WoO 159 Im Arm der Liebe ruht sich’s wohl, Canon
WoO 159 – Im Arm der Liebe ruht sich’s wohl, canon, January – March 1795. G.A. number 256/1 (series 23, page 176) – Bruers 204 – Kinsky–Halm (WoO) 159 – N. page 161 – P.56 – T. 263/2.
The original manuscript is held in the archive of the Friends of Music in Vienna. It most likely dates from the final phase of Beethoven’s studies with Albrechsberger, that is, around March 1795. The piece was first published in Studien by Seyfried (1832), and later, in 1873, by Nottebohm in Studien, page 191, including a reference to modifications by Albrechsberger, under whose influence it was subsequently included in the G.A. The text, with minor and insignificant alterations, repeats verses from Liedchen von der Ruhe by F. Ueltzen, a poem Beethoven had already set to music for voice and piano.
[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 159 Im Arm der Liebe ruht sich’s wohl, canon in F major, after a text by Hermann Wilhelm Franz Ueltzen
Dedication: — NGA XII/2 and XIII/1 – AGA 256/1 = Series 23 / p. 176
Origin and publication: This canon was written at the beginning of 1795. It was first published posthumously in 1832 for three male voices, in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Studien im Generalbasse, Contrapuncte und in der Compositions-Lehre by Ignaz Ritter von Seyfried. The autograph transcription of the canon was among materials produced during Beethoven’s studies with Johann Georg Albrechsberger, spanning from January 1794 to early 1795. Contrary to the first edition, the original scoring is for three soprano voices.
Text: Hermann Wilhelm Franz Ueltzen (1759–1808), Das Liedchen von der Ruhe. The canon sets the first line of the 1st and 2nd stanzas, the first line of the 3rd, and the final line of the 4th stanza. Beethoven later set the complete poem as the third Lied in the Eight Songs, Op. 52. Sketches for this Lied date back to 1793.
The sketches will be discussed in a dedicated article for the Beethoven Music Research Centre: www.lvbeethoven.org
