Five selected folk songs WoO VI/6
for male voice choir
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No. 1 Herzweh
Text: unknown
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No. 2 Liebchens Bote
Text: Note: Flugblatt (1756)Volkslied
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No. 3 Das Sternlein
Text: Matthias Claudius
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No. 4 Dianderl tief drunt im Thal
Text: Note: Volkslied aus Kärnten
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No. 5 Ich hab' die Nacht geträumet
Text: Note: Volkslied
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1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/10: Werke für Männer-, Frauen- und Kinderchor, S. 10–20. |
| 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 Herzweh
[Probably] 99. Herzweh., in:
Troubadour. Sammlung ausgewählter Chöre und Volkslieder […], 4th edition, ed. by August Reiser, P. J. Tonger’s Verlag, Köln
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Strophe 1 mündlich überliefert aus Gotha (1817), Strophe 2 laut Friedrich Silcher (Volkslieder für Männerstimmen, 4. Heft, vor 1836, Nr. 5; siehe auch neue Ausgabe, Tübingen 1902, S. 95) von Hermann Kurtz (ab 1848: Kurz). (Informationen gemäß Deutscher Liederhort, hrsg. von Ludwig Erk, neu bearbeitet von Franz M. Böhme, Leipzig 1893, Bd. 2, S. 419.) Strophe 1 fragmentarisch erschienen in Büsching’s wöchentliche Nachrichten, Berlin 1818, III, S. 53, vollständig mit Strophe 2 wohl bei Silcher.
Note: Regers Vorlage war vermutlich eine der Auflagen des Troubadour für gemischten Chor. Die vierte Auflage erschien 1884; andere, die in Frage kommen könnten, sind in Hofmeisters Musikalisch-literarischem Monatsbericht nicht nachgewiesen.
No. 2 Liebchens Bote
Note: Flugblatt (1756)Volkslied
146. Liebchens Bote., in:
Troubadour. Sammlung ausgewählter Chöre und Volkslieder […], 4th edition, ed. by August Reiser, P. J. Tonger’s Verlag, Köln
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: August Reiser vertonte als Herausgeber des Troubadour das ansonsten mit einer Melodie von Johann Friedrich Reichardt bekannte Volkslied in einer eigenen Fassung.
Note: Zuvor erschienen in Volkslieder, hrsg. von Johann Gottfried Herder, Leipzig 1778, Erster Theil, Erstes Buch, S. 67f. (Titel: Der Flug der Liebe); frühe Fassung in Liedflugschrift (1756). (Siehe Populäre und traditionelle Lieder. Historisch-kritisches Liederlexikon, www.liederlexikon.de.)
No. 3 Das Sternlein
Matthias Claudius: Cristiane, in:
id.: Asmus omnia sua secum portans, oder Sämmtliche Werke des Wandsbecker Bothen, Hamburg
[Probably] Matthias Claudius: Das Sternlein, Nr. 63, in:
Troubadour. Sammlung ausgewählter Chöre und Volkslieder […], 4th edition, ed. by August Reiser, P. J. Tonger’s Verlag, Köln
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Das Gedicht ist ein Nachruf auf Claudius’ zweite Tochter Christiane, die am 2. Juli 1796 starb. Erschienen in Asmus omnia sua secum portans, oder Sämmtliche Werke des Wandsbecker Bothen, Teil 6, Hamburg 1798 (S. 150, Titel: Christiane). In Des Knaben Wunderhorn, hrsg. von Achim von Arnim und Clemens Brentano (Bd. 3, Heidelberg 1808, S. 153), unter dem entpersonalisierten Titel Der verschwundene Stern.
Note: Das Gedicht beginnt mit “Es stand ein Sternlein am Himmel” statt mit “Ein Sternlein stand am Himmel”. In Takt 13 steht sowohl in der Vorlage als auch der Stichvorlage entgegen dem Umfeld (und abweichend vom Gedicht) “tret’” statt “trat”.
No. 4 Dianderl tief drunt im Thal
Note: Volkslied aus Kärnten
[Possibly] 180. Dianderl tief drunt im Thal., in:
Männerquartette von der Donau, neunte, vermehrte Auflage, ed. by Joseph Renner, Regensburg
Copy shown in RWA: DE, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mus.pr. 481.
Note: Neben Text und Melodie stimmt auch die “rote Schicht” weitestgehend überein. Die Fassung in Regensburger Liederkranz. Neue Folge. Sammlung vierstimmiger Männergesänge, Regensburg u. a. 1879, S. 225 (Nr. 123) weist zu viele Unterschiede auf.
