Ten songs for male voice choir op. 83
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No. 1 An das Meer
Text: Otto Franz Gensichen
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No. 2 Lieblich hat sich gesellet
Text: Note: Volkslied aus dem 16. Jahrhundert
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No. 3 Abendständchen
Text: Clemens Brentano
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No. 4 Husarendurchmarsch
Text: Martin Greif
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No. 5 Hochsommernacht
Text: Martin Greif
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No. 6 Eine gantz neu Schelmweys
Text: Richard Dehmel
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No. 7 Minnelied
Text: Note: AltdeutschAus Schwaben (18. Jh.)
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No. 8 Freude soll in deinen Werken sein!
Text: Franz Evers
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No. 9 Abschied
Text: Joseph von Eichendorff
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No. 10 Requiem
Text: Friedrich Hebbel
Nr. 1-8 Wiener Männergesang-Verein und Richard Heuberger Nr. 9 Akademischer Liederkranz München Nr. 10 Basler Liedertafel und Hermann Suter
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1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/10: Werke für Männer-, Frauen- und Kinderchor, S. 84–127. |
| Herausgeber | Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl. Unter Mitarbeit von Knud Breyer und Stefan König. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.817. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | Oktober 2024. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2024 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.817. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | 979-0-007-31440-8. |
| ISBN | 978-3-89948-464-9. |
No. 1 An das Meer
Otto Franz Gensichen: 56., in:
id.: Frauenlob, Berlin
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: First edition
Copy shown in RWA: unknown
Note: In dem Berliner Verlag Raabe & Plothow erschienen 1889 Drei Lieder für gemischten Chor op. 25 von Max Stange (1856–1932), deren Nr. 1 angegeben ist mit “Licht athmend steigt aus brandenden Wellen”.
No. 2 Lieblich hat sich gesellet
Note: Volkslied aus dem 16. Jahrhundert
[Possibly] 5. Lieblich hat sich gesellet., in:
Hans Koessler: Neun mehrstimmige Gesänge für Männerchor,
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv, Mus.ms.autogr. Koessler, Hans 39 M..
Note: Erstausgabe unbekannt. Strophe 1 weitestgehend identisch (z. B. “in Treuen” statt “mit Treuen” wie in anderen Veröffentlichungen) etwa im Ambraser Liederbuch vom Jahre 1582, hrsg. von Joseph Bergmann, Stuttgart 1845, S. 16, Nr. XIX, in Deutsche Volkslieder, hrsg. von Franz Ludwig Mittler, Frankfurt am Main 1865, S. 511, Nr. 671, sowie in Deutsche Dichter des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts, hrsg. von Karl Goedeke und Julius Tittmann, Leipzig 1867, Bd. 1: Liederbuch aus dem sechzehnten Jahrhundert, S. 25, Nr. 19.
Note: Die Fassung im Deutschen Liederhort, hrsg. von Ludwig Erk, bearb. von Franz Magnus Böhme, Leipzig 1893, Bd. 2, S. 278f., Nr. 456, weicht am Ende von Strophe 1 grundlegend ab. In Strophe 2 lassen wesentliche Abweichungen gegenüber den gängigen Fassungen (“Treu’ Minne hab’ ich g’schworn” statt “Meinen Dienst …” und eventuell dadurch bedingt “ewiglich” statt “stetiglich”) Reger als Urheber derselben vermuten.
No. 3 Abendständchen
Clemens Brentano: Abendständchen, in:
Clemens von Brentano: Die lustigen Musikanten, Frankfurt am Main
[Probably] Clemens Brentano: 1) Abendständchen., in:
Bildersaal der Weltliteratur, vol. 2, 3rd edition, ed. by Johannes Scherr, Stuttgart
Copy shown in RWA: US, Princeton, Princeton University, Google E-book.
Note: In den Takten 11–12 und 17–20 hat Reger die Zahl der Angesprochenen von Singular zu Plural geändert (“lasst” statt “lass” sowie “uns” statt “mich” bzw. “mir”), nicht so jedoch zu Beginn bzw. beim Bariton-Einsatz in Takt 7 (müsste konsequenterweise “Hört” statt “Hör” lauten).
Note: In der Erstausgabe des Bildersaal der Weltliteratur von 1848, S. 818f., ist nur ein Ausschnitt aus dem Sechsten Auftritt enthalten, in der 2. Auflage von 1869, S. 270, ist u. a. das Abendständchen ergänzt.
