Mehrstimmige Gesänge op. 111
Drei Duette op. 111a
for Sopran, Alt und Klavier
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No. 1 Waldesstille
Text: L. Rafael
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No. 2 Frühlingsfeier
Text: Ulrich Steindorff
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No. 3 Abendgang
Text: Maximilian Brantl
- Mehrstimmige Gesänge op. 111 for Frauenstimmen
Other parts:
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- -
1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/5: Lieder V, S. 117–131. |
| Herausgeber | Knud Breyer und Stefan König. Unter Mitarbeit von Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.812. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | Oktober 2024. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2024 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.812. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | M-007-33910-4 |
| ISBN | 978-3-89948-463-2. |
No. 1 Waldesstille
L. Rafael: Waldesstille, in:
Ludwig Rafael: Abendgluten. Gedichte. Vierte Sammlung, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig
First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Lit.germ.31490.
Note: In Erstausgabe innerhalb der Sektion “Natur”.
Note: Auch die Textvorlagen von Op. 76 Nr. 22, 41 und 42 stammen aus diesem Band.
No. 2 Frühlingsfeier
Ulrich Steindorff: Frühlingsfeier, in:
id.: Gedichte, Verlag Harmonie, Berlin
[Possibly] First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Lit.germ.73658.
Note: Regers Vorlage war möglicherweise die Erstausgabe, in ihr werden allerdings die Verse in der Mehrzahl mit einem Gedankenstrich abgeschlossen. In Regers Textunterlegung fehlen diese Gedankenstriche.
No. 3 Abendgang
[Probably] Maximilian Brantl: Abendgang, in:
Ulrich Steindorff: Simplicissimus-Kalender für 1909, . Jg. (1909), issue , Albert Langen, München
First edition
Copy shown in RWA: DE, Karlsruhe, Max-Reger-Institut/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung, TB.
Note: Reger hatte den Text von Martha Ruben erhalten (“[…] es ist der Text, den Sie mir aus dem Simplicissimus gaben!” (Brief vom 20. September 1908 an Martha Ruben, zitiert nach Max Reger. Briefe zwischen der Arbeit, hrsg. von Ottmar Schreiber, Bonn 1956 (= Veröffentlichungen des Max-Reger-Institutes/Elsa-Reger-Stiftung Bonn, Heft 3), S. 192).
Note: In Erstausgabe mit Illustration von W. Georgi.
1. Composition and Publication
On 21 October 1908, a Reger evening was held in the Palmengarten in Dresden that also included a section featuring vocal duets. Sanna van Rhyn (soprano) and Martha Ruben (contralto) were accompanied by the composer in two of the Five Duets op. 14 of 1894 as well as the duet Abendgang that Reger had composed especially for the occasion. This concert in Dresden afforded Reger a welcome opportunity to return