Eighteen Songs op. 75
for voice and piano
-
No. 1 Merkspruch
Text: Wilhelm Weigand
-
No. 2 Mondnacht
Text: Franz Evers
-
No. 3 Der Knabe an die Mutter
Text: Note: Serbisches Volkslied
-
No. 4 Dämmer
Text: Martin Boelitz
-
No. 5 Böses Weib
Text: Note: Stammbuchvers
-
No. 6 Ihr, ihr Herrlichen!
Text: Friedrich Hölderlin
-
No. 7 Schlimm für die Männer
Text: Note: Serbisches Volkslied
-
No. 8 Wäsche im Wind
Text: Gustav Falke
-
No. 9 All' mein Gedanken, mein Herz und mein Sinn
Text: Felix Dahn
-
No. 10 Schwäbische Treue
Text: Sofie Seyboth
-
No. 11 Aeolsharfe
Text: Hermann Ritter von Lingg
-
No. 12 Hat gesagt – bleibt's nicht dabei
Text: Note: Volkslied
-
No. 13 Das Ringlein
Text: Ludwig Jacobowski
-
No. 14 Schlafliedchen
Text: Carl Busse
-
No. 15 Darum
Text: Sofie Seyboth
-
No. 16 Das Fenster klang im Winde
Text: Franz Evers
-
No. 17 Du brachtest mir deiner Seele Trank
Text: Richard Braungart
-
No. 18 Einsamkeit
- -
- -
- -
1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/4: Lieder IV, S. 3–53. |
| Herausgeber | Knud Breyer und Stefan König. Unter Mitarbeit von Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.811. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | September 2023. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2023 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.811. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | M-007-30202-3 |
| ISBN | 978-3-89948-447-2. |
No. 1 Merkspruch
Wilhelm Weigand: Merkspruch, in:
id.: In der Frühe. Neue Gedichte (1894–1901), Georg Heinrich Meyer Heimatverlag, Leipzig and Berlin
First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: In dem erhaltenen Exemplar aus Regers Besitz (Meininger Museen, Sammlung Musikgeschichte/Max-Reger-Archiv) ist das Gedicht angestrichen.
Note: Aus der Sektion: “Im Übergang”.
No. 2 Mondnacht
Franz Evers: Eine Mondnacht, in:
id.: Erntelieder, Kreisende Ringe (Max Spohr), Leipzig
First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Reger vertonte insgesamt fünf Texte aus den Ernteliedern (Opera Opus 51 Nr. 4, 55 Nr. 2, 75 Nr. 2 und 16 sowie 83 Nr. 8), die sich in seinem Besitz befanden. Vgl. Brief von Elsa von Bercken vom 13. März 1902 an Reger, Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Signatur: Ep. Ms. 3032. – Reger besaß mehrere Gedichtbände von Evers (siehe Brief an Max Schillings vom 25. September 1901).
No. 3 Der Knabe an die Mutter
Note: Serbisches Volkslied
Der Knabe an die Mutter, in:
Volkslieder der Serben, vol. 2, Rengersche Buchhandlung, Halle
[Probably] Der Knabe an die Mutter, in:
Volkslieder der Serben, vol. 2, neue umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage, F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Reger übernimmt eine minimale orthographische Abweichung, die sich in der Neuauflage befindet.
Note: In Erstausgabe in der Sektion Scherz- und Liebesgedichte.
Note: In Vorlage in der Sektion Frauenlieder.
No. 4 Dämmer
Martin Boelitz: Liegt ein Dorf…, in:
id.: Frohe Ernte. Noch einmal Verse, J. C. C. Bruns‘ Verlag, Minden i. W.
unknown
Note: Möglicherweise war Regers Vorlage ein Manuskript des noch ungedruckten Gedichtes, das dieser vom befreundeten Dichter erhalten hatte. Am 3. Mai 1903 bedankte sich Reger bei Boelitz für “die beiden prachtvollen Gedichte, die ich selbstredend komponieren werde” (Original: verschollen, Abschrift [fälschlich auf 1906 datiert] in Meininger Museen, Sammlung Musikgeschichte/Max-Reger-Archiv, Signatur: Br 514/20).