Note: In Erstausgabe innerhalb des Vierten Auftritts, Duett zwischen Fabiola und ihrem Vater Piast.
No. 4 Husarendurchmarsch
Martin Greif: Husarendurchmarsch, in:
id.: Gedichte, Stuttgart
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Martin Greif: Husarendurchmarsch., in:
id.: Gedichte, siebente, verbesserte und vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: US, Princeton, Princeton University, Google E-book.
Note: Die Änderung von “herfür” zu “heraus” am Ende von Strophe 3 (trotz des Reims auf “Tür”) und Strophe 4 dürfte auf Reger zurückgehen.
Note: In Martin Greifs gesammelten Werken, sechste, reich vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig 1895, Bd. 1, S. 199f., einschneidende Änderungen in den Strophen 3 und 4.
No. 5 Hochsommernacht
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Martin Greif: Hochsommernacht., in:
id.: Gedichte, siebente, verbesserte und vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: US, Princeton, Princeton University, Google E-book.
Note: Erstausgabe unbekannt. Erschienen in Martin Greifs gesammelte Werke, sechste, reich vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig 1895, Bd. 1, S. 35f., sowie in Gedichte von Martin Greif, siebente, verbesserte und vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig 1903, S. 49.
No. 6 Eine gantz neu Schelmweys
Richard Dehmel: Eine gantz neu Schelmweys, in:
id.: Erlösungen. Eine Seelenwanderung in Gedichten und Sprüchen, G. J. Göschen’sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart
[Probably] Richard Dehmel: Eine gantz neu Schelmweys., in:
id.: Erlösungen. Gedichte und Sprüche, zweite Ausgabe, durchweg verändert, Schuster & Loeffler, Berlin
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, Rara.
Note: Ein Exemplar der Erlösungen war in Regers Besitz (vgl. Brieffragment von Elsa von Bercken vom 14. Juni 1902 an Reger, Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Signatur: Ep. Ms. 2997).
Note: Reger vertonte insgesamt fünf Gedichte aus den Erlösungen: Opera 51 Nr. 3, 62 Nr. 2, 66 Nr. 7 und 11 sowie 83 Nr. 6.
No. 7 Minnelied
Note: AltdeutschAus Schwaben (18. Jh.)
Liebestreu und Liebeskraft, Nr. 3, in:
Bragur. Ein literarisches Magazin der Deutschen und Nordischen Vorzeit, vol. 1, ed. by August Boeckh and Friedrich David Gräter, Gräffsche Buchhandlung, Leipzig
[Possibly] Herzchen, mein Schätzchen, bist tausendmal mein, Nr. 4, in:
Hans Koessler: Neun mehrstimmige Gesänge für Männerchor,
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv, Mus.ms.autogr. Koessler, Hans 39 M..
Note: In der Erstausgabe in der Rubrik “Volkslieder” und mit der Erläuterung, das Lied sei “von einem jungen Frauenzimmer in Schwaben aufgenommen, und […] gütigst mitgetheilt” worden.
Note: Auf die Erstausgabe beziehen sich zahlreiche Wiederveröffentlichungen im Rahmen von Anthologien, z. B. Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching, Friedrich von der Hagen (Hrsg.), Sammlung deutscher Volkslieder, mit einem Anhange Flammländischer und Französischer, nebst Melodien, Berlin, Friedrich Braunes, 1807 (ebda. S. 146); Franz Ludwig Mittler (Hrsg.), Deutsche Volkslieder, Frankfurt a. M., Verlag von Karl Theodor Völcker, 1865, S. 608.
Note: Koesslers Chorstück und Regers Lied weisen einige identische Abweichungen von allen gedruckten Gedichtausgaben auf, die so spezifisch sind, dass eine direkte Verbindung angenommen werden kann. Insbesondere wird in beiden Kompositionen eine Kompilation von dritter und fünfter Strophe des Gedichts vorgenommen. Von den bei Koessler notierten drei Strophen hat Reger lediglich die erste und dritte vertont.
No. 8 Freude soll in deinen Werken sein!
