Three Choruses op. 6
for soprano, alto, tenor, bass and piano
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No. 1 Trost
Text: Carl Altmüller
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No. 2 Zur Nacht
Text: Franz Engel
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No. 3 Abendbild
Text: Nikolaus Lenau
Herrn A. Lindner freundschaftlichst zugeeignet
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1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/11: Chorwerke mit Klavierbegleitung, S. 2–24. |
| Herausgeber | Christopher Grafschmidt, Claudia Seidl. Unter Mitarbeit von Knud Breyer und Stefan König. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlags- und Plattennummer: CV 52.818. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | September 2022. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2022 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.818. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | M-007-29723-7. |
| ISBN | 978-3-89948-433-5. |
1. Composition and Publication
The Three Choruses for four solo voices and piano op. 6 are barely mentioned in Reger’s correspondence. The only meaningful reference is Reger’s announcement to his London publisher George Augener on 1 August 1892: “Tomorrow bright and early I will send you the Choruses op. 6, which your son liked very much […]. Together, the Choruses come to about 25 printed pages” (letter).1 George Augener and his daughter Nellie had spent five weeks at the spa in Wiesbaden from 12 June2 and on this occasion, met not only Hugo Riemann, but also his “favourite pupil” Reger.3 It can be assumed that at the point of the meeting, just the first choral piece had been composed.
The experienced publisher may have recommended the young composer to work in different colors in his engraver’s copies for the sake of clarity.4 Reger used this method, which subsequently became his characteristic procedure, for the first time in the second and third choral pieces: he notated the actual musical text in black ink, and added the performance instructions in red ink. After completing the whole opus he also wrote the individual vocal parts out in black and red (but which were not printed). Reger reported to Augener that Riemann had “carefully read through the choruses several times & approved them”. (Letter dated 1 August 1892) His teacher possibly induced him to revise the concluding section of no. 1 (key change, measure 85ff.). At any rate, in the engraver’s copy Reger replaced the last leaf of no. 1 and now marked the new ending in red ink as well.5 As the proofs of his works were not available before mid-August,6 Reger’s decision to use red ink was not based on bad experiences with music engravers. Ironically, he nevertheless had to add almost all the phrasing slurs in the proofs of op. 6 in the piano part.7
The proof copy was dated 8 November 1892 by the printer, but further stages in the printing process are not documented. The Three Choruses, “most amicably dedicated” to Reger’s earlier teacher Adalbert Lindner, were probably published at the beginning of May 1893 at the latest.8 They remained Reger’s only original composition for this scoring.9 It is not ultimately clear which scoring Reger actually had in mind. The engraver’s copy speaks of “3 chorus[es] of 4 solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) with piano accompaniment”, and in his letter to the publisher, Reger talks of “choruses” (which on the other hand corresponds with the title). The only passage possibly intended for two parts (three notes in the bass at the end of no. 1) was altered in the proofs without Reger contradicting this; the work was published by Augener in the series “Vocal Quartets for Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass with Pianoforte accompaniment”, but the scoring of earlier performances can only be a matter of speculation.
2.
Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.
1. Reception
The Monthly Musical Record, the house periodical of Augener publishers, impartially noted the “ambitious setting” of the Three Choruses, but found the piano accompaniment “in many places […] to be more of a hindrance than a help to the voices” and asked about the benefit of the pieces: “Cui bono?” (Review) Even around 20 years after the publication of the work, in a review of Reger’s early compositions Herbert Antcliffe found the choruses to be “difficult of effective execution”. On the other hand, Heinrich Reimann declared the work in the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung (review) to be “completely and utterly Brahmsian in character1”, praised its contrapuntal structure and “a Romantic chiaroscuro […], whose effect is admirably emphasized by the accompanying piano”. He paid particular attention to no. 1 Trost, especially to “the effect of the C major: “in ihres Mantels Falten trägt Gottes Lieb die Welt [Love bears the world benignly, safe in her mantle’s fold]”. The idea of the Brahms Rhapsody is pretty obvious; only here, too, the composer should have omitted the quarter note rest (in the 5th bar) and continued with the upbeat. At least I cannot get rid of the feeling of the melody being broken up by gaps here either!”2 Ultimately, like his English colleagues, he stated: “The demands which M. Reger places on the performers in technical terms are quite significant in the choral songs.” This assessment was confirmed at one of the rare performances of Trost by the Barmer Lehrer-Gesangverein on 28 February 1907: “[…] the melodic expression is somewhat austere, the part-writing peculiar and not easy for the singers” (review).
2.
Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde, der aus verlagspolitischen Gründen mit englischen Übersetzungen erschien. Als zusätzliche Quellen wurden die autographe Stichvorlage der Partitur und deren Korrekturabzug sowie die Stichvorlage der letztlich ungedruckt gebliebenen Singstimmen herangezogen.
Ein grundsätzliches Problem bildet die Ebene der Vortragszeichen. Trotz der Verwendung von roter Tinte (zumindest ab dem letzten Blatt der Stichvorlage der Partitur, siehe Zur Ersetzung von fol. 5) scheinen die Stecher aufgrund der Enge des Notentexts und der stellenweise uneindeutigen Zuordnung der Zeichen überfordert gewesen zu sein – nahezu sämtliche Phrasierungsbögen sowie zahlreiche Crescendo-/Decrescendo-Gabeln musste Reger im Korrekturabzug ergänzen. Er änderte aber auch einige Stellen hinsichtlich der Phrasierung (Klavier) oder des dynamischen Verlaufs durch eine nicht immer nachvollziehbare Modifizierung oder Auslassung der Vorgaben in der Stichvorlage, die in dieser Beziehung, trotz gelegentlichen Überbordens, weitgehend konsistent wirkt, während der auf Regers Korrekturen fußende Erstdruck eher lückenhaft erscheint.
Die Stichvorlage der Singstimmen kann u.a. für die Vortragsangaben aufschlussreich sein. Da hier nicht wie in der Stichvorlage der Partitur andere Stimmen die räumliche Disposition der Noten beeinflussen, kann jedoch insbesondere die Ausdehnung der Crescendo-/Decrescendo-Gabeln abweichen. Darüber hinaus repräsentiert sie möglicherweise von Takt 92 bis 108 (siehe Zur Ersetzung von fol. 5) einen stellenweise älteren Stand.
Im Erstdruck ist die Interpunktion im deutschen Liedtext aufgrund des Primats der englischen Übersetzung ausgesprochen mangelhaft, die Stichvorlage der Partitur ist diesbezüglich jedoch auch nicht konsequent.
3. Sources
- Stichvorlagen
- Korrekturabzug
- Erstdruck
Weiterlesen in der RWA
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Object reference
Max Reger: Three Choruses op. 6, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00006.html, last check: 28th March 2023.
Information
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