No. 5 Ich hab' die Nacht geträumet
[Ich hab’ die Nacht geträumet…]
Note: Volkslied
[Probably] Ich hab’ die Nacht geträumet, Nr. 83, in:
Troubadour. Sammlung ausgewählter Chöre und Volkslieder […], 4th edition, ed. by August Reiser, P. J. Tonger’s Verlag, Köln
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Erschienen in Deutsche Volkslieder mit Volksweisen für Volksschulen, hrsg. von Joachim August Zarnack, Zweiter Theil, Berlin 1820, S. 28 (Titel: Der schwere Traum).
Note: Zwei Änderungen Regers (“brach” statt “schlug” am Ende von Strophe 3, Ausrufe- statt Fragezeichen am Ende von Strophe 4) sind für ED aufgehoben. Aufgrund der Besetzung ändert Reger am Ende von Strophe 4 das Geschlecht der angesprochenen Person (“Liebste” statt “Liebster”).
1. Genesis
Publication
In the summer of 1898, Reger was working on his Hymne an den Gesang op. 21 for male voice choir and large orchestra, whose first performance he conducted on 19 November at the 60th anniversary of the Liederkranz of Weiden. His close connection with this local men’s choral society meant that he had good chances for getting more performances, especially with smaller-scale works. Reger’s decision to arrange folk songs for them was probably taken because they were a popular feature in the then current repertoire for male voice choir. By 16 November, he was able to inform the choirmaster and journalist Caesar Hochstetter: “I have now arranged 5 folk songs for male voice choir”.1,2 The melodies and texts he used were primarily taken from August Reiser’s Troubadour, which was a popular collection of folk songs at the time.
On 18 December, Reger sent his publisher, Jos. Aibl Verlag of Munich, the signed publishing slip to confirm that he was assigning them the rights for the Hymne an den Gesang and the Five selected folk songs, and also included a receipt for his fee. Apart from this, we know nothing about the publication process of his folk song arrangements.3
Organising the dedication of the folk songs proved rather complicated. On 1 December, Reger wrote to his cousin Hans Koessler about the first performance of his Hymne an den Gesang and asked him to “exert his influence” with the Munich Teachers’ Choral Society (the “Münchner Lehrergesangverein”), “so that said society will perform my chorus. I would naturally be perfectly delighted to provide you with all the parts and score (still in manuscript for the moment) free of charge, and would then allow myself the liberty of demonstrating my gratitude by composing a new choral piece and dedicating it to them (for whatever forces etc. they require)”.4 However, Albin Sturm, the Lehrergesangverein’s founding conductor, sent back the performance materials for the Hymne in late January 1899 – preferring to wait with any performance until the work was printed.5 He also reacted in an emphatically patronising manner to Reger’s offer of a dedication, which now encompassed the Five selected folk songs that had just been printed: “It surprises me all the more that you have dedicated folk songs to the Lehrergesangverein, since they were not offered to the association before being printed”. At the time, Reger had sent for his perusal “a score of one chorus from this folk song set, ‘Ich hab die Nacht geträumet’ [‘I dreamed last night’, no. 5]6 […]. Mr Sturm, however, thought it fine to ignore this completely. […] I have nevertheless left ‘Dedicated respectfully to the Munich Teachers’ Choral Society’ on the title page, which has long been engraved, and I believe that I have thereby provided you with proof that I’m not so petty and sensitive”.7
Even before Christmas 1898, Reger had already been trying to interest his friend Hochstetter in the arrangements: “These men’s choruses (folk songs) are really swish; you’ll enjoy them. They’re not easy – but I treat the choir in a quite different manner”.8 And he wrote to Ernst Guder, an employee of the Wiesbaden music dealer Schellenberg, assuring him that “the waltzes [op. 22] and folk songs are such that you’ll be able to do great business with them”.9 By 25 February 1899, he was able to inform Guder of the publication of the Five selected folk songs: “Please order all 5 for your shop immediately, they’re extremely interesting pieces”.10
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Reception
The first performances of numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 took place on 8 January 1899 at a Reger evening in Weiden that was initiated by Reger’s parents, according to Adalbert Lindner’s later recollection.1 Reger had rehearsed his folk song arrangements himself “with a four-part male voice choir, with four voices to each part”.2 The performance materials had been prepared by Lindner before the engraver’s copies were submitted for publication.3 The concert had “a full hall and a very select audience […]. The folk song arrangements were performed with obvious delight and also met with great applause”.4 The reasons for their positive reception were summed up by the critic of the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten: “These four folk songs are very original, and arranged masterfully”.5 The concert was also financially beneficial to Reger, who had “170 marks left over, despite the high costs”, and which he intended to use to help pay off his debts in Wiesbaden via Ernst Guder.6
