Eight Funeral Songs WoO VI/15
for mixed voice unaccompanied choir
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No. 1 [O wie selig seid ihr doch…]
Text: Simon Dach
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No. 2 [Nimm den entseelten Leib…]
Text: Heinrich Julius Tode (Verse 1, 3)Christian Friedrich Heinrich Sachse (Verse 2)
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No. 3 [Nun bringen wir den Leib zur Ruh…]
Text: Ehrenfried Liebich (Verse 1)
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No. 4 [Die Hoffnung auf ein bessres Leben…]
Text: unknown
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No. 5 [Hier, Mensch, hier lerne, was du bist…]
Text: unknown
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No. 6 [Weinet nicht! Nur des Leibes…]
Text: unknown
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No. 7 [Verzaget nicht, es lebt ein Gott…]
Text: unknown
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No. 8 [Menschenkind, Menschenkind…]
Text: unknown
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1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/8: Werke für gemischten Chor a cappella I, S. 160–163. |
| Herausgeber | Alexander Becker, Christopher Grafschmidt, Stefan König, Stefanie Steiner-Grage. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.815. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | Juni 2018. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2018 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.815. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | M-007-18831-3. |
| ISBN | 978-3-89948-302-4. |
No. 1
[Probably] Simon Dach: O wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen, Nr. 554, in:
Gesangbuch für die evangelisch-lutherische Kirche in Bayern, U. G. Sebald, Nürnberg
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Gedichtet auf den Tod Hiob Lepners (6. Mai 1635), Vizebürgermeister von Königsberg. Erschienen in der bei Lepners Begräbnis aufgeführten Vertonung durch Johannes Stobaeus (1580–1646). (Siehe DFG-Projekt “Gelegenheitsmusik des Ostseeraums vom 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert” (www.gelegenheitsmusik-ostseeraum.de).)
No. 2
Heinrich Julius Tode: [Nimm den entseelten Leib, o Gruft…], Nr. 400, in:
Sammlung christlicher Lieder für die evangelisch-protestantische Kirche des Großherzogsthums Baden […], J. M. Katz, Wittwe, Pforzheim
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Liturg. 1212 l.
Christian Friedrich Heinrich Sachse: [Nimm den entseelten Leib, o Gruft…], Nr. 822, in:
Deutsches Kirchenliederbuch oder die Lehre vom Kirchengesang […], ed. by J. P. Lange, Verlag von Meyer und Zeller, Zürich
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Liturg. 678 d.
No. 3
[Probably] Ehrenfried Liebich: Nun bringen wir den Leib zur Ruh, Nr. 229, in:
Gesangbuch für die evangelisch-lutherische Kirche in Bayern, U. G. Sebald, Nürnberg
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
No. 4
unknown
No. 5
Am Grabe, Nr. 59, in:
Christkatholisches Gesang- und Andachtsbuch. zum Gebrauche bey der öffentlichen Gottesverehrung im Bisthum Konstanz, vol. 1, ed. by das bischöfliche Ordinariat, Konstanz
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Freiburg, Universitätsbibliothek, TM 2018/897-1.
No. 6
Am Grabe eines Jünglings, in:
Das Rütli. Ein Liederbuch für Männergesang, 2. vermehrte und verbesserte Aufl., St. Gallen
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Am Grabe eines Jünglings, in:
Das Rütli. Ein Liederbuch für Männergesang, 33rd edition, J. J. Sonderegger, St. Gallen
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Erschienen in einer Vertonung von wahrscheinlich Carl Gottlieb Elsässer (zumeist wird als Komponist Ernst G. Elsässer (geb. 1880) angegeben).
No. 7
Verzage nicht, es lebt ein Gott, Nr. 98, in:
Katholisches Gebet- und Gesangbuch. Approbiert von dem hochwürdigsten bischöflichen Ordinariate St. Pölten,
kaiserlich-königlicher Schulbücher-Verlag
and Wien
unknown
Used for comparison purposes in RWA: First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung.
Note: Im Gesangbuch Adressat in der jeweils 1. Strophenhälfte im Singular (“Verzage nicht” usw.).
No. 8
unknown
1. Composition and Publication
Nothing is known about the composition of the Eight Funeral songs; they were mentioned for the first time at the end of the 1920s when the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel explored the idea of a collection of posthumous works by Reger with a view to publication. In the process the publisher evidently made contact with Reger’s sister Emma via his widow. In her possession there were also three “youthful songs” WoO VII/10–12 as well as the Funeral Songs which she initially handed over to her sister-in-law. After Joseph Haas had looked through the works, the publisher asked Elsa Reger on 31 December 1929 to send them quickly, “so that a decision can be reached straight away” (letter). This evidently turned out to be a positive one, so that the publishing director Hellmuth von Hase agreed “that we will acquire the 3 Songs and 8 Funeral songs for RM 500.” (Letter) As a result Emma assigned her rights to the publisher (vgl. letter from Breitkopf & Härtel dated 11 June 1930 to Elsa Reger).
The publisher received copies made by Emma Reger both of the “youthful songs” and the Funeral Songs (see WoO VII/1–13 – Quellenüberlieferung). The note “hs.” [“ms.”] (as opposed to “gedr.” [“printed”]) in the publisher’s inventory1 cannot therefore be interpreted as a reference to Reger’s autograph manuscript, but might simply relate to the copy. The date “1900” is also found in the inventory. There is no clue as to the date when the Funeral Songs copy was made, and the whereabouts of the manuscript remains a mystery.
The two colors used in the copy at least proves a composition date after summer 1892 (see Regers Verwendung von roter Tinte). It also shows that the two-color original manuscript served as a source, and must therefore have been in Emma Reger’s possession. As Reger gave the rejected autograph manuscripts which still existed to his close friend Adalbert Lindner when he moved from Weiden at the beginning of September 1901, and the Funeral Songs are not mentioned by Lindner anywhere, it can be assumed that they were only composed in Munich. Here it seems plausible that they were written around the same time as the Mourning Songs (Dirges) which ended Opus 61, which were written between July and November 1901. As Reger explicitly asked the publisher Richard Linnemann (C.F.W. Siegel’s Musikalienhandlung) “to leave space for additions” (see Opus 61 – Publication) on the title page of the Leicht ausführbare Kompositionen zum gottesdienstlichen Gebrauche, it is at any rate conceivable that the Funeral Songs were intended as a continuation. The manuscript probably remained in the possession of the family after Reger’s marriage and his move from the shared apartment in October 1902, from whence it may have ended up with Emma following their mother’s death in June 1911.
The publication of works from Reger’s estate by Breitkopf & Härtel was at any rate first tackled in the 1943 anniversary year. An order for the Funeral Songs to be engraved was also placed, but the printing was cancelled for unknown reasons. It is conceivable that, despite Joseph Haas’s approval, there was a new, negative report, as with the “youthful songs” WoO VII/3, 4, 6, 7, 14 (see Quellenüberlieferung und Editionsgeschichte).
2.
Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.
1. Reception
At present, there are no records of performances in Reger's time.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle die Abschrift Emma Regers zugrunde.
3. Sources
- Abschriftliche Partitur von Emma Reger (geplante Stichvorlage)
Object reference
Max Reger: Eight Funeral Songs WoO VI/15, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_01038.html, last check: 6th December 2024.
Information
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