WoO 112 – An Laura: “Freund’ umbluhe dich auf allen Wegen” for Voice and Piano, circa 1790, first described and published by Georg Kinsky, Musikhistorisches Museum von Wilhelm Heyer in Koln, IV, 1916, number 213, and Musikbeilagen, page 3; more recently (1962) by Willy Hess in the fifth booklet of the Supplemente zur G.A.

Official title: WoO 112 An Laura Lied (G-dur) nach einem Gedicht von Friedrich von Matthisson für Singstimme und Klavier Widmung: – NGAXII/1 Nr. 74 AGA-SBG V/1 (Hess 128)

The manuscript was rediscovered in 1911 within a private autograph collection in Leipzig and subsequently acquired for the Wilhelm Heyer Museum in Cologne by Georg Kinsky. Put up for auction after Wilhelm Heyer’s death in 1927, it became the property of the Beethovenhaus. Unfortunately, it was lost in the criminal fire of 1960. However, a photocopy exists. A piano edition of the first part was published as “number 12” in the Viennese Diabelli edition (1826) of the Bagatelles Opus 119, but it is very doubtful whether it is a work by Beethoven. Poetic text by Matthisson.

Freund’ um bluhe dich auf allen Wegen,
schoner als sie jedie Unschuld fand,
Seelen ruh’ des Himmels bester Segen,
walle dir wie (Fruhlings hauchent ) gegen,
bis zum Wiedersehn im Licht gewand!

Lachelnd wird der Seraph nieder schweben,
der die Palme der Vergeltung tragt,
aus dem dunkeln Tal zu jenem Leben
deine schone Seele zuer heben,
woder Richter unsre Taten wagt!

Dann tone Gottes ernste Waage Wonne dir,
von jedem Misskang frei, und der Freund an deinem
Grabe sage: Gluckliche! Der letzte deiner Tage
war ein Sonnen untergang im Mai,
war ein (Sonnen) untergang im Mai.

Origin and publication: Probably composed in 1792 in Bonn. The first edition appeared in 1916 in the musical supplements to Georg Kinsky’s catalogue of the Heyer Collection. The sketches can be dated to 1792 based on the adjacent sketches for the variations WoO 40. It is therefore likely that Beethoven completed the song in Bonn (Lühning/NBXII/1 KB p. 82).

The autograph score was acquired in 1911 from a private collection in Leipzig for the Musikhistorisches Museum in Cologne (Heyer Collection) and published in 1916, but already around 1826 (no advertisement for it has yet been found), Diabelli & Co. in Vienna published an arrangement of the composition as a bagatelle for piano, probably based on the autograph (see the Hess Music Research Center Anhang 21).

The publisher added it as number 12 to the 11 Bagatellen op. 119, the edition of which borrowed the title from Sauer & Leidesdorf. This no. 12 is an arrangement of the piano part only (in G major) of the first part, with extensive arrangement interventions starting from measure 14. The arranger is presumably Anton Diabelli, whose unauthorized interventions in Franz Schubert’s songs are known. Willy Hess also considers an arrangement by Beethoven himself possible (Hess/Op. 19; see also Op. 119). Matthisson (1761–1831), first printed under the title “An Serena” in the Hamburg “Musen-Almanach für 1786”, ed. von Voss and Goeckingk, p. 61. In Beethoven’s transcription, the song has no title. The now commonly accepted title comes from Georg Kinsky (Kinsky/WoO 112). First performance unknown. Autograph lost. sketches: A-Wgm, A 61, pp. 3–4. Dating: 1792 (Lühning/NGA XII/1 KB p. 82), partial transcription: Nottebohm/Beethoveniana l p. 45f. Score: D-BNba, BH 78. Original burned in May 1960, except for a small fragment which we reproduce on this page. Photographs taken before 1960 survive (Johnson/Fischhof Vol. 1 p. 251). Size: One sheet; 2 pages of music text. Paper: horizontal format, edges heavily damaged (with loss of text), 24 x 39 cm, 2 x 8 lines. Provenance: Private collection, Leipzig. – Wilhelm Heyer Collection, Cologne (Kinsky/Heyer No. 213). – Karl Ernst Henrici & Leo Liepmannssohn, Berlin (Auction Catalogue Heyer III, 29 September 1927, No. 20). – Otto Wolff, Cologne. – Acquired 1927. Facsimile and description: DBH/online. Further facsimiles: Schiedermair/Beethoven, 2nd edition (Weimar 1939) and 3rd edition (Bonn 1951), after p. 272. Further descriptions: Lühning/ NGAXII/1 KB p. 82. – Wien/Autographe p. 118. First Edition: 1916. In: Kinsky/Heyer Musikbeilagen Kinsky/Heyer pp. 3-5. For piano 2 hands: ca. 1826. Vienna, A. Diabelli et comp. VN 2224, PN “D. et C. n. 2224”. Arrangement of the piano part for the first part of the piece (see genesis and publication) as no. 12 in: “12 / NOUVELLES BAGATELLES / FACILES ET AGREABLES / POUR LE / Piano Forte / par / LOUIS VAN BEETHOVEN / Oeuv: 112 [ recte: Opus 119 ]./ VIENNE / [1.:] N° 2224. [r.:] Pr. 50 x C.M. / chez Ant. Diabelli et Comp.

Bibliography : Hess/Op. 119. – Kinsky/WoO 112. – Lühning/NGA XII/1 KB p. 81 ff. – Nottebohm/ Beethoveniana l p. 45 et seq.