No. 5 Böses Weib
Note: Stammbuchvers
Böses Weib, in:
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben: Findlinge. Zur Geschichte deutscher Sprache und Dichtung, vol. 1, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig
Böses Weib, in:
Aus deutscher Seele. Ein Buch Volkslieder, ed. by Ludwig Jacobowski, J. C. C. Bruns, Minden i. W.
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, Rara.
Note: Reger vertonte mehrere Gedichte aus Jacobowskis Sammlung.
Note: Provenienz: Stammbücher der Großherzoglichen Bibliothek zu Weimar aus dem 16. Jahrhundert (vgl. Erläuterung bei von Fallersleben, s. Erstausgabe, S. 434).
Note: In Erstausgabe innerhalb der Sektion Sprüche des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts.
Note: In Vorlage innerhalb der Abteilung IV. Ehe, Sektion Ehestand – Wehestand.
No. 6 Ihr, ihr Herrlichen!
Die Eichbäume (tls. 5–13)
Friedrich Hölderlin: Die Eichbäume, Nr. 9, in: Die Horen. Eine Monatsschrift, ed. by Friedrich Schiller, 3. Jg. (1797), vol. 12, issue 10, p. 101.
[Probably] Friedrich Hölderlin: Die Eichbäume, in:
Hausbuch deutscher Lyrik, ed. by Avenarius, Ferdinand and Kunstwart, Georg D. W. Callwey, München
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Für die Sammlung von Avenarius als Vorlage spricht die auszugsweise Publikation von Hölderlins Gedichtabschnitt unter der auch in Regers Manuskript wiederkehrenden Überschrift “Aus dem Gedichte: „Die Eichbäume“”. Ebenso wird – bei Avenarius wie bei Reger – das Wort “Aber” ausgespart, das Hölderlins vierte Zeile im Original einleitet.
No. 7 Schlimm für die Männer
Note: Serbisches Volkslied
Schlimm für die Männer, in:
Volkslieder der Serben, vol. 2, Rengersche Buchhandlung, Halle
Schlimm für die Männer, in:
Volkslieder der Serben, vol. 2, neue umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage, F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
No. 8 Wäsche im Wind
Gustav Falke: Wäsche im Wind, in:
id.: Hohe Sommertage. Neue Gedichte, Verlag Alfred Janssen, Hamburg
[Possibly] First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, Rara.
Note: Reger verwendete als Vorlage den Erstdruck oder ein Gedichtmanusktipt. Im Mai 1902, kurz vor der Drucklegung, hatte Falke Reger sein “neustes Lyrikbuch in Mscript” gesandt. (Brief Falkes vom 22. Mai 1902 an Reger, Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Signatur: Ep. Ms. 81.)
No. 9 All' mein Gedanken, mein Herz und mein Sinn
Felix Dahn: [All’ mein Gedanken, mein Herz und mein Sinn…], Nr. 18, in:
id.: Gedichte, Verlag von F. A. Herbig, Berlin
[Probably] Felix Dahn: [All’ mein Gedanken, mein Herz und mein Sinn…], Nr. 1, in:
Richard Strauss: Schlichte Weisen. Fünf Gedichte von Felix Dahn, Jos. Aibl, München
Copy shown in RWA: DE, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, 2 Mus. pr. 4010.
Note: In Erstausgabe innerhalb der Sektion Schlichte Weisen.
Note: Reger bearbeitete das Lied von Strauss Ende 1903 für Klavier (RWV Strauss-B1 Nr. 8).
No. 10 Schwäbische Treue
Sofie Seyboth: Schwäbische Treue, in:
ead.: Für meine Kinder, Voigt & Gleiber, Frankfurt/M.
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: First edition
Copy shown in RWA: unknown
Note: In Erstausgabe in schwäbischer Mundart.
Note: Als Vorlage verwendete Reger womöglich ein handschriftliches Exemplar des Gedichts in hochdeutscher Ausführung, das er von Seyboth erhielt. Bei der nicht namentlich bekannten Dichterin, die ihm im August 1902 “eine Masse Gedichte” zugesandt hatte, könnte es sich um Seyboth handeln. (Postkarte vom 8. August 1902 an Elsa von Bercken, Original verschollen, Kopie: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Wien, Musiksammlung, Internationales Musikerbrief-Archiv (IMBA).)
