Abschiedslied WoO VI/27

for mixed voice unaccompanied choir

Content

Abschiedslied

Text: Margaret von Seydewitz

Creation

Komponiert in Schneewinkl bei Berchtesgaden oder in Meiningen, zwischen Mai und Anfang Juli 1914

Status

–

Dedication

–

Performance medium

Mixed choir [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass]

Work collection

Original work

Versions

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe	Bd. II/9: Werke für gemischten Chor a cappella II, S. 158–159.
Herausgeber	Christopher Grafschmidt. Unter Mitarbeit von Nikolaos Beer, Stefan König und Dennis Ried.
Verlag	Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.816.
Erscheinungsdatum	Oktober 2021.
Notensatz	Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Copyright	2021 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.816. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved.
ISMN	M-007-26186-3.
ISBN	978-3-89948-418-2.

Abschiedslied

Work

[Was ist es, das so traurig klingt…]

by Margaret von Seydewitz

1. Composition
Publication

At the end of April 1914 Fritz Stein was appointed Reger’s successor as court Kapellmeister to the Duke of Meiningen with effect from 1 October.¹ Consequently Stein had to give up his positions in Jena, including that of University Music Director. This also applied to the directorship of the Academic Chorus which he had founded. A farewell ceremony was planned for 16 July, at which a vocal work by Reger written for this occasion was to be performed as a surprise. Margaret von Seydewitz, a member of the chorus, wrote a fitting poem for the occasion.

In May, following a breakdown after a concert in Hagen at the end of February, Reger was still recuperating at Schneewinkl near Berchtesgaden. The composition could have been written there or in Meiningen, after he had resumed his duties at the end of May. At any rate, according to Stein, Reger responded “to this request with agreeable willingness and sent the small composition with his characteristic swiftness ‘by return of post’ ” ². Stein received the autograph manuscript as a lavishly-bound present.

When Stein suggested in 1948 that “all friends of Reger will be sure to be interested in this modest parergon to the master’s unaccompanied output, which in any case is small” ³, it is unclear whether he was referring to a publication he was planning. At any rate, the Abschiedslied was published for the first time in 1961 in Vol. 27 of the Complete Edition, edited by Hermann Grabner.

2.

Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.

Although at the time of Fritz Stein’s official commencement of his duties, the Court ensemble had already been disbanded by Bernhard III, successor of Georg II who died on 25 June, Stein remained at least nominally in position for two years, and resigned on 19 December 1916 (see Stein’s letter of 1 June 1917 to the Herzogliche Hofmarschallamt, Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, shelf number: Ep. Ms. 4037).

Fritz Stein, “Eine unbekannte A cappella-Komposition Max Regers”.

Fritz Stein, Ibid.

1. Reception

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

This text is currently only available in German.

1. Quellenbewertung

Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle das Autograph zugrunde.

2. Sources

Autograph
Posthume Erstausgabe

Object reference

Max Reger: Abschiedslied WoO VI/27, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00222.html, version 3.1.4, 24th June 2025.

Information

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