Sechs Lieder op. 104

for tiefe bzw. mittlere Singstimme und Klavier

Content
  • No. 1 Neue Fülle

    Text: Stefan Zweig

  • No. 2 Warnung

    Text: unknown

  • No. 3 Mutter, tote Mutter

    Text: Dora Hartwig

  • No. 4 Lied eines Mädchens

    Text: unknown

  • No. 5 Der Sausewind

    Text: Carl Busse

  • No. 6 Mädchenlied

    Text: Martin Boelitz

Creation
Komponiert in Leipzig, Juni bis Anfang Juli 1907
Status
Dedication

Performance medium
Voice; Piano

Work collection
Original work
Versions

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe Bd. II/5: Lieder V, S. 67–89.
Herausgeber Knud Breyer und Stefan König.
Unter Mitarbeit von Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl.
Verlag Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.812.
Erscheinungsdatum Oktober 2024.
Notensatz Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Copyright 2024 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.812.
Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved.
ISMN M-007-33910-4
ISBN 978-3-89948-463-2.

No. 1 Neue Fülle


Category
Text template
First edition

Template edition

Copy shown in RWA: DE, Augsburg, Universitätsbibliothek, 640 GM 7506 F94. 906.

Note: Am 29. März 1907 erhielt Reger vom Autor die Erstausgabe zugesandt und versprach, daraus “selbstredend komponieren” zu wollen (Brief vom 29. März 1907 an Stefan Zweig, zitiert nach Der große Europäer Stefan Zweig, hrsg. von Hanns Arens, Frankfurt a. M. 1981, S. 80). Das Widmungsexemplar (“Max Reger in inniger Verehrung Stefan Zweig”) ist in den Meininger Museen erhalten (Meininger Museen [Max-Reger-Archiv], Signatur: R Bü 127). Zu weiteren Liedern nach Texten von Stefan Zweig kam es entgegen Regers Ankündigung jedoch nicht.


Annotations

Note: In der Erstausgabe innerhalb der Sektion “Frauen”.


No. 2 Warnung


Category
Text template
First edition
unknown

Template edition

Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Wolfgang Amadé Mozart: Männer suchen stets zu naschen, in: id.: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, ed. by Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum, , p. 99–103.

Copy shown in RWA: AT, Salzburg, Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum.


Annotations

Note: Reger kannte den Text vermutlich aus der Arie Männer suchen stets zu naschen für Bass und Orchester KV 433 (416c) von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In der Neuen Mozart-Ausgabe heißt es hierzu: “Weder konnte die Textvorlage identifiziert noch die Bestimmung der Arie geklärt werden.” (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, in Verbindung mit den Mozartstädten Augsburg, Salzburg und Wien hrsg. von der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, Serie X: Supplement, Werkgruppe 30, Bd. 4: Fragmente, vorgelegt von Ulrich Konrad, Kassel 2002, S. 245).


No. 3 Mutter, tote Mutter


Category
Text template
First edition
unknown

Template edition

Annotations

Note: Reger entnahm den Text möglicherweise einer Literaturzeitschrift.

Note: Nicht in Hartwigs Band Gedichte, Curt Wigand, Berlin/Leipzig 1912.


No. 4 Lied eines Mädchens


Category
Text template
First edition

Template edition

Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, Rara.

Note: Reger vertonte mehrere Gedichte aus Jacobowskis Sammlung.


Annotations

Note: Reger vertont eine hochdeutsche Version des mittelhochdeutschen Originals, wie sie auch in Ludwig Jacobowskis Anthologie zu finden ist. Aus deutscher Seele nutze Reger häufiger zur Textsuche.


No. 5 Der Sausewind


Category
Text template
First edition

Template edition

Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.


Annotations

No. 6 Mädchenlied


Category
Text template
First edition
unknown

Template edition

Annotations

Note: Der Text ist in keinem der bekannten Gedichtbände von Boelitz nachweisbar. Möglicherweise wurde er eigens für die Schlichten Weisen geschrieben.

Note: Reger erhielt den Text vermutlich handschriftlich von dem Dichter, mit dem er befreundet war.


1. The genesis and publication

Reger presumably composed his Six Songs op. 104 in June and July 1907. They were intended for the publisher Otto Forberg in Leipzig, who had previously published his Two Compositions for violin and piano op. 87 and his Suite in g minor op. 92 for organ. On 10 July,1 Reger signed the publishing slip to confirm that he was assigning Forberg the rights for the new work. This was presumably, as was his custom, shortly after sending them the engraver’s copies (which are not dated). We may therefore assume that they were composed in connection with the third volume of the Schlichte Weisen op. 76 that Reger had submitted to Lauterbach & Kuhn on 26 June 1907 (see above). As had already been the case in 1905, when Reger had almost simultaneously completed his Four Songs op. 88 for N. Simrock and the second volume of op. 76 for Lauterbach & Kuhn, he was here writing a substantial set of songs for a different publisher at the same time that he was working on a volume of the Schlichte Weisen.