No. 11 Aeolsharfe
Hermann Ritter von Lingg: Aeolsharfe, in:
Hermann von Lingg: Gedichte, vol. 2, Verlag der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, Stuttgart
[Probably] Hermann Ritter von Lingg: Aeolsharfe, in: Die Musik-Woche, 3. Jg. (1903), issue 44 (4. November-Woche), p. 431.
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, G.
Note: In Erstausgabe innerhalb der Sektion Eine Idylle in Liedern.
Note: Die Komposition entstand in zeitlicher Nähe zur Publikation des Gedichts in der Musikwoche. Reger publizierte selbst in der Zeitschrift und hatte sie sehr wahrscheinlich auch abonniert.
No. 12 Hat gesagt – bleibt's nicht dabei
Hat gesagt - bleibt’s nicht dabei
Note: Volkslied
Hat gesagt - bleibt’s nicht dabei, in:
Des Knaben Wunderhorn, vol. 3, ed. by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, Mohr und Zimmer, Heidelberg
[Possibly] Hat gesagt - bleibt`s nicht dabei, Nr. 3, in:
Richard Strauss: Vier Lieder, Jos. Aibl, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: US, Amherst, University of Massachusetts, The Library of Alma Mahler Werfel.
Note: Regers Gesangstext lässt sich nicht eindeutig einer Vorlage zuordnen. Einige Lesarten sprechen für die Vertonung von Strauss, andere für die zahlreichen Neuauflagen des Wunderhorns.
No. 13 Das Ringlein
Ludwig Jacobowski: Das Ringlein, in:
id.: Leuchtende Tage. Neue Gedichte 1896–1898, J. C. C. Bruns’ Verlag, Minden i. W.
First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, Rara.
Note: Reger vertonte insgesamt vier Texte aus diesem Band (Opera 66 Nr. 5, 68 Nr. 1, 70 Nr. 9 und 75 Nr. 13).
Note: Innerhalb der Abteilung Liebe.
Note: Regers Textfassung weicht orthographisch leicht von der Vorlage ab. Reger vertonte insgesamt vier Texte aus diesem Band (siehe Opera 66 Nr. 5, 68 Nr. 1, 70 Nr. 9 und 75 Nr. 13).
No. 14 Schlafliedchen
Carl Busse: Schlaflied für‘s Peterle, in:
id.: Vagabunden. Neue Lieder und Gedichte, Verlag der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, Berlin
Feist, Alwine: Schlaflied für‘s Peterle, in:
Im Volkston. II. Sammlung. Moderne Preislieder komponiert für Die Woche, Berlin
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, G.
Note: Die Kölner Musikstudentin Alwine Feist (1873–1924) gewann mit ihrer Vertonung beim Volkston-Liedwettbewerb der Woche den dritten Preis. Reger hatte sich mit seinem Lied Waldeinsamkeit (später op. 76 Nr. 3) ebenfalls am Wettbewerb beteiligt (siehe Einleitung) sowie in der Folge drei Texte prämierter Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer ebenfalls vertont.
No. 15 Darum
Sofie Seyboth: Die Musikalische, in:
ead.: Für meine Kinder, Voigt & Gleiber, Frankfurt/M.
unknown
Note: Regers Vorlage war wahrscheinlich das Gedichtmanuskript (siehe auch Nr. 10).
No. 16 Das Fenster klang im Winde
Franz Evers: [Das Fenster klang im Winde…], in:
id.: Erntelieder, Kreisende Ringe (Max Spohr), Leipzig
First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Reger vertonte insgesamt fünf Texte aus den Ernteliedern (Opera Opus 51 Nr. 4, 55 Nr. 2, 75 Nr. 2 und 16 sowie 83 Nr. 8), die sich in seinem Besitz befanden. Vgl. Brief von Elsa von Bercken vom 13. März 1902 an Reger, Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Signatur: Ep. Ms. 3032. – Reger besaß mehrere Gedichtbände von Evers (siehe Brief an Max Schillings vom 25. September 1901).
Note: Nr. 16 der Sektion Erntelieder.
No. 17 Du brachtest mir deiner Seele Trank
Richard Braungart: [Du brachtest mir deiner Seele Trank…], in:
id.: Erlebtes und Erträumtes. Gedichte, Österreichische Verlagsanstalt, Linz, Wien and Leipzig
[Possibly] First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Köln, Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek, B 1290.
Note: Zum Publikationsdatum vgl. Novitätenanzeige im Salzburger Volksblatt 32. Jg. Nr. 222 (30. September 1902), S. 5.