Franz Evers: [Freude soll in deinen Werken sein…], 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: Die Schreibweise “gieb” statt “gib” übernahm Reger nicht, dafür jedoch “Thun” und “Thüren”. Max Schillings, dem Reger Evers’ Gedichte empfohlen hatte (vgl. Brief Regers vom 25. September 1901 an Max Schillings, Meininger Museen, Sammlung Musikgeschichte/Max-Reger-Archiv, Signatur: BR 032/6), vertonte dieses Gedicht als Nr. 1 seiner 1902 erschienenen Erntelieder op. 16.
Note: In Erstausgabe Nr. 1 der Erntelieder.
No. 9 Abschied
Joseph von Eichendorff: Abschied, in:
id.: Gedichte, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Joseph von Eichendorff: Abschied, in:
id.: Gedichte, 16th edition, C. F. Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Regers Textvorlage war wohl eine der zahlreichen zeitgenössischen Ausgaben mit Gedichten Eichendorffs.
Note: Othmar Schoeck vertonte dieses Gedicht ebenfalls 1909 als Nr. 7 seiner Lieder op. 20.
No. 10 Requiem
Friedrich Hebbel: Requiem, in:
id.: Gedichte, Hamburg
Friedrich Hebbel: Requiem, in:
id.: Friedrich Hebbel. Sämtliche Werke, vol. I/6, ed. by Richard Maria Werner, Berlin
Copy shown in RWA: archive.org.
[Probably] Friedrich Hebbel: Requiem, in:
Die Ernte aus acht Jahrhunderten deutscher Lyrik, ed. by Will Vesper, Wilhelm Langewiesche-Brandt, Düsseldorf and Leipzig
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
1. Composition
1.1. Nos. 1–8
After the Second Competition for German Male Voice Choirs in Frankfurt am Main in June 1903, Kaiser Wilhelm II warned against “following the example of the philharmonic choirs. In my opinion, this is not the purpose of the male voice choir; it should cultivate the folk song.”1 Reger promptly took this rallying cry as an opportunity to announce new works to his publisher Lauterbach & Kuhn: “Have you read that we ought only to be singing folk songs in male voice choirs! I shall write 3 men’s choruses; and with marvellous texts for them!”2 And yet it was not until February 1904 that he was able to announce “that I’ve got 4 men’s choruses à [sic] cappella lying here; all good things; of course, you’ll be getting them! I’m adding 2 more to them! That will be a ‘feast’! You’ll see! Everyone who’s seen them up to now was as delighted with them as with op 76!”3 One of the choruses he had finished was presumably the love song Minnelied (no. 7), whose version for solo voice and piano (op. 76 no. 21) Reger composed at the same time.
In April 1904, Reger increased the number of these men’s choruses to eight and wrote to Walter Fischer with “the most urgent request to send me all manner of texts as soon as possible (heroic, lyrical, and humorous genres) that would be suitable for male voice choir or even mixed chorus […]. If I were to get the texts by about 12 May, I would be very happy.”4 Reger offered Fischer’s brother the first performance of his op. 83 that same May,5 but in fact he was probably only able to resume working on these choral pieces op. 83 during his summer holidays at Lake Starnberg, where his prime concern was actually making progress with his Bach Variations op. 81.6 By early September, he promised his publisher that he would deliver the engraver’s copy in early October. He added that he anticipated having his choruses appear “comfortably” by the beginning of November, as they were “the very simplest music”.7 When he indeed sent the engraver’s copies, he even wrote of them in the diminutive as “Liedlein”, “little songs”.8 He was somewhat more cautious, however, in a letter to the Swiss conductor Volkmar Andreae: “I think there are also very rewarding pieces among them that aren’t difficult!”9 On 7 October, Reger notified his publisher that he would dedicate them to the conductor Richard Heuberger and his male voice choir, who had rendered outstanding service with a performance in Vienna of Reger’s Hymne an den Gesang op. 21.10
1.2. No. 9
In February 1906, Reger told his publisher Lauterbach & Kuhn of his intention “to write 2–3 new men’s choruses!!”11 The years thereafter saw him plan a separate, larger-scale work for male voice choir and orchestra (see Reger and his works for men’s, women’s and children’s choirs), but he did not compose any a-cappella choruses until he surprised his publisher Hugo Bock with one in late October 1909, writing: “Enclosed you will find a small men’s chorus, please have it engraved straightaway; my fee is 100 M.”12 He sent the engraver’s copy to his publisher on 6 November along with the signed publishing slip.13 We do not know whether Abschied (“Farewell”), a setting of a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff,14 had been intended from the start as a continuation of op. 83. But since Bote & Bock had in 1908 taken over Reger’s works that had been published by Lauterbach & Kuhn, it would have been an obvious step for Reger to decide to number it thus, at least when he submitted the engraver’s copy to the publisher.
