WoO 200 – “O Hoffnung!”, Theme for Variation for Archduke Rudolf of Austria
WoO 200 – “O Hoffnung!”. Theme for Variations for Archduke Rudolf of Austria, spring 1818; first published (together with the Archduke’s own variations) in Vienna by Steiner, December 1819; more recently in W. Hess, ninth fascicle of Supplemente zur G.A., 1965. Boett. XII/7 – Bruers 198 – Hess 75 – KH (WoO) 200 – Thayer 216.
The original manuscript is now lost. The words are taken from Tiedge’s Urania: “O Hoffnung, du stählst die Herzen, du milderst die Schmerzen”.
[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 200 O Hoffnung Liedthema (G-dur) „Aufgabe für Erzherzog Rudolph“ Widmung: — NGAXII/2 AGA-SBG IX/19 (Hess 75)
Composition and Publication: According to the date added by Archduke Rudolf on the autograph transcription, Beethoven wrote the theme in the spring of 1818. The original edition, with the Archduke’s variations, was published by Steiner & Comp. in Vienna, probably at the end of 1819. Beethoven entrusted the theme to his patron and pupil, Archduke Rudolf, as a composition exercise during their lessons.
The Archduke’s variations on Beethoven’s theme must have been completed by the end of 1818 at the latest, as Beethoven thanks him for the “meisterhaften Variationen” in his New Year’s letter to the Archduke, dated 1 January 1819 (BGA 1282). Beethoven himself pressed for the publication of these variations. For this purpose, he thoroughly revised the Archduke’s manuscript and had it copied by Wenzel Schlemmer before 3 March 1819. On 30 August he reported to the Archduke in a letter that three publishers had expressed interest in the variations: Artaria, Steiner, and a third unspecified (BGA 1327). The final decision was made between 10 and 15 October in favour of Steiner.
Among Beethoven’s correction sketches for the Archduke’s variations, there also exists a draft of the title for the completed work: “Veränderungen / über ein Thema von / L. v. Beethoven / verfaßt von Sr Kaiserl / Hoheit den / Erzherzog Rudolph / Erzbischof”. The theme, together with the Archduke’s forty variations, probably appeared at the end of 1819 with Steiner in Vienna, who announced it as newly published on 5 January 1820.
Text: Beethoven probably wrote the text himself. It does not derive from Christoph August Tiedge’s Urania, as had previously been assumed in KH. The first performance of the complete series of variations may have taken place in January 1819 at Archduke Rudolf’s residence. In his letter to the Archduke of 1 January 1819, Beethoven wrote: “In einigen Tage hoffe ich das mir gesendete Meisterstück von I.K.H. selbst zu hören” (BGA 1282). It is not known whether the private performance by the Archduke actually took place.
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The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