Note: Nr. 4 von 6 Gedichten unter der Rubrik Nacht.
Note: Regers Vorlage war die Erstausgabe oder eine handschriftliche Vorlage des mit Reger befreundeten Dichters.
No. 18 Einsamkeit
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: [Die ihr Felsen und Bäume bewohnt…], in: Franz Schalk: Nachrichten von Weimar in einem Schreiben an Herrn Professor Klein zu Mannheim, Berlin, am 10ten May 1783, in: Litteratur- und Theater-Zeitung, 6. Jg. (1783), issue 24 (19th July 1783), Berlin, p. 454.
[Probably] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Einsamkeit, in:
Hausbuch deutscher Lyrik, ed. by Avenarius, Ferdinand and Kunstwart, Georg D. W. Callwey, München
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
1. The genesis and publication
In her manuscript memoirs, Elsa Reger tells an anecdote about a visit from her cousin Leonie, Countess von Brockdorff, at Wörthstraße 20 in Munich, where the Regers were resident from October 1902 to September 1903. Reger had given Leonie a sheet of music that he had discarded and already consigned to the wastepaper basket. This was how she acquired “her beloved manuscript ‘Das Fenster klang im Winde’.”1 (“The window sounded in the wind”). This abandoned initial setting of the poem by Franz Evers was written on a double leaf together with a fragment of Zwei mal zwei ist vier (“Twice two is four”)2, whose text was taken from the collection of poems by Gustav Falke entitled Hohe Sommertage. Neue Gedichte3 (“The high days of summer. New poems”). Reger had already received the manuscript of this poetry collection from its author before its publication, and had copied several poems from it in May 1902, promising to set them to music “as soon as possible” (Letter to Gustav Falke of 30 May 1902)4.
Elsa Reger dated this incident with her cousin to “winter 1902” (see manuscript memoirs). The draft autograph of Das Fenster klang im Wind is marked “op. 75”, with only the number of the song in the set remaining open.5 This song was thus composed four opus numbers in advance, as it were. This fits in with a letter from Reger to his publishers of March 1903 in which he explained his intention to halt writing songs for the time being, after having completed his four large sets of songs opp. 62, 66, 68 and 70, which contained a total of 51 songs. “It will take so long (three quarters of a year) to deliver my next songs because I must not be one-sided. I also have to write other works (such as chamber music) – out of an innermost urge!” (Letter to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 29 March 1903)6 Reger carried out this plan too; before writing his next songs, he published two more chamber music works – his Violin Sonata op. 72 and his String Quartet op. 74 – along with his Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme for Organ op. 73. As early as 17 May, Reger was able to announce to Karl Zettel, a poet and editor of popular poetry anthologies, that he would “complete another song opus with 18 numbers by the end of September this year” (Letter to Karl Zettel of 17 May 1903), which suggests that he had concrete plans to composer songs. The reason for Reger’s return to song may have been two poems that he had received in manuscript from Martin Boelitz just a few days earlier, and which he promised to set to music.7 On 9 June 1903 Reger wrote as follows to his publishers: “I have a number of quite exceptionally beautiful texts for new songs.” (Letter to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 9 June 1903). He was also able to fall back on “a mass of poems” (Postcard to Elsa von Bercken of 8 August 1902) that he had received from a woman poet several months beforehand. This might well have been Sofie Seyboth, of whom Reger set two texts in his op. 75 (Schwäbische Treue, "Swabian fidelity", as no. 10 and Darum, “That’s why”, as no. 15). He must have been sent these poems in manuscript form, since they were only published in 1905 in the poetry collection Für meine Kinder (“For my children”).8 In the printed volume, Darum is given the title Die Musikalische (“The musical girl”), while Schwäbische Treue is given in dialect. In his op. 75, Reger set a variant of this latter song that his friend, the poet and journalist Richard Braungart from Munich, had presumably “converted” for him into High German. 9
On 8 November 1903, i.e. after nine months, just as he had predicted, Reger wrote to his publishers about the new “song opus” he was planning: “In the near future, you will receive my new songs, which set only first-rate texts – including a number of songs that are cheerful in character (with only witty punch lines – also technically very easy –)!” (Letter to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 8 November 1903)10 In the postscripts of two letters of 12 November 1903 to Paul Nikolaus Cossmann, Reger provides the first concrete indication that he had completed three songs for op. 75. In his first letter, he asks Cossmann “to tell Weigand & Dr Hofmiller that I have already composed ‘Merkspruch’ by Mr Weigand; more will follow!”; in his second letter, he tells Hofmiller “that 2 ‘Serbs’ have become music!”. Merkspruch (“Mnemonic”) by Wilhelm Weigand is the opening song of op. 75. The “2 ‘Serbs’” are the two Serbian folk songs Schlimm für die Männer (“Bad for men”) and Der Knabe an die Mutter (“A boy to his mother”), which were available to Reger in German translations by Talvj (a pseudonym for Therese Albertine Luise von Jakob).11