1.3. No. 10
In the early summer of 1910, Elsa Reger told Fritz Stein in confidence that her husband was planning to set Friedrich Hebbel’s Requiem “for male voice choir, orchestra and contralto solo; dedicated to Gertrud Fischer-Maretzki”.15 Reger ultimately decided to set a different Hebbel text, however (Weihe der Nacht). By 6 March 1912, he was finally able to report to Duke Georg II of Sachsen-Meiningen: “I have just composed Hebbel’s wonderful text ‘Requiem’ for male voice choir a cappella, which will be sung as the festive chorus at the Swiss National Choral Festival this coming summer.”16 On 21 March, he sent the completed manuscript to the Swiss conductor Hermann Suter, who had apparently asked him for such a work: “Please find the chorus enclosed! I’ll let you know in a fortnight or so what number it will be given in my op. 83. This chorus is dedicated to you and your association; since I don’t know the official name of your association, please be so kind as to add the official title of your association at the head of the dedication on the manuscript!”17 We do not know why Reger was only able to decide on the work number at the beginning of April.18 While he initially seems to have anticipated receiving his manuscript back, in mid-May he wrote to ask Suter to send him “a copy of the score […] by 1 June […]; I should be very grateful to you; I shall honour the archives of your association with the original manuscript! When you send me a copy, please don’t forget to write the dedication to you and your association correctly on it”.19
The archives of the Basel Music Association (the “Musikverein”) hold several copies of the copied score, which was obviously duplicated. When compared with Reger’s other engraver’s copies with their usual peculiarities (especially with regard to the markings he made in red), this copy is only in a remarkably few instances different from the first print, all of them minor. It seems as if the copyist had already intervened to standardise the text. One note is conspicuously missing in the unused copies, though it has been added in the copies that were used in performance (m. 70). It is conceivable that Suter made this change – perhaps in consultation with Reger – when preparing for the first performances of the work at the 60th anniversary of the Music Association on 18/19 May 1912,20 and that the note in question was also added to the copy that Reger submitted to his publisher for printing.
2. Publication
2.1. Nos. 1–8
After perusing the scores, the publisher clearly had second thoughts about the degree of difficulty of these choruses. Reger now revised his original assessment: “The new men’s choruses […] are not all difficult! For example, ‘Minnelied’ [no. 7], the one in C major (3/4-time) on the old text [no. 2, Lieblich hat sich gesellet, ‘(My heart) has swiftly joined (one I love)’], then Husarendurchmarsch [‘March past of the Hussars’, no. 4] are not difficult at all!”21 His publisher, however, struggled with them, and only sent his op. 83 to the engraver on 14 October.22 Reger was unaware of this, and two days later began to put them under pressure to meet the publication date he wanted: “It would be highly desirable for the proofs of op. 83 to come very soon! I always have a really, really large amount of work to do and urgently have to finish checking the proofs of op. 83 before I leave for Geneva on 25 October! So please fire up Brandstetter well and truly!”23
By 25 October, Reger was in possession of the proofs of his scores, “but not yet of the parts for op. 83. But even with the best will in the world, it’s impossible for me to finish all 8 scores today; so I’ll have to see to some of the scores and all the parts after my return (on the 29th) from Geneva!”24 The proofs gave him “an unholy amount of work”,25 but when he sent back the edited proofs of numbers 2 to 7 on 7 November, there was “not much” wrong with them, “so there’s no need for further proofs […] Please do your utmost to ensure that op. 83 is published without fail by 19 November; this is absolutely necessary if we are not going to be late for this season!”26 He returned the proofs of the remaining two numbers on 12 November. “So op. 83 can now be published in good time by the 19th! Heuberger wrote about them today!”27 Reger received the first prints on 30 November (Nos. 2 to 7) and 11 December (Nos. 1 and 8).28
2.2. No. 9
Just three weeks later, Reger was able to send back the edited proofs (“[…]; only very little is lacking, so no new proof is necessary for me!”),29 and on 12 December he thanked Bote & Bock “very much for kindly sending me the 6 copies of the new men’s chorus”.30
2.3. No. 10
