Five Duets op. 14
for soprano, alto and piano
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No. 1 Nachts
Text: Joseph von Eichendorff
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No. 2 Abendlied
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No. 3 Sommernacht
Text: Daniel Saul
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No. 4 Gäb's ein einzig Brünnelein!
Text: “Aus dem Toskanischen”
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No. 5 O frage nicht!
Text: Rudolf Nawrocki
Seinem lieben Vetter Prof. Hans Koessler gewidmet
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No. 1 Nachts
Joseph von Eichendorff: [Ich wandre durch die Nacht…], in:
id.: Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und das Marmorbild. Zwei Novellen nebst einem Anhange von Liedern und Romanzen, Vereinsbuchhandlung, Berlin
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Joseph von Eichendorff: Nachts, in:
id.: Gedichte, 16th edition, C. F. Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Die Vergleichsausgabe enthält zwar alle von Reger verwendeten Gedichte Eichendorffs, jedoch fehlt bei Nachts (S. 5) in der 1. Zeile das Attribut “stille”, was sie als Vorlage eher unwahrscheinlich werden lässt.
Note: In Erstausgabe erstes von zwei Nachtbildern.
No. 2 Abendlied
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Wanderers Nachtlied, in:
id.: Goethe’s Werke, vol. 1, J. G. Cotta’sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart and Tübingen
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Wanderers Nachtlied, in:
Duftende Blüten aus Deutschlands Dichtergarten, 7th edition, Schulbuchhandlung von F. G. L. Geßler, Langensalza
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Die Vergleichsanthologie kommt als Vorlage allerdings nicht in Frage, da hier die Vöglein “schlafen” statt nur zu “schweigen”.
Note: Warum Reger statt Wand(e)rers Nachtlied den Titel Abendlied wählte, ist nicht bekannt. Die bis dato eruierten Gedicht-Sammlungen, die Reger gekannt haben könnte und in denen dieser Titel verwendet wird, sind alle später erschienen.
No. 3 Sommernacht
Daniel Saul: Sommernacht, in:
id.: Gedichte, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart u. a.
[Probably] First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Dieses Gedicht lernte Reger vermutlich in der Neuen Musik-Zeitung (13. Jg. [1892], Nr. 12, S. 138, Sparte Texte für Liederkomponisten) kennen. Daraufhin muss er die Erstausgabe erworben haben, die zwei wesentliche Unterschiede aufweist: in der 3. Zeile “Gränzen” statt “Grenzen” und in der 6. Zeile “still” statt “stumm”.
No. 4 Gäb's ein einzig Brünnelein!
[Gäb’s ein einzig Brünnelein…]
“Aus dem Toskanischen”
unknown
Note: Hinweis zur Herkunft des Textes siehe Stichvorlage bzw. Erstdruck.
No. 5 O frage nicht!
unknown
Note: Text und Textdichter nur aus Stichvorlage bekannt.
1. Composition and Publication
Nothing is known about the composition of the Duets op. 14. Reger probably discovered the poem Sommernacht (no. 3) by Daniel Saul at the end of August 1893 in the Neue Musik-Zeitung 1. He may subsequently have bought the relevant volume of poetry, which may have been used as a direct source and which also contains both the poems by Saul set in Opus 15. Whilst a specific opus number is consciously avoided on the first page of music of the engraver’s copy, the title page gives the collection as Opus “14a”. This discovery dates the manuscript to around the same time as the Waltzes op. 11 and Lose Blätter op. 13 composed in the first half of December; only with this was it possible to clarify the numbering of opp. 8ff, which had previously been mixed up2. At this point a combined publication of the duets and the song Ich stehe hoch überm See! op. 14b, dedicated to Reger’s cousin Hans Koessler, was planned.
Reger probably submitted the engraver’s copy to the publisher at the beginning of 1894, since he complained on 30 October that year to Waldemar Meyer: “Augener always keeps things so long in his bookcase. He has had a book of duets since January, a new book (10) Songs [op. 15] since September – to date I have only received the money for these, but no proofs.” (Letter) The proofs must have reached him in the following weeks, for he returned them to Augener on 26 November (see letter). On 6 December he expected the publication of the first printed edition in “the next days” (letter to Adalbert Lindner), but was only able to send a dedication copy to his friend Max Löwe at New Year 1895.
2.
Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.
1. Reception
Shortly after the publication of the Five Duets op. 14 reviews appeared in the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung and in the Augener house magazine, the The Monthly Musical Record. Hermann Bischoff described how he missed a deeper penetration into the subject which was hindered by, amongst other things, Reger’s enthusiasm for his own technical capabilities: “In the duets the composer’s desire for the greatest possible independence of the parts was naturally beneficial. The two vocal parts contrast with each other vividly, but here too [see Opus 15], it is noticeable that it is not the longing for increased expression, but simply the pleasure in truly artistic music-making which was crucial. And therefore some aspects seem stiff and forced, and make only for that cool pleasure rather like, for example, a cleverly-resolved arithmetical problem.” (Review) In the Monthly Musical Record Reger’s technical ability was similarly acknowledged, and there was separate mention of just no. 1 Nachts (“very fine”) and no. 3 Sommernacht (“the harmonies are, as it were, a reflection of the fragrance of summer-eve”). (Review)
After Reger’s death, the publication of an edition of various early works by B. Schott’s Söhne led to a positive reaction to the structure of the duets compared with the unevenness of “inspiration and the concretely-musical” in the songs: ““The many kinds of significance in the duets was immediately surprising. Here, too, the accompaniment mainly Regerish-pianistic.” (Review)”
2.
Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.
1. Sources
Object reference
Max Reger: Five Duets op. 14, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00014.html, version 3.1.2, 14th March 2025.
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