k.k. Hofkriegsrat and travelled to Venice in 1817 on a diplomatic mission. He remained in Italy until 1826, where he undertook extensive historical-musical studies. In 1825 a score of Beethoven’s oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives Op. 85, with an Italian text by Kandler, was published in Milan (see our article edited by Luigi Domenico Bellofatto). During his stay in Vienna in 1838/39, Robert Schumann became familiar with Beethoven’s song and, as first editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, arranged for its publication.
Text: Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805), Wilhelm Tell, Act IV, Scene 3. The play was first performed in Weimar on 17 March 1804 and was published by Cotta in Tübingen that same year. Beethoven noted the text in his diary (Salomon/Tagebuch entry 112, page 83). First performance unknown. Sketches in A-Wgm, A 70, pp. 2–4. May 1817; these sheets may have belonged to the sketchbook “Autograph 11/1” (JTW p. 250f).
Manuscript: France – private collection / Musée des lettres et manuscrits, Paris, 2 leaves. Dating: “1817 am 3ten May”. Pages 11–13 in the musical album of Aloys Fuchs. Title: Leaf 1 recto: “aus Schillers Wilhelm Tell.” Leaf 2 recto: dedication “Aus Schillers Wilhelm Tell zum Angedenken mit Tönen begleitet für Hrn Fr: v. Kandier von Ludwig van Beethoven 1817 / am 3ten May / auch zur Erinnerung an den schnellen unverhofften Tod unseres Krumpholz.”
Leaf 1 recto: tempo indication “ziemlich langsam / Maelzels Zeitmeßer 126”. Two leaves; three pages of musical text. Paper: horizontal format, 11.5 × 17.5 cm, 10 staves. Provenance: Franz Sales Kandler, Vienna. – Purchased by Aloys Fuchs after his death in 1831. – Louis Koch Collection, Frankfurt am Main. – Floersheim Collection, Basel. – Stargardt, Berlin (Catalogue 667, 25/26 November 1997, lot 779). Description: Kinsky/Koch pp. 327–331.
First edition (June 1839): “GESANG DER MÖNCHE / Aus SCHILLERS WILHELM TELL” [1.:] L. v. BEETHOVEN. / (Zur Erinnerung an den schnellen unverhofften Tod unsers Krumpholz am 3. Mai 1817.).
