RWA Online Encyclopedia II – Songs and Choral Works WoO VI/13 No. 10

Schönster Herr Jesu WoO VI/13 No. 10

Version for voice and organ

Content
Creation
Bearbeitet in München, ca. November 1902
Status
–
Dedication
–
Performance medium
Middle voice; Organ
Work collection
  • -
Original work
Versions
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Schönster Herr Jesu

Werk
Version of
Also for
Category
Text template
First edition

Heinrich August Hoffmann von Fallersleben: Jesus über Alles, in: Schlesische Volkslieder mit Melodien. Aus dem Munde des Volks gesammelt von Hoffmann von Fallersleben und Ernst Richter, ed. by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Ernst Richter, Leipzig 1842, p. 287.

Template edition

unknown

Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Heinrich August Hoffmann von Fallersleben: Schönster Herr Jesu, Nr. 395, in: Evangelisches Gesangbuch für Elsaß-Lothringen, ed. by Julius Smend and Friedrich Spitta, Leitz und Mündel, Straßburg 1899, p. 442.

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

Annotations

Note: Texte und Melodien der WoO VI/13 und 14 wurden Reger von Karl Straube geliefert (vgl. RWA Bd. II/8, S. 224). Straubes Vorlage zu diesem Lied ist unbekannt.

Note: 1. und 4. Strophe urspr. erschienen in: Münsterisch Gesangbuch Auff alle Fest vnd Zeiten (1677). 2., 3. und 5. Strophe von Fallersleben hinzugefügt.

1. Composition and Publication

There are no recorded remarks by Reger about the arrangement of the chorus Schönster Herr Jesu – number 10 of the Twelve German Sacred Songs WoO VI/13 – for medium voice and organ. The autograph manuscript is dated “8 Nov”; the year cannot be clearly deciphered, but it must be “1902”. For on 19 November 1902 a performance of this arrangement was given in the St. Lamberti-Kirche in Oldenburg by the alto Iduna Walter-Choinanus and the church choir director there, Wilhelm Kuhlmann. Reger had probably sent Walter-Choinanus, with whom he was to perform a couple of weeks later in Munich, the manuscript in advance of the concert.1 This contains breath marks in another hand which are evidence of its use in rehearsal.

In his arrangement Reger retained the five-voice structure of the choral writing; the middle voices, now instrumental, were, however, lightly modified rhythmically or melodically ornamented compared with the original.

The manuscript, acquired by the Max-Reger-Gesellschaft at an auction in January 1927, was distributed to the members of the society as a facsimile at the end of the year.2 The high quality of the facsimile led several private individuals as well as public libraries to mistakenly believe they owned an original by Reger. A printed edition of the arrangement was only published in 2001.3

2.

Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.

1
The Oldenburg concert program is found in Musikalisches Wochenblatt XXXIII Jg., no. 51 (11 December 1902), p. 726. – Reger accompanied the Landau alto on 30 December 1902 in early performances of the songs Meinem Kinde and Wiegenlied from op. 43, and other works. Reger had also sent transpositions of the two songs to the singer and her husband, the song composer Ernst Walter-Choinanus in 1901.
2
As an insert with the 11th newsletter of the Max-Reger-Gesellschaft, print run: 2,000 copies. The original is preserved in the Meininger Museen (Max-Reger-Archiv), Inventory number XI–1 4382 / Nhs.
3
Ed. Rolf Schönstedt, Magdeburg, Edition Walhall – Verlag Franz Biersack, July 2001 (with opp. 61b and e).

1. Reception

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

1. Sources

    Object reference

    Max Reger: Schönster Herr Jesu WoO VI/13 No. 10, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_01153.html, last check: 8th December 2024.

    Information

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