WoO 147 Ruf vom Berge: Wenn ich ein Voglein wär for voice and piano
Etwas lebhaft
WoO 147 – Ruf vom Berge: “Wenn ich ein Voglein wär” for voice and piano, 13 December 1816, first published as a musical appendix to the original edition of Treitschke’s poems, Vienna, Wallishauser, June 1817. GA no. 242 (series 23/28) – Boett. XII/2 – B. 249 – KH (WoO) 147 – L. IV, p. 349/e – N. p. 184 – T. 211.
The original manuscript is unknown. The text (six stanzas by Treitschke) corresponds to a simple melody of a few measures. The little piece is said to have been improvised by Beethoven during a country outing near Vienna with the sisters Fanny and Nanni Giannatasio Del Rio. The first two measures recall the thematic idea of the Irish song listed as no. 612.
Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär’
Und auch zwei Flüglein hätt’,
Flög ich zu dir!
Weils aber nicht kann sein,
Bleib ich allhier.
Wenn ich ein Sternlein wär’
Und auch viel Strahlen hätt’,
Strahlt’ ich dich an.
Und du säh’st freundlich auf,
Grüßtest hinan.
Wenn ich ein Bächlein wär’
Und auch viel Wellen hätt’,
Rauscht’ ich durch’s Grün.
Nahte dem kleinen Fuß,
Küßte wohl ihn.
Würd’ ich zur Abendluft,
Nähm’ ich mir Blütenduft,
Hauchte dir zu.
Weilend auf Brust und Mund,
Fänd’ ich dort Ruh’.
Geht doch kein’ Stund der Nacht,
Ohn’ daß mein Herz erwacht
Und an dich denkt.
Wie du mir tausendmal
Dein Herz geschenkt.
Wohl dringen Bach und Stern,
Lüftlein und Vöglein fern,
Kommen zu dir.
Ich nur bin festgebannt,
[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 147 Ruf vom Berge Lied (A-dur) nach einem Gedicht von Georg Friedrich Treitschke für Singstimme und Klavier Widmung: — NGA XII/1 Nr. 65 AGA 242 = Serie 23/28
Development and Publication: The melody was first drafted as a written tune in the summer/fall of 1816 and fully elaborated by or on 13 December 1816. The original edition appeared in June 1817 as a musical supplement to The Poems by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, published by J. B. Wallishauser in Vienna.
On 20 March 1881, Maria Anna (Nanni) Giannattasio Del Rio wrote to Anna Pessiak-Schmerling, relayed via Alexander W. Thayer, that Beethoven composed the melody of this song for her mother Nanni during a summer or autumn outing in 1816: “A little excursion to the ‘paradise’ (a beautiful viewpoint in the Vienna area), where Beethoven was also present. Mother stopped beside him at the most beautiful view. He drew five lines by hand and then wrote the melody of the song that was later published: ‘If I were a little bird and also had two little wings,’ and my mother supplied the words: ‘Well, Miss Nanni, write the bass.’ The sheet was kept as a memento and later framed under glass.” (Quoted in TDR IV, pp. 517f.)
On 20 December 1816, Nanni’s sister Franziska (Fanny) recorded in her diary: “An even more pleasant evening in B.’s company… He composed for Nanni a little new song, the manuscript of which she kept as a keepsake.” (Kopitz/Cadenbach Vol. 1, p. 318.) This diary entry likely refers to the fully elaborated song (source 1.3), which is dated 13 December 1816. The sheet that survives with the texted melody (source 1.2), considered by Joseph Schmidt-Görg to be the first copy (Schmidt-Görg/Woo 47, p. 56), may more plausibly correspond to the event described by Pessiak-Schmerling in summer/autumn 1816.
Beethoven’s song was published together with WoO 94 and other composers’ songs as a musical supplement to The Poems by Friedrich Treitschke, issued by Wallishauser in Vienna. It was announced on 6 June 1817 in a major advertisement in the Wiener Zeitung and discussed in detail on 12 June in the AmZÖ (1, 1817, pp. 199f) (see also WoO 94).
Text: Georg Friedrich Treitschke’s (1776–1842) poem Ruf vom Berge (1805) draws on an extended post-poetic version of a folk song published by Herder in Stimmen der Völker in 1778 under the title The Flight of Love (Book 5, no. 12). Beethoven likely received the text in manuscript from Treitschke, as this poem was only published together with Beethoven’s musical setting. First performance unknown.
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