It was Josef Hofmiller who had suggested to Reger in late September 1903 that he should set Serbian folk songs to music, and it was apparently he who also provided the composer with a copy of the anthology Volkslieder der Serben (“Folk songs of the Serbs”).12 Reger cannot have composed Aeolsharfe (“Aeolian harp”, no. 11) before late November 1902, because it is a setting of a poem by Hermann Ritter von Lingg that was printed in the journal Die Musik-Woche13 at the end of that month. We also know that he composed Schlafliedchen (“Lullaby”, no. 14) in November, because his model was not the poem by Carl Busse, but the composition Schlafliedchen für’s Peterle14 by Alwine Feist “Lullaby for little Peter”, see the Critical Report). Reger dedicated this Schlafliedchen to “Frau Ludwig Hess for her little prince” – this was Walter Arnold Hess, born in 1903 to Marie Louise Hess, the wife of the singer Ludwig Hess who enjoyed a close artistic relationship with Reger.15 Other songs of the set are dedicated to two singers with whom Reger worked and who also belonged to his circle of friends: Sophie Rikoff Dämmer“ [“Twilight”, no. 4] and Wäsche im Wind [“Linen in the wind”, no. 8]) and Amalie Gimkiewicz (Aeolsharfe [no. 11] and Einsamkeit [“Loneliness”, no. 18]). On 3 December 1903, Reger reported to Hofmiller about his “latest cycle (just completed!)” (Brief vom 3. Dezember 1903 an Josef Hofmiller.). By 8 December, “a fee of 850” was agreed “verbally” (seeletter to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 30 December 1903). He submitted the manuscript of his songs to his publisher on 30 December.16 However, they took their time over printing them, preferring instead to publish the initial volume of Reger’s Schlichte Weisen op. 76. first (“Simple Songs”).
On 9 February 1904, Reger requested “that op. 75 sicher should definitely be printed by the beginning of May. [...] Mrs L. Mysz-Gmeiner has given me a firm, firm promise that she will sing a large number of my songs everywhere next season!” (Postcard to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 9 February 1904). Reger became correspondingly restless when there still seemed to have been no progress by early March: “When will I receive the corrections to the songs op. 75 [...] After all, op. 75 is supposed to appear by the beginning of May!” (Postcard to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 9 March 1904).
Matters took an unpleasant turn for Reger in late March. As his written reply to his publishers of 1 April confirms, they had meanwhile decided against publishing these complex songs for the moment. Presumably basing their decision on their experience with Reger’s hitherto, stylistically comparable works, they named both economic and aesthetic reasons. They preferred instead the lighter songs of the Schlichte Weisen op. 76. Reger protested: “As I said – it ought to be undeniably clear that only very few composers of the present time have made such enormous progress in the public eye as I have in the last few years; [...]. Furthermore, there is the fact that both the Ansorge Society in Vienna and the R. Wagner Society in Darmstadt are each planning an exclusive Reger evening for next season, and a number of very talented musicians consider my cause to be absolutely not lost or in any way inferior [...].” (Letter to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 1 April 1904). On 18 May, he urged his publisher to carry out the corrections he had sent: “op. 75 is awaited with the greatest, greatest, greatestyearnings, because 4 [women] singers want to ‘appear’ with op. 75 in October 04.” (Postcard to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 18 May 1904) On 9 June, Reger was able to confirm receipt of the proofs. (see postcard to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 9 June 1904) On 6 July he reported: “I sent off the op. 75 proofs to you this morning; [...] new proofs of op. 75 not necessary!” (Postcard to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 6 July 1904) We know that the printing and distribution took place before the end of August, for on 27 August Reger requested “more copies [...] than my 12 free copies” (Letter to Lauterbach & Kuhn of 27 August 1904.) in order to send them to renowned critics. He also asked his publisher to send review copies to music journals.