For “Neue Fülle” (“New fullness”), the opening song of op. 104, Reger had chosen a poem by Stefan Zweig for the second time (the first having been “Ein Drängen”, op. 97 no. 3). It was taken from the collection Die frühen Kränze (The Early Garlands) that Zweig had published in 1906. After Zweig sent it to Reger in March 1907, the latter replied that he would naturally compose [something] from it”. (Letter to Stefan Zweig of 29 March 1907)2 The setting of the poem “Mutter, tote Mutter” (“Mother, dead mother”, no. 3) by Thora Hartwig, which Reger dedicated to his wife Elsa, was probably written in memory of his mother-in-law Auguste von Bagenski, who had died in March 1907. The text of “Warnung” (“Warning”, no. 2; poet unknown) is based on an unfinished bass aria with orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (K. 433) that was widely known in a version with piano in around 1900.3 For the songs nos. 4–6, Reger chose a text from the Carmina Burana, a poem by Carl Busse and one by his friend Martin Boelitz, who might also have written his “Mädchenlied” (“Song of the girl”, no. 6) expressly for Reger, as was the case with several other of his texts.

In September 1907, the Six Songs were published individually in their original versions (i.e. variously for high or medium voice) with German and English texts. In the advertisements for new publications, they were listed as “Lieder für eine Singstimme und Klavierbegleitung” (Songs for one voice and piano accompaniment)4 without any further indication of the vocal register. To be sure, the existence of an edition for low voice is stated on the title pages of these first prints, though it only came onto the market a year later.5 As was his custom, Reger had noted his preferred keys for the transpositions of the songs at the close of his autograph copies for the engraver. These versions were produced by the publisher and proofread by the composer. One exception was the song “Mutter, tote Mutter”, for which Reger requested a transposition upwards, not downwards (from B major to D major), and which was included in the edition for high voice.6 The version in B major included in the edition for low voice, is given as an original version by the composer in the appendix to the present volume.7

In addition to dedications to the contralto Gertrud Fischer-Maretzki (no. 5), with whom Reger frequently gave concerts, and to Elsa Reger (no. 3), this set also contains a dedication to his friend Martha Ruben (no. 1), a teacher of piano and singing from Vienna.8 The two dedications to the mezzo-soprano Lula Mysz-Gmeiner (nos. 2 and 4) were only added at the proofreading stage.

2.

Translation by Chris Walton.


1
Verlagsscheine des Musikverlags Otto Forberg, Leipzig zur Übertragung des Urheber- und Verlagsrechts nach Vertragspartnern R–Z, Leipzig, Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, shelfmark: 21081 Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, no. 7344/3.
2
Reger here also asked Zweig for copies of new poems, “as long as they are still in manuscript. However, he did not set any more poems by Zweig to music.
3
After what was presumably the song’s first performance in Bremen in March 1908, Gustav Kissing wrote in the Weser-Zeitung: “The humour of ‘Warnung’, which is nothing less than naïve and ‘chromatic’, seemed to me to be completely inappropriate. This text is known everywhere in Mozart’s setting, which makes it difficult to understand why anyone might be tempted to set it again”. (G[ustav] K[isslin]g, in Weser-Zeitung no. 22045 of 10 March 1908, 1st morning edition– copy in the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe.
4
Publisher’s advertisement in Musikalisches Wochenblatt vol. 38, no. 40 (3 October 1907), p. 809. See also the corresponding advertisement of new publications in Hofmeister’s Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht vol. 79, no. 9 (September 1907), p. 529.
5
See the advertisement for new publications in ibid., vol. 80, no. 10 (October 1908), p. 291.
6
Reger’s instruction ran: “For medium or high voice in D major” (engraver’s copies, held by the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, shelfmark: Mus. Ms. 055, no. 3, fol. 1v).
7
“Neue Fülle” (no. 1) was transposed into D-flat major, as Reger had instructed on the engraver’s copy, despite his having meanwhile asked his publisher whether it “shouldn’t perhaps be rewritten enharmonically in order to avoid the many double flats” (letter to the publisher Otto Forberg of 12 October 1907).
8
This was the erotic poem “Neue Fülle” (no. 1) by Stefan Zweig. Martha Ruben thought highly of Reger, ran his household in spring 1908 when Elsa Reger was taking a cure, and even holidayed with the Reger family. She was unmarried, and Reger’s behaviour towards her was perhaps somewhat clueless, as suggested by the dedication of this song with its multifarious meanings. A letter of apology exists from Reger to the Ruben family for the “what was said and all the incidents […] Fritz Stein is – ‘without manners’ as always – !!!!!” (postcard to K. Ruben of 17 September 1908). As late as 1955, Fritz Stein admitted to Ottmar Schreiber that there had been “a mighty jealous scene between Miss Ruben and Mrs Reger” (letter of 25 May 1955, Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe).

