RWA Online Encyclopedia II – Songs and Choral Works WoO V/4 No. 3

Fünf Choralkantaten WoO V/4

Chorale Cantata “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” WoO V/4 No. 3

for alto, tenor (or soprano), mixed voice choir, violin, oboe and organ

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe Bd. II/7: Vokalwerke mit Orgelbegleitung und weiteren Instrumenten, S. 162–182.
Herausgeber Alexander Becker, Christopher Grafschmidt, Stefan König.
Unter Mitarbeit von Dennis Ried und Stefanie Steiner-Grage.
Verlag Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.814.
Erscheinungsdatum Juni 2019.
Notensatz Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Copyright 2019 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.814.
Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved.
ISMN M-007-18850-4.
ISBN 978-3-89948-318-5.

Chorale Cantata “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”

Work
Also for
Category
Text template
First edition

Paul Gerhardt: An das leydende Angesicht Jesu Christi, in: Johann Crüger: Praxis pietatis melica, Frankfurt/Main 1656, p. 340–341.

Template edition

Paul Gerhardt: [O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden…], Nr. 50, in: Evangelisches Gesangbuch für Elsaß-Lothringen, ed. by Julius Smend and Friedrich Spitta, Leitz und Mündel, Straßburg 1899, p. 55–57.

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

Note: Reger hatte das Gesangbuch von Friedrich Spitta, einem der beiden Herausgeber, erhalten.

Annotations

Note: Text nach einer Vorlage von Arnulf von Löwen (um 1200–1250) (“Salve caput cruentatum”).

Note: Textvorlage entspricht dem abgebildeten Exemplar von 1899 oder der identischen Ausgabe von 1902.

Note: Reger vertont alle zehn Strophen.

Note: Der Choral hatte für Reger eine besondere Bedeutung. An Arthur Seidl schreibt er 1913: “Haben Sie nicht bemerkt, wie durch alle meine Sachen der Choral durchklingt: „Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden?“” (Zitiert nach Hase-Koehler 1928, S. 254 (Reger benennt den Choral häufig nach seiner neunten Strophe). Siehe auch Artikel Choral “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”).

1. Composition

1.1.

With “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”, in his third cantata Reger returned to the chorale which held the most prominent place in his output. In Reger’s correspondence the cantata is first mentioned when sending the engraver’s copy to Lauterbach & Kuhn on 22 March 1904. The work was probably composed in mid-March. According to his accompanying letter Reger continued to pursue his plan of a larger cantata cycle – he had not previously mentioned Good Friday in the listing of church occasions he was considering.1 However, a discussion with Friedrich Spitta seems not to have preceded this, for it is obvious from his later articles that he did not know anything about its composition.2

2. Publication

2.1.

As a royalty for this “arrangement” Reger again suggested 100 marks to his publisher and at the same time expected that “this piece will without a doubt prove to be a lasting successful publishing venture” (letter). Reger received the sets of proofs in the first week of June 1904, before the proofs of no. 2 (see publication). After his return from the Frankfurt Tonkünstlerfest he confirmed: “‘O Haupt voll Blut’ will be finished as soon as possible!” (Letter) Barely a week later he returned the proofs on 11 June and emphasized the artistic significance which he attached to this cantata: “‘O Haupt voll Blut’ must have a highly curious effect!” (Letter) He received the first printed edition together with the second cantata on 9 October 1904 (letter).

3.

Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.

1
“As you can see, the piece is again arranged with every conceivable consideration for the easiest performability & immediate comprehensibility. Now the corresponding chorale settings gradually follow for Easter, Whitsun, Harvest Festival, Reformation Day, so that within 2 years at the latest all the 6–7 or 8 major festivals in the Protestant church will be provided with similar chorale settings.” (Letter)
2
In his reports Spitta introduces cantatas nos. 2 and 3 as a pair of works – probably because of their publication at the same time – but this does not correspond with their composition: “The astonishingly productive composer immediately set these texts to music to create a second chorale cantata [no. 2] and added a composition along the same lines of the Passion hymn by P. Gerhardt ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’.” (Rezension).