Caesar Hochstetter wrote a review of the folk songs that was critical but nevertheless sympathetic towards the composer: “These arrangements ‘Five selected folk songs for male voice choir’ also offer the high art of counterpoint. However, they present the singers with the greatest conceivable difficulties. In his tendency to philosophise in single and double counterpoint, the composer has forgotten that vocal music needs to be strictly differentiated from music for instruments. […] Incidentally, Reger’s arrangements thereafter […] make more modest demands on the performers, and he also proves that in his first arrangements […] he swung his Club of Hercules a little too high, given the space in which he was moving”.7
Hans Wagner rejected from the outset any “modern” approach to arranging folk songs (see also WoO VI/7), and he offered similar criticism to Hochstetter: “The ‘Five selected folk songs for male voice choir’ are also some of the most terrible examples of artifice that could be achieved. The sheer sight of the score makes you shudder slightly: there is a dense swarm of noteheads, all manner of chromatic signs, 16th notes and 32nd notes. And, quite apart from the knotty part writing […], there is a complete lack of euphony. The melody often lies as a cantus firmus in the second bass (!) while the other voices offer the most stilted counterpoint to it, as in no. 1, for example, ‘Herzweh’ [‘Heartache’]. One’s heart truly aches when one sees the violence that is being done to this poor folk song here”.8
Ernst Ege came to a completely different conclusion: “The flexible independence of the voices and their mutual interlocking, the interweaving of the basic melodic line in the fabric of the whole, then the colourful alternation of dynamic shadings, plus the rhythmic shifts and modulations in the individual stanzas – all this serves merely to reveal the full richness of the people’s soul, individualising what is typical of the folk and letting it shine out, refracted in all manner of ways. The only thing that might perturb one a little about Reger’s folk song arrangements for male voice choir is a certain restlessness. This is naturally also a byproduct of the merits of his rhythmic and harmonic treatment of the different parts, but it makes the tonal images occasionally appear somewhat kaleidoscopic. However, well-led and well-trained choral societies will achieve a deeply moving effect with […] ‘Liebchens Bote’ ([‘A letter from my love’] publisher no. 2902, 2) and the Carinthian folk song (no. 4)”.9 Emil Krause also liked the “modulations and intertwining of the voices, which have been inspired by a deep poetic grasp of the textual content and of the original melody”.10
Finally, Karl Nef described these arrangements as “true pearls in the men’s choral repertoire […]. The composer has harmonically expanded these folk tunes with true mastery and great artistic subtlety. Each verse is harmonised specially in such a way that the expression of the words is enhanced musically by means of the harmony and polyphony. These arrangements revive the classical a cappella choral genres of the 15th and 16th centuries that Reger has obviously been studying eagerly and with great success. We should like to recommend these folk song arrangements warmly to our skilled choral societies; some of them will also be able to be sung by amateur singing groups”.11
In a later letter to Wilhelm Lamping, Reger was in retrospect quite self-critical about these works: “Now to the folk songs! I am extraordinarily pleased that you want to do almost all of the folk songs! (For male voice choir and mixed chorus!) As far as the choral writing is concerned, I am entirely of your opinion! In the five folk songs for male voice choir, I undoubtedly did too much! But this can be explained away by my very strong aversion to the common-or-garden amateur choral tradition. […] All the same, I believe that even in the Five folk songs, such as no. 2 (‘Liebchens Bote’), no. 4 ‘Mein Dianderl tief drunt’ im Tal’ will do their part quite well. And please take a look at the ‘tragedy’ in no. 5, ‘Ich hab die Nacht geträumt’! I have already conducted these folk songs here with 4 rehearsals and they sounded very good. I also did no. I (‘Herzweh’) – and it sounded good, I had 16 singers in total; with a group of 60–100 men, no. 1 ought to sound pretty good. However, it’s imperative to achieve the most subtle performance possible.”12
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Als Referenzquelle wurden die Stichvorlagen der Partituren und Stimmen, die mögliche Zweitschrift der Nr. 5 sowie in geringerem Maße die Abschriften von Adalbert Lindner bzw. Unbekannt herangezogen.
3. Sources
- Stichvorlagen
- mögliche Zweitschrift
- Abschriften
- Erstdruck
Object reference
Max Reger: Five selected folk songs WoO VI/6, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00237.html, version 3.1.4, 2nd May 2025.
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