WoO 123 – “Zärtliche Liebe”: “Ich liebe dich” for Voice and Piano
Andante
WoO 123 – Zärtliche Liebe: “Ich liebe dich”, per voce e pianoforte, c. 1800, published in Vienna, Traeg, June 1803, together with the song La Partenza. GA. no. 249 (series 23/36) – Boett. V/10 – B. 235 – KH. (WoO)123 – L. IV, p. 351// – N. p. 178 – T. 132.
The original manuscript is in the archives of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. A copy, revised by Beethoven, is preserved, in the library of the same society, in the Haslinger-Rudolfinische Sammlung, a well-known collection of manuscripts, named after Archduke Rudolf of Austria, a pupil and friend of Beethoven and edited at the time for editorial purposes designed by Haslinger. The music is identical, except for a small difference in the first note of the canto at bar 16, both in the autograph and in the copy. But the text, which in the autograph consists only of the third, fourth and sixth quatrains (“Ich liebe… Auch waren sie… Drum Gottes Segen ..”.) of the poem by K. F. Herrosee (Zärtliche Liebe) extends in the copy to all ten quatrains of the song, of which the original title is also reported. The GA. reports the poetic text of the autograph limited to the three quatrains (while, as far as the music is concerned, it accepts the A instead of the B of the sixteenth bar). We agree with this version, it seems to us that the essential spirit of poetry is already contained in the three quatrains, and that the repetition of the same music in all ten quatrains, in the end even a little rhetorical, harms its original freshness and simplicity.
Ich liebe dich, so wie du mich,
Am Abend und am Morgen,
Noch war kein Tag, wo du und ich
Nicht teilten unsre Sorgen.
Auch waren sie für dich und mich
Geteilt leicht zu ertragen;
Du tröstetest im Kummer mich,
Ich weint in deine Klagen.
Drum Gottes Segen über dir,
Du, meines Lebens Freude.
Gott schütze dich, erhalt dich mir,
Schütz und erhalt uns beide
[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 123 Ich liebe dich so wie du mich (Zärtliche Liebe) Lied (G-dur) nach einem Gedicht von Karl Friedrich Herrosee für Singstimme und Klavier Widmung: -NGA XII/1 Nr. 12 AGA 249 = Serie 23/36
Creation and publication: probably composed in 1795. The original edition was published in June 1803 by Traeg in Vienna. The chronological classification of the origin of the autograph score is based on the results of Douglas Johnson’s examination of the paper and handwriting. According to the scholar, Beethoven used the paper type from the time he moved to Vienna in 1792 until his travels to Prague and Berlin in early 1796 (and perhaps even shortly thereafter). Precisely because of the characteristic features of Beethoven’s calligraphy at that time, Johnson dates the score back to 1795 (Johnson/Fischhof, vol. 1, p. 98, 102). Franz Grasberger, conjecturing that this song is to be associated with Beethoven’s love for Julie Guicciardi and therefore probably composed in 1801 (Grasberger/WoO 123, pp. 39-46), is therefore not legitimized. The inaccurate and sometimes incorrect information about this song in the Thayer Chronological Index (Thayer/1865 no. 132) shows that the scholar did not know the original edition of Traeg but apparently did know the copy of the song in the Haslinger-Rudolphin Collection. Only this copy bears the title “Zärtliche Liebe” which does not appear in the printed editions. Text: The poem by Karl Friedrich Herrosee (1754-1821) entitled “Duett eines sich zärtlich liebenden Ehepaars” probably appeared for the first time in the quarterly publication “Für Aeltere Literatur und Neuere Lectüre” (3rd piece, Leipzig 1784, ByCanzler and Meißner, pp. 197-199). The complete poem in ten stanzas (with the incipit “Beglückt durch mich, beglückt durch dich”) is found in the copy of the Haslinger-Rudolphiniana. The autograph score, on the other hand, contains only the 3rd, 4th and 6th stanzas. Beethoven probably knew only the poem in this abridged version at the time of the song’s composition (Lühning/NGAXII/1 KB, p. 13).
First execution unknown. Sketches lost, nice copy: A-Wgm, A 13. Date: perhaps 1795 (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 102). Title: Sheet 1 versus at the top of the first line “Von L. v. Beethoven”. 2 sheets (originally a double sheet); 4 pages of musical text, folio 1 versus 2 rectos WoO 123, folio 2versus 1 recto Franz Schubert, fragment from the 2nd movement of the Sonata in E flat major for piano op.post.122 D 568. Paper: landscape format, trimmed top and bottom, left torn, 23 x 31.5 cm, bound. Provenance: Antonio Salieri, Vienna, still with the complete double sheet. – Franz Schubert, Vienna. – The double sheet was then divided into 2 sheets: the first remained with Schubert, the second received by Schubert’s friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner (“Received on August 14, 817”). – From Schubert’s possession, the first folio came to his nephew, Dr. Eduard Schneider of Vienna, the second folio from Hüttenbrenner was acquired by the Viennese Johann Nepomuk Kafka (Grasberger/Handschriften, p. 44). Johannes Brahms (owner’s note dated “im April 1872”), gathered both sheets. – (it was acquired as a gift in 1893).
In the Haslinger-Rudolphinische Sammlung there is a copy of WoO 123 and 124, which Matthias Schwarz made between 1818 and 1821 (A-Wgm, XVII 67000) and which, according to Helga Lühning, is probably based on an earlier and now unknown printed edition of this song.
The Centro Ricerche Musicali owns an earlier copy by another composer on the same text, proposed here by Antonietta Cappelli.
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