On 21 May 1912, Reger also sent this chorus to the publishers Bote & Bock without any prior announcement: “Please find enclosed another new work; I believe that the opus number 83 no. 10 – especially the no. 10 – will be correct; I can offer you this work for the unprecedentedly small fee of 125 marks”.31 He clearly used the copy he had requested from Suter as the engraver’s copy, though like the autograph, it is today no longer extant. On 11 June Reger wrote again to his publisher, presumably in response to a query about the unusual engraver’s copy: “I composed the Requiem op. 83 no. 10 especially for a large concert of the Liedertafel in Basel; since time was too short, the piece could not be engraved, but only duplicated quickly. However, I informed the association (1) that it will have to buy the piece as soon as you have published it, and (2) that everything is in place to ensure that no misuse can be made of it. As you can see, everything is in perfect order.”32
While the performance at the 22nd Swiss National Choral Festival in Neuchâtel on 22 July 1912 had originally been the main focus,33 Reger’s letter to his publisher of 11 June suggests that the jubilee celebrations of the Basel Music Association in May had been the actual reason for composing the piece in the first place. All the same, when he sent the corrected proofs back to his publisher on 24 July, he mentioned a telegram “according to which the press held this work to have been the highlight yesterday34 at its first performance at the Swiss National Choral Festival.”35 The Requiem must have been published in the course of August 1912 because Reger wrote on 24 August during his holidays at Schneewinkl-Lehn near Berchtesgaden to ask his publisher to send him his free copies.36
3.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Nos. 1–8
No. 10
Victor Lederer wrote a laudatory review of the collection: “Eight very different siblings, but all eight are proof of a powerful, genuine ability; they are works by a composer who is not only idiosyncratic, but who – despite all sideways glances at other masters – draws on his own resources to create his work. When compared to earlier compositions by Reger, what strikes one are his obviously progressive move towards clarity, the simplification of his textures and at the same time a trend to greater unity and a larger scale in the individual song movements”. Only in Freude soll in deinen Werken sein! (“Joy shall be in your works”, no. 8) did he express a desire for a different ensemble with “more differentiated vocal characteristics”.1
When numbers 2, 6 and 7 were given their first performances by the Sängerschaft Arion in Leipzig on 20 February 1905, Lederer was still somewhat surprised: “‘Are these really by Max Reger?’ some might ask after hearing them. ‘Is it possible? Is this the former Alberich with his magic, modulatory/harmonic helmet for whom tonalities once melted between his fingers like butter in the sun? How he’s changed! These are truly delightful things!’ Yes, it’s true, it’s the same Reger who often preferred winding lines like a corkscrew to any straight paths. But anyone who in recent times has been following closely the development of this man – who is perhaps the most talented composer of our day – will not be surprised to see how he is now following in the footsteps of the oldest German masters. […] The three compositions that were christened yesterday by the Arion under the excellent direction of Dr Paul Klengel may be counted among the most successful offerings of Reger’s muse”.2
Carl Kipke, on the other hand, was disturbed by “the strangely angular, laboured, archaic harmonisation of these simple melodies. Impassioned Regerians will find this brilliant; as for me, for the time being, I still lack an appreciation of these beauties. The third of the songs [no. 6, Eine gantz neu Schelmweys, “A quite new song of a rogue”] had the most direct impact, and it could not be denied that it possesses a certain coarse humour.”3 Alfred Heuß found Reger’s recourse to “the style of 16th-century folk song very fortunate, but all too obvious […]. However, these choruses should be welcome among our choirs.”4
The earliest documented performance of no. 4, Husarendurchmarsch, took place in Teplitz on 31 March 1906 and left its reviewer well-nigh stunned: “What here comes out of just a choir, what sounds and speaks, and how it speaks, is incredible. How the basses move! How the tenors, the middle voices sound together. But I think only the conductor and the singers get any enjoyment out of it; they see its complexity. The whole thing was sung with splendid verve.”5 The reviewer of a performance in Barmen on 28 February 1907 expressed his feelings somewhat more drastically: “The paths that the composer has trodden with the men’s choruses ‘Hochsommernacht’ and ‘Husarendurchmarsch’ are paths that he will hopefully abandon again soon. We have all possible respect for what the gentlemen have achieved who managed to sing these enormously difficult choruses and did not waver in its surging sounds. But one’s ear will probably not be able to get used to these outlandish sounds.”6