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Reception
On 12 June 1904, immediately after receiving the proofs, Reger met the mezzo-soprano Sophie Rikoff to rehearse his new songs.1 She was the wife of the painter Theodor Rikoff and a friend of the Regers. However, she did not sing any songs from op. 75 in a public concert until 3 January 1905 (when she sang Schlafliedchen op. 75 no. 14 in Bechstein-Hall in Berlin).2 The first-ever concert to feature a song from op. 75 was a recital by Clara Rahn, given on 30 October 1904 in the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich, with Reger as the piano accompanist. In addition to songs by Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf and Hans Pfitzner, their programme featured five songs by Reger himself, including the Schlafliedchen. The reviewer of the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten found this song “distinguished by a charming piano accompaniment”3, though the critic of Der Sammler saw in it a “type of ‘modern’ song of that category or direction that I am unable to befriend [...] the voice, to my mind, [is] tortured unnaturally.”4
On 3 December 1904, Amalie Gimkiewicz also sang in the Bayerischer Hof with Reger as her accompanist. In addition to Aeolsharfe, no. 11, which was dedicated to her, she sang the folk song setting Hat gesagt (“He said”, no. 12) and the humorous Darum (no. 15). The critic of the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten noted that “of the Reger songs [...] by far the deepest impression was made by the quite outstandingly beautiful ‘Aeolsharfe’, which had to be repeated, as did ‘Darum’, which is effective but nevertheless seems somewhat forced in its grotesque humour.”5 Theodor Kroyer of the Allgemeine Zeitung similarly emphasised the “finely felt soulful images of ‘Aeolsharfe’”, though he also found “Hat gesagt” and “Darum” worthy of mention, being “tremendously fresh and filled with pithy humour.”6
On 14 December 1904, at a Reger evening in the Palais Portia in Munich, the tenor Franz Bergen sang Aeolsharfe and Merkspruch (no. 1). These songs were embedded in a programme that also featured several weighty world premieres (the Cello Sonata op. 78, the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Johann Sebastian Bach op. 81 and the Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola op. 77a). The reviewer of the Allgemeine Zeitung Münchner regarded “this Max Reger evening [...] as undoubtedly among the most significant events that the season has brought us thus far”, considering it to be “to a certain extent a turning point in our understanding of Reger’s music.” Reger was “a much-disputed composer [...]”, but “yesterday he was victorious in everything and has thus, once more, won a new circle of enthusiastic supporters.”7 Although this Although this assessment referred primarily to the instrumental works that were given their first performances, the songs on the programme were also praised. We can thus state that in the year 1904, not only had Reger been innocent of exaggeration in claiming that numerous singers would be interested in his new songs, but these works were also being accorded a predominantly positive reception by the music critics – quite in contrast to his preceding songs. This success continued into the following year, when Aeolsharfe became a general favourite. Reger himself described this song as “one of the best [...] that I have written thus far.”8 With its “mysterious sounds”9, which resulted from harmonic ambiguity, it possessed a remarkable suggestive power that performers, critics and audiences found convincing. Even for Rudolf Louis, who tended to be critical, Aeolsharfe was “one of the most beautiful songs that I know by Reger.”10
For 1905 alone, 13 performances of Aeolsharfe were recorded throughout Germany and in Vienna. In the years thereafter, Aeolsharfe remained by far the most popular song from op. 75 among singers. The number of other songs from that set that were included in contemporary concert programmes is negligeable. Only Merkspruch (no. 1), Mondnacht (“Moonlit night”, no. 2), All’ mein Gedanken (“All my thoughts”, no. 9) (Nr. 14), Darum (Nr. 15) and Einsamkeit (Nr. 18) are also known to have been performed.
