RWA Online Encyclopedia II – Songs and Choral Works op. 75 No. 11

Aeolsharfe op. 75 No. 11

Version for middle voice and orchestra

Content
Creation
Instrumentiert in Meiningen, Dezember 1913
Status
–
Dedication
–
Performance medium
Middle voice solo; Orchestra [Flute 1, Flute 2, Oboe 1, Oboe 2, Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2, French horn 1, French horn 2, French horn 3, Timpani 1, Timpani 2, Strings]
Work collection
  • -
Original work
  • Eighteen Songs op. 75 for voice and piano
Versions
  • -

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe Bd. II/6: Lieder mit Orchesterbegleitung, S. 78–85.
Herausgeber Christopher Grafschmidt, Claudia Seidl.
Unter Mitarbeit von Knud Breyer und Stefan König.
Verlag Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.813.
Erscheinungsdatum September 2023.
Notensatz Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Copyright 2023 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.813.
Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved.
ISMN 979-0-007-30199-6.
ISBN 978-3-89948-446-5.

Aeolsharfe

Werk
Also for
Category
Text template
First edition

Hermann Ritter von Lingg: Aeolsharfe, in: Hermann von Lingg: Gedichte, vol. 2, Verlag der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 1868, p. 130.

Template edition

[Probably] Hermann Ritter von Lingg: Aeolsharfe, in: Die Musik-Woche, 3. Jg. (), issue 44, , p. 431.

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

Annotations

Note: In Erstausgabe innerhalb der Sektion Eine Idylle in Liedern.

Note: Die Komposition entstand in zeitlicher Nähe zur Publikation des Gedichts in der Musikwoche. Reger publizierte selbst in der Zeitschrift und hatte sie sehr wahrscheinlich auch abonniert.

1. Composition and Publication

When Reger conducted the Meiningen Orchestra in four of his Schlichte Weisen songs as orchestrated by Richard Sahla on 22 and 25 November 1913 in Eisenach and Meiningen respectively,1 his own Schubert arrangements were presumably still fresh in his mind, as he had corrected their proofs in October. This experience might well have been what prompted him to begin orchestrating his own songs. To begin with, Reger chose two of his most popular songs, Aeolsharfe op. 75 no. 11, and Das Dorf op. 97 no. 1. He continued to use his most popular songs for all his subsequent orchestral arrangements. We have no details about the arranging process. It is possible that Reger set to work just after the last concert in his current series with the Court Orchestra, on 15 December; in any case, he wrote that he “had a miserable amount to do” at this time. (Postcard to the Stein family of 21 December 1913)

Reger surprised his publisher Bote & Bock with these two orchestral arrangements on 22 December (Bote & Bock being the legal successor of Lauterbach & Kuhn, who had published the original songs). He recommended both a space-saving layout for the score, and the use of the cheaper method of producing orchestral parts from manuscript. He also asked for the works to be published swiftly: “We need these two songs soon, so I should be very grateful if you would engrave the two manuscripts straightaway. And it would then be extremely important for me to receive the proofs of the two small scores no later than 20 January [1914]. I would make the corrections as quickly as possible, meaning that the score and all the orchestral parts could easily be published by 20 February, by which time we will absolutely need these two songs.” (Letter) He had a rehearsal with the Meiningen Court Orchestra scheduled for that day, and wanted them to begin working on his two orchestral songs. (See letter of 24 December 1913 to Hugo Bock) Reger sent the corrected proofs back to his publisher on 28 January 1914, together with the manuscripts. (See letter) The two songs were published together in February 1914.

2.

Translation by Chris Walton.

1
These include two that he later arranged himself: Glück op. 76 no. 16 and Des Kindes Gebet op. 76 no. 22. The programme also included Waldeinsamkeit op. 76 no. 3 (presumably identical with the version for string quartet of 1911 [see below], see Schweizerische Musikzeitung und Sängerblatt vol. 59 [1919], no. 27, p. 284) and Der Postillon op. 76 no. 42. – Reger had already heard three of these orchestral arrangements (plus An dich op. 66 no. 8) two years earlier, on 24 March 1911, at a festival concert in Bückeburg. The day after, four songs from op. 76 were given in arrangements with string quartet accompaniment in the presence of the composer himself: Waldeinsamkeit (no. 3), Wenn die Linde blüht (no. 4), Herzenstausch (no. 5) and Abgeguckt (no. 24).

1. Early reception

While Reger clearly intended including these songs on his programme with the Meiningen Court Orchestra,1 his collapse in late February 1914 and his subsequent health cure meant that this plan fell through (see op. 136, Composition).2 There is no record of these two orchestral songs having been performed at this time.3 When Olga Blomé performed them both on the occasion of Reger’s 50th birthday, accompanied by the orchestra of the Landestheater Stuttgart under Carl Leonhardt (together with Aus den Himmelsaugen op. 98 no. 1 and Glück op. 76 no. 16, see below), a local critic noted “a certain ‘mood’, though this is not difficult to achieve with the colouristic means available; we again liked the Aeolsharfe best, where Reger also relies on a good poet (Lingg)”4.

2.

Translation by Chris Walton.

1
These two songs are not mentioned in Reger’s concert calendar for the 1913/14 winter season (Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, shelfmark: D. Ms. 83), which lists his programmes planned until the end of March 1914. However, his concert planned for Berlin on 10 March 1914 with Gertrud Fischer-Maretzki as soloist was to have featured his orchestrations of Schubert’s songs Memnon (see his postcard to Fischer-Maretzki of 5 April 1913) and Du bist die Ruh, RWA Schubert-B2 nos. 1 and 4 (see his concert calendar and his cards to Fischer-Maretzki of 21 December 1913 and 26 January 1914, manuscript copies of which are held in the Meininger Museen, Sammlung Musikgeschichte/Max-Reger-Archiv, shelfmarks: Br 509-131 and Br 509-134 respectively).
2
Reger was nevertheless satisfied with the rehearsal of 20 February 1914, as he reported to Hugo Bock on 16 March: “I have already rehearsed the Meiningen Orchestra in the songs Äolsharfe and Das Dorf, which have already been orchestrated, and the arrangements sound really wonderful; above all, the singer is never obscured, the voice always outshines the orchestral part” (postcard).
3
Update, 24/11/2023: At a concert in Hamburg’s Laeisz-Halle on 14 November 1918, Eva Katharina Lissmann sang the orchestrations of Das Dorf op. 97 no. 1 and Mariä Wiegenlied op. 76 no. 52.
4
At a symphony concert in Bonn of 2 February 1939 that was dedicated to Reger, Johanna Egli sang Aeolsharfe and Mariä Wiegenlied op. 76 no. 52 as well as An die Hoffnung op. 124 (see General-Anzeiger für Bonn und Umgegend).

1. Stemma

Die in Klammern gesetzte Quelle ist verschollen.
Die in Klammern gesetzte Quelle ist verschollen.

2. Quellenbewertung

Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Als Referenzquelle wurde der Erstdruck des Klavierlieds herangezogen, in seltenen Fällen auch dessen Stichvorlage, die Reger zum Zeitpunkt der Bearbeitung jedoch nicht vorlag.

3. Sources

Klavierlied
  • Stichvorlage
  • Erstdruck
Orchesterlied
  • Erstdruck
Object reference

Max Reger: Aeolsharfe op. 75 No. 11, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_01109.html, last check: 27th July 2024.

Information

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