WoO 136 Andenken: Ich denke dein, for Voice and Piano
Allegretto
WoO 136 – Andenken: “Ich denke dein”, for voice and piano, 1809, published in Leipzig, Breitkopf and Härtel, March 1810. GA. n. 248 (series 23/35) – Boett. VIII/1 – B. 240 -KH. (WoO)136 – L. IV, p. 352//2 – No. p. 180 – T. 151.
The original manuscript is unknown. Matthisson’s text (for which Beethoven had already set “Adelaide” and the “Opferlied”) speaks of the poet’s passion for his beloved woman, whom he always remembers and whose reciprocal feelings he invokes. The song is consequently divided into two parts: the first, comprising the first three stanzas, based on a single motif repeated for each; the second, with a complementary motif, for the fourth and final stanza. This setting is appropriate to the overall poetic meaning—without, however, in our opinion, the work deserving to be called «absolument délicieuse, d’une grâce et d’une ligne ravissante», as De Curzon wrote.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Ich denke dein,
Wenn durch den Hain
Der Nachtigallen
Akkorde schallen!
Wann denkst du mein?
Ich denke dein
Im Dämmerschein
Der Abendhelle
Am Schattenquelle!
Wo denkst du mein?
Ich denke dein
Mit süßer Pein
Mit bangem Sehnen
Und heißen Tränen!
Wie denkst du mein?
O denke mein,
Bis zum Verein
Auf besserm Sterne!
In jeder Ferne
Official title: WoO 136 Andenken Lied (D-dur) nach einem Gedicht von Friedrich von Matthisson für Singstimme und Klavier Widmung: — NGA XII/1 Nr. 36 AGA 248 = Serie 23/35.
Origin and publication: A presumed but non-extant first version was probably created around the end of 1804/05. The surviving autograph score dates from autumn 1808. The two original editions appeared in 1810: in March at Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, and in August at Clementi, Banger, Collard, Davis & Collard in London. At the beginning of January 1805, Beethoven gave Josephine Countess Deym von Stritetz, née Brunsvik de Korompa, perhaps as a New Year’s gift, an unspecified song mentioned in the correspondence between the Brunsvik siblings (Kopitz/Cadenbach vol. 1 p. 134 and 15 lf). While Joseph Schmidt-Görg suspected it was the Lied “An die Hoffnung” op. 32 (Schmidt-Görg/Deym), which was most likely not written until March 1805, according to Sieghard Brandenburg the evidence points to WoO 136 (BGA 216 note 1). In any case, Beethoven himself copied the song from a copy in 1808 for the planned publication in the journal Prometheus, since he no longer had the autograph transcription: „Hier mein lieber S. [eckendorf] das Versprochene Lied Von Mathisson — verzeihen sie, daß ich sie so lange warten ließ — ich mußte dieses Lied erstens suchen, dann noch obendrein, da ich das Manuskript in ein paar Schöne Hände [vermutlich Josephine v. Deym] schon längst gegeben, eine höchst fehlerhafte Abschrift wieder selbst abschreiben“ (BGA 337). On 26 July 1809 Beethoven announced to Breitkopf & Härtel that the song would be sent: „[…] nächstens erhalten Sie das Lied ich ,denke dein*, welches bestimmt war, in den Verunglückten Prometheus aufgenommen zu werden [siehe WoO 134] […] – nehmen sie es als ein kleines Geschenk —“ (BGA 392); on 8 August 1809 he delivered it together with Op. 71 and WoO 137 (BGA 395) and on 19 September he requested: „bey dem lied aus D sezen sie das tempo Allegretto – sonst singt mans zu langsam —“ (BGA 400). The work was entered in the publisher’s list of printed works in January 1810 and according to the imprint catalog was available for Easter services „von Michaelis 1809 bis Ostern 1810“.
In May 1810 the edition was also published in the AmZ (12, 1809/10, Intelligenzblatt 7, Sp. 27) together with the Lied WoO 137, and in July it became available from Traeg in Vienna (Wiener Zeitung 18.7.1810). Opus 73-81a, Op. 82 and the pieces WoO 136, 137, and 139 were subject to an agreement between Beethoven and Muzio Clementi (probably during his stay in Vienna from 1808 to 1810) with the aim of having the works appear as original editions in London and Leipzig (or Vienna) as simultaneously as possible. As far as can be ascertained with certainty, Clementi’s editions had a slight advantage regarding Opus numbers, but were somewhat delayed in the case of works without opus numbers. WoO 136 was registered at Stationers’ Hall on 31 August 1810.
Text: Friedrich von Matthisson (1761–1831); the poem was written in 1792, first published in 1802 (seven years after the rewriting of Goethe’s „Nähe des Geliebten“, cf. WoO 74) in the Tübingen almanac „Flora, Teutschlands Töchtern geweiht“.
First performance unknown. Sketches not preserved.
WoO 136 is part of the “Research Becomes Art” project.
A New Life for the Works of Ludwig van Beethoven: An Artistic Exploration Curated by Tenor Florian Huber