1. Reception

At the beginning of 1905 the first reviews appeared, in which the cantata was almost joyously received. Ernst Rabich, for example, stated: “one sensitivity and subtlety follows another, the witty features, supported by art of the utmost significance surprise even those who already know Reger well” (review); and Friedrich Spitta emphasized that “when reading through the text [people] will sense how brilliantly and deeply Reger has interpreted it […]. I am convinced that the work, rehearsed with love and careful observation of the performance instructions, will leave a deep impression everywhere.” (Review) Paul Hielscher summarized in a collective review of the first three cantatas: “It is really astonishing which new expressions Reger has learnt from this chorale, which one thought Bach had exhausted to a certain extent in all his harmonic capabilities. […] I am able to express my inner joy that Reger has it in mind to continue the great cantata works of Sebastian, and this is whilst bearing in mind our current liturgical demands, as a result of which he is helping achieve a deepening of Protestant church music which it has unfortunately long needed. His chorale cantatas are not concert pieces, they belong in church services because of the participation of the congregation, the omission of any dominant solo passages and finally through their emphasis on the de tempore chorale.” (Review)

The first performance took place on 4 March 1905 in St Thomas’s Church Leipzig, given by St Thomas’s Choir conducted by Gustav Schreck with Karl Straube at the organ. Whilst in the Leipzig “Motets” vesper services the religious connection was maintained, a few months later the cantata was performed in the Berlin Philharmonie by Oskar Fried together with orchestral songs by Franz Liszt and the 2nd Symphony of Gustav Mahler. At this performance the overall continuing positive reception now included some critical voices. Otto Leßmann wrote in the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung: “Reger’s cantata […] is an extremely artistic construct which only seems a little monotonous in the middle […]. Would it not be in the interest of a more intensive effect of the music if two of the ten verses of the poem could be omitted? Reger has treated each verse independently with astonishing contrapuntal art. […] The […] last verse alone would be sufficient to give the treatment of the chorale by Reger the label ‘brilliant’” (review). Leopold Schmidt too took the view that the cantata demanded “an attentive, receptively tuned listener. Apparently the same melody runs through all verses quite uniformly and the lay musician will only notice the intensification at the conclusion; but what contrapuntal art is placed here in the service of the finest poetic feeling, what richness in the simplicity.” (Review) However, Ernst Eduard Taubert did not agree with this assessment: “Reger’s cantata is really miserable in its invention. A solo alto and a solo tenor alternately sing different verses to a thin organ accompaniment, in which an oboe and a solo violin also wander around. A mixed chorus sings as well in dry four-part writing, interrupted by organ interludes, then a few verses in unison again […] There is no characteristic portrayal of the intellectual content in the various verses.” (Review)

2.

Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.

1. Stemma

Die in Klammern gesetzten Quellen sind verschollen.
Die in Klammern gesetzten Quellen sind verschollen.

2. Quellenbewertung

Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Als zusätzliche Quelle wurde die Stichvorlage herangezogen.

Ob Reger die Abzüge der Stimmen Korrektur gelesen hat, ist unklar. Einerseits finden sich in der Violinstimme auffällige Stecherfehler, die unbemerkt blieben, andererseits aber auch zusätzliche Eintragungen, die durchaus auf Reger zurückgehen könnten (vgl. Takte 25 und 63). Der Verlag ließ die Stimmen aus der autographen Partitur stechen – Änderungen im Korrekturabzug der Partitur blieben so unberücksichtigt. Sollten Reger die Korrekturfahnen der Stimmen überhaupt vorgelegen haben, so kann er sie angesichts der zahlreichen Fehler und Lesarten nur sehr oberflächlich geprüft haben.1 Für die Edition spielte die Violinstimme deshalb keine Rolle.

3. Sources

    1
    Bei der Aufführung der Kantate am 20. März 1906 mit dem von Reger geleiteten Münchner Porgesverein müssen die Diskrepanzen zwischen Partitur und Stimmen offen zu Tage getreten sein. Bei der Drucklegung der Nr. 4 Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht ein halbes Jahr später drängte Reger auf einen geänderten Ablauf: »Doch ist für Stich u. endgültigen Druck der Cantate (Partitur, u. sämmtliche Stimmen) nicht mehr mein Manuskript gültig, sondern nur die von mir korrigierten Abzüge; bitte, laßt nach diesen Abzügen auch die sämmtlichen Stimmen herstellen! Es ist nicht nötig, daß ich die Stimmen zur Korrektur erhalte« (Postkarte vom 6. September 1906 an Lauterbach & Kuhn).
    Object reference

    Max Reger: Chorale Cantata “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” WoO V/4 No. 3, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00212.html, version 3.1.4, 2nd May 2025.

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