Reger himself did his utmost to promote his men’s choruses among potentially interested parties or multipliers, such as Volkmar Andreae (“Please perform a few of the easier ones of my male choruses op. 83 this season; you would be doing me a huge favour! I would also be very grateful if you would recommend my op. 83 to as many male voice choir conductors as possible! Please, don’t forget!”)7 and Max Hehemann (“Please be careful with my op. 83 choruses; don’t complain about them too much at the outset! […] please, please, do your utmost, your very utmost for these choruses to get performed as often as possible!”).8 Reger placed special hopes on the Swiss music scene, as he told his publishers: “I can now also report to you that Hegar, according to Andräe [sic], is very, very taken with my men’s choruses op. 83! They’re doing all of op. 83 in Zurich and Basel! Things will progress from there! There’s no doubt about that!”9
The Liedertafel in Gotha, under its conductor Ernst Rabich (the editor of the magazine Blätter für Haus- und Kirchenmusik), gave a Reger/Brahms evening in November 1910 that Rabich had planned in consultation with Reger himself.10 The local critic wrote that “the men’s choir […] put the audience’s judgement to the severest test with two extraordinarily difficult a-cappella choruses: two love songs, one from the 16th century, ‘Lieblich hat sich gesellet’ [no. 2], and another old folk song, ‘Herzchen, mein Schätzchen’ [‘Little heart, my little treasure’, no. 7]. The choral parts were wonderfully interwoven, chromatically and rhythmically, and culminated surprisingly in the most marvellous consonance. Rehearsing them is said to have been unusually difficult. The composer may be well satisfied with their efforts. The audience certainly was.”11
At a Reger evening in Poznań a month later, the reviewers came to varied conclusions. The Posener Zeitung wrote: “Whoever listened attentively to the compositions and arrangements by Reger that were performed last night will have been able to choose between the simple, occasionally somewhat affected style of the first men’s choruses, ‘Lieblich hat sich gesellet’ [op. 83 no. 2], ‘Hell ins Fenster’ [op. 38 no. 7] and ‘Wie ist doch die Erde so schön’ [op. 38 no. 4] and the well-known, much-feared compositional style of ‘Hochsommernacht’ [op. 83 no. 5]. An orgy of tone-painting is celebrated here, and Reger revels in his dissonances! For all the atmosphere that permeates it, the whole thing is unedifying.”12 In contrast, the critic of the Posener Tageblatt wrote: “With their performance of Reger’s choruses, the Lehrergesangverein of Posen and its ambitious conductor have provided new proof of their ability. Reger’s art of colour and description provided such a varied, shimmering garment for Martin Greif’s tiny little poem that one felt one could feel the midsummer night [no. 5] in its weave and sultriness, in its rising and falling tone sequences. It enjoyed a masterly rendition”.13
The Basel Music Association found itself faced with a “mammoth task” when preparing the work for performance at its jubilee. The Requiem’s “heavy chromaticism bristles with unheard-of difficulties, presenting […] the singers with difficulties that seem impregnable at first, but [this work] was ultimately given a truly splendid realisation in the concert.”14 The performance on 22 July 1912 at the 22nd Swiss National Choral Festival in Neuchâtel “with M. Reger’s pessimistic ‘Requiem’ (with a text by Fr. Hebbel) [led] far beyond the confines of the festival hut […] into the realm of the highest art.”15
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegen als Leitquelle die Erstdrucke zugrunde. Als Referenzquelle wurden die erhaltenen Stichvorlagen, die Erstschrift von Nr. 3 sowie die Abschrift von Nr. 10 herangezogen.
3. Sources
- Entwurf zu Nr. 2
- Entwurf zu Nr. 8
- Erstschrift der Nr. 3
- Stichvorlagen von Nr. 1–8 (Nr. 2–4 verschollen)
- Stichvorlage der Titelseite für Nr. 1–8
- Stichvorlage op. 76 Nr. 21
- Erstdruck von Nr. 1–8
- Stichvorlage der Nr. 9 (verschollen)1
- Erstdruck der Nr. 9
- Autograph der Nr. 10 (verschollen)2
- Abschrift der Nr. 10
- Stichvorlage der Nr. 10 (verschollen)
- Erstdruck der Nr. 10
Object reference
Max Reger: Ten songs for male voice choir op. 83, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00099.html, version 3.1.4, 11th April 2025.
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