1. Reception

The various songs of op. 104 were far from equally represented in the programmes that Reger himself chose for his concerts, and they were also received variously by the critics. The playful Carmina burana setting “Lied eines Mädchens” (“Song of a girl”) is documented as having had 34 performances up to the time of Reger’s death,1 with Anna Erler-Schnaudt and Gertrud Fischer-Maretzki the most prominent among its interpreters. According to Arthur Smolian, this “immensely endearing, madrigal-like, antiquated”2 song often had to be “sung from the beginning again”.3 Reger recommended Fischer-Maretzki to include it in a block of lighter songs from op. 76 when planning her programmes. Even though he had not published it together with op. 76, “stylistically”, he told her, “it fits best among the ‘Schlichte Weisen’”. (Letter to Gertrud Fischer-Maretzki of 16 January 1908) The reviewers were also positive about “Mutter, tote Mutter”. In his review, Emil Krause wrote that this piece attained “a high degree of profundity”,4 and Smolian also praised it for being “ecstatically harmonised and yet deeply expressive”.5 “Warnung”, however, had a difficult time with the critics.6 After accompanying it three times, Reger never programmed it again. A few performances are documented for “Neue Fülle” (no. 1) and “Der Sausewind” (“The strong wind”, no. 5), but Reger’s setting of Boelitz’s “Mädchenlied” does not seem to have found its way into the concert hall during Reger’s lifetime.

2.

Translation by Chris Walton.


1
See in detail Ingeborg Schreiber, Max Reger in seinen Konzerten. See also RWA online www.reger- werkausgabe.de/context-events.html.
2
Arthur Smolian, review of a song recital by Maria E. Orthen of New York with Reger at the piano, on 30 April 1908 in the Centraltheater in Leipzig, published in the Leipziger Zeitung, no. 100, 1 May 1908, 1st supplement; as cited in a manuscript copy held by the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe.
3
H., “Konzert Orthen-Reger”, in Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, vol. 16, 30 April 1908, p. 2.
4
Emil Krause, “Reger, Max, Op. 104 […]”, in Hofmeister’s Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht vol. 81, no. 4 (April 1909), p. 146.
5
Arthur Smolian, review of a song recital by Maria E. Orthen of New York with Reger at the piano, on 30 April 1908 in the Centraltheater in Leipzig, published in the Leipziger Zeitung, no. 100, 1 May 1908, 1st supplement; as cited in a manuscript copy held by the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe.
6
After what was presumably the song’s first performance in Bremen in March 1908, Gustav Kissing wrote in the Weser-Zeitung: “The humour of ‘Warnung’, which is nothing less than naïve and ‘chromatic’, seemed to me to be completely inappropriate. This text is known everywhere in Mozart’s setting, which makes it difficult to understand why anyone might be tempted to set it again”. (G[ustav] K[isslin]g, in Weser-Zeitung no. 22045 of 10 March 1908, 1st morning edition – copy in the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe.

1. Stemma

Die in Klammern gesetzten Quellen sind verschollen.
Die in Klammern gesetzten Quellen sind verschollen.

2. Quellenbewertung

Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck der originalen Fassung zugrunde. Eine Besonderheit ist der Erstdruck der Nr. 1 (Neue Fülle), von dem Exemplare mit stellenweise revidiertem Notentext vorliegen. Insofern die Revisionen, deren Urheber unklar ist (siehe ), reine Fehlerkorrekturen sind, wurden sie übernommen, ansonsten im Lesartenverzeichnis diskutiert. Die exemplarmäßigen Abzüge von Nr. 1, 2, 5 und 6 enthalten zwar keine Eintragungen Regers, geben jedoch im Vergleich mit dem Erstdruck Aufschluss über die zu diesem Zeitpunkt vom Komponisten noch gewünschten Schlusskorrekturen, die dieser wohl in ein separates Exemplar eintrug.
Als Referenzquellen dienten die vielfach differenzierter bezeichneten Stichvorlagen (siehe Zu den editorischen Besonderheiten in den Liederbänden). Insbesondere im Bereich der Vortragsanweisungen wurde oftmals den Lesarten der Stichvorlagen der Vorzug gegeben. Bei den ein Jahr nach den Originalausgaben herausgegebenen Fassungen für tiefe Stimme war Reger in den Herstellungs- und Korrekturprozess eingebunden (siehe ). Neben der Korrektur der aufgrund der Transposition entstandenen Stecherfehler hat Reger offenbar auch die Gelegenheit genutzt, bereinigend in den ursprünglichen Notentext einzugreifen. Wie tiefgehend und systematisch er dabei vorging, ist nicht dokumentiert, da sich die Verlagsabschrift nicht erhalten hat. Aus den Erst- drucken für tiefe Stimme wurden daher nur offensichtliche Fehler- korrekturen übernommen (siehe Lesartenverzeichnis).
Eine Edition der Nr. 3 (Mutter, tote Mutter) in der Originaltonart von Regers Stichvorlage wird im Anhang vorgelegt.

3. Sources

  • Entwurf zu Nr. 1 (E)
  • Entwürfe zu Nr. 3 und 4 (E)
  • Entwurf zu Nr. 5 (E)
  • Exemplarmäßige Korrekturabzüge von Nr. 1, 2, 5 und 6 (KA)
  • Stichvorlagen (SV)
  • Erstdruck (ED)
  • Erstdruck für tiefe Stimme (EDtief)
Object reference

Max Reger: Sechs Lieder op. 104, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00124.html, version 4.0, 18th December 2025.

Information

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