1.

Between December 1900 and September 1902 Reger submitted a total of 38 musical inserts to the Blätter für Haus- und Kirchenmusik, which was published by Hermann Beyer & Söhne in Bad Langensalza; 25 of these were published between 1901 and 1904.¹ As well as a reliable source of income, the publication format above all guaranteed that his name became widely known. With his submissions Reger contributed to important genres of chamber music, sacred domestic music and music for amateurs: piano and organ pieces, pieces for violin or cello and piano, choruses for different scorings, and not least, songs. (see Regers Musikbeilage in Zeitschriften) Reger’s contact was the publisher’s editor Ernst Rabich, who had invited him “at the end of October 1900 [...] to contribute” (Erinnerungen an Reger) to the periodical. Rabich subsequently championed Reger’s work in many ways both as a music critic and as conductor of the Gotha Liedertafel.²

Reger conformed to the concept of “easy performability with a certain nobility”³, formulated for music inserts when the periodical was founded in 1897. When he sent his first manuscript to Rabich on 2 December 1900, with the song Um Mitternacht blühen die Blumen, he explained: “[...] I have intentionally chosen an easier song this time, so as not to “offend” the subscribers of your highly esteemed periodical, who are less prepared for the “most modern”. The accompaniment lies extremely comfortably under the hand. (letter)”

By October 1901 a further seven songs followed,⁴ as well as many other inserts, which formed an easy counterpart to the complex Fifteen Songs op. 55 composed at the same time.

Reger pressed for a prompt publication of his contributions. In order to enable the publication of Um Mitternacht blühen die Blumen in the January 1901 number of the monthly periodical, as an exception he asked Rabich to undertake checking the proofs. (see letter to Ernst Rabich dated 2 December 1900) By contrast, the publication of the other songs occurred at greater intervals than originally anticipated by the composer: only the Volkslied was published in 1901 (August), Abend (Rabich: “a glorious song”; letter from Rabich dated 6 November 1901 to the director of the publishing house Friedrich Mann), Friede and Auf mondbeschienenen Wegen only in 1903, and Die Glocke des Glücks in 1904. The songs Erinnerung⁵ and Züge were not published. The reasons for the delay could have been the production costs of music inserts, which the small publisher had to budget for, as well as Reger’s pace of work; he wrote much more than could be published month by month.⁶

In January 1901 Reger enquired after in-house “special editions” (letter dated 19 January 1901 to Ernst Rabich), in order to sound out the opportunities for a secondary exploitation of his works in another publication format. He probably had the series Für’s Haus in mind, a Collection of dignified compositions mainly by modern masters launched by the publisher in 1898, in which predominantly piano pieces and songs which had previously been issued as inserts, were newly published in the form of individual bibliophilic editions. Volkslied and the songs Abend and Um Mitternacht blühen die Blumen which complemented its content were ultimately included in this series. They were finally published c. March 1902⁷ and Christmas 1903⁸ as numbers 111 and 146. In April 1904 the publisher Beyer & Söhne finally ven- tured to publish all Reger’s works composed to date for the Blätter für Haus- und Kirchenmusik – including those previously omitted – together and asked Reger to give them opus numbers for this. However, Reger was anxious to make “all opuses as weighty as possible” and did not want to use up several work numbers for these short compositions. Instead of which he suggested a publication under the cumulative opus number 79 with a corresponding “collective titlepage” (letter dated 7 April 1904 to Ernst Rabich). He divided the works according to scor- ing into sections a–e (later to g) and allocated the eight songs to section c. This was in turn divided into three books, resulting in numbers 182–184 within the continuing series Für’s Haus and was available on sale in late 1904.⁹ Whereas Abend, Um Mitternacht blühen die Blumen and Volkslied (nos. 1–3) were thus published for the third time, Erinnerung and Züge appeared as first editions within op. 79 (nos. 7 and 8).¹⁰

When the Leipzig firm of Paul Zschocher published Zehn Liebeslieder by Reger in November 1910, alongside the music inserts from the Neuen Musik-Zeitung (WoO VII/23–29) and the Schlummerlied WoO VII/33 (see below), Um Mitternacht blühen die Blumen and Volkslied were also included in the collection. (see composition of WoO VII/23–29) Reger made some small additions and checked the proofs,¹¹ but did this so superficially that a few mistakes in the new engraving remained undetected (see Quellenbewertung). Reger set the poem Friede, one of three by the Upper Bavarian poet Josef Huggenberger which were set in op. 79c, a second time – in the second volume of Schlichte Weisen op. 76 of 1905.

2.

Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.

At present, there are no records of performances in Reger's time.

Der Edition liegen als Leitquellen die Erstdruck als Sammlung (mit Opuszahl 79c) zugrunde. Sie wurden von denselben Platten gezogen wie die Erstdrucke als Zeitungsbeigaben (Nr. 1–7) bzw. die Erstdrucke der Reihe »Für’s Haus« (Nr. 1–3) und sind mit Ausnahme der Nr. 6, in die Korrekturen eingearbeitet sind, jeweils mit diesen identisch.

Die Revisionen, die Reger 1910 in den Liedern Nr. 2 und 3 für deren Neudruck innerhalb der »Liebeslieder« vornahm, wurden in der RWA berücksichtigt. Jedoch waren beim Stich dieser Ausgabe einige Fehler entstanden, die dem Komponisten entgangen waren. Die transponierte Ausgabe der »Liebeslieder« für tiefe Stimme entstand vermutlich ohne Regers Beteiligung und war somit für die Edition der Nr. 2 und 3 nicht relevant.

• Stichvorlagen (verschollen)
• Erstdruck Nr. 1 (ED-Z)
• Erstdruck Nr. 2 (ED-Z)
• Erstdruck Nr. 3 (ED-Z)
• Erstdruck Nr. 4 (ED-Z)
• Erstdruck Nr. 5 (ED-Z)
• Erstdruck Nr. 6 (ED-Z)
• Erstdruck Nr. 7 (ED-Z)

• Erstdruck Nr. 1 und 2 (ED-E)
• Erstdruck Nr. 3 (ED-E)

• Erstdruck Heft I (Nr. 1-2) (ED-S)
• Erstdruck Heft II (Nr. 3-5) (ED-S)
• Erstdruck Heft III (Nr. 6-8) (ED-S)

• Originalfassung (ND-rev)
• Transponierte Fassung (ND-transp)