Opus 75, with its 18 songs, is Reger’s most extensive set. As Elisabeth Schmierer has demonstrated,11 it is cyclical in design, both as a whole and within its three sections. After the “motto-like beginning” (Merkspruch), the “18 settings of opus 75, of which four are folklike (nos. 3, 5, 7, 12) and three are cheerful (nos. 8, 10, 15) [...], [reveal] a sophisticated sequence of serious and folk-song-like settings that alternate with considerable regularity.”12 Schmierer interprets this as a “dialectical relationship between high and low levels after the manner of Jean Paul’s concept of humour”, which had become “a defining feature in [Reger’s] song oeuvre.”13
However, there is no evidence of any contemporary performance having taken place that would have done justice to this conception of the work. Reger also grouped these songs according to vocal type – nos. 1–8 are for high voice, nos. 9–16 for medium voice and nos. 17–18 for low voice – but neither does this seem to have resulted in performers adopting his chosen order when programming songs from op. 75.
Contemporary reviews of the published music that offer general statements about the entire opus played an important role in the public perception of the work, and this was also of interest to Reger’s publisher. Although the song with piano was an extremely popular genre in circa 1900,14 Walter Fischer felt able to claim in 1905 that in Reger’s case “it is probably his songs that have the greatest difficulty in finding their way into the programmes of our performing artists. This may be due to their occasionally unusual art of declamation and their difficult accompaniments. But it is astonishing that despite the large number of his songs (approximately 150 to date), selections of them do not appear more often on our concert programmes, where these aggravating circumstances no longer apply. In his new songs, for example, there is one in particular, “Aeolsharfe” (no. 11), to a text by Lingg, which is not difficult and must be ravishing in effect if it is well performed. In these songs, the humorous side of Reger is also given free rein. But in between these mischievous songs we also find tearful pieces and profoundly emotional outpourings [...].”15 Wilhelm Altmann wrote of op. 75 as follows: “Reger’s songs are so often reproached for their angular melodic lines and for the fact that this makes them uncomfortable to sing. The same applies to these songs, whose accompaniment is also often inconsiderate of the voice. However, when they are based on an impassioned text, one cannot deny their greatness, while others cannot be denied a certain coarse humour. Their temperament is not their strong point. But they are all captivating, whether one wants to take offence at them or not. Some are to be admired in their strength; perhaps, with time, we might also learn to love them.”16
Karl Thiessen also criticised the opus as a whole for “the strange ‘uniformity’ in Reger’s song accompaniments [...]. If one were to place all 18 next to each other, they would present almost the same picture to the eye. There is one more thing: although there are some highly poetic gems in this song collection, such as ‘Schlafliedchen’ and ‘Aeolsharfe’, which exude a well-nigh enchanting atmospheric fragrance, it seems to us that the vivid elaboration of longer, expressive melodic lines for the voice, which R[eger] had previously not disdained, is all too lacking in many of these songs. Their phrases often become so short-winded and disjointed that the relationship between the voice and the accompaniment shifts so much in favour of the latter that we end up with ‘piano pieces with obligato voice’.”17
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Die ein Jahr nach den Einzelausgaben erschienene Bandausgabe bringt keine Änderungen im Notentext. Als Referenzquelle diente die vielfach differenzierter bezeichneten Stichvorlagen (Nr. 1–10/13–17 bzw. 11 und 18). Insbesondere im Bereich der Vortragsanweisungen wurde oftmals den Lesarten der Stichvorlagen der Vorzug gegeben (siehe Orthografische Besonderheiten und Probleme). Von geringer Bedeutung für die Edition waren die Entwürfe. Die später entstandene Fassung von Nr. 11 für Singstimme und Orchester spielte keine Rolle.
3. Sources
- Entwürfe zu Nr. 2 und 3 (E)
- Entwürfe zu Nr. 5, 12, und 13 (E)
- Entwurf zu Nr. 6 (E)
- Entwurf zu Nr. 8 (E)
- Fragment des verworfenen Liedes (A)
- Alternative Vertonung (Fragment) von Nr. 16 (A)
- Stichvorlagen Nr. 1-10, 13-17 (SV)
- Stichvorlagen Nr. 11 und 18 (SV)
- Stichvorlage Nr. 12 (SV)
- Erstdruck (Einzelausgaben und Bandausgabe) (ED-E bzw. ED-S)
- Nr. 11 für Singstimme und Orchester: Erstausgabe
Object reference
Max Reger: Eighteen Songs op. 75, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00075.html, version 3.1.5, 28th November 2025.
Information
This is an object entry from the RWA encyclopaedia. Links and references to other objects within the encyclopaedia are currently not all active. These will be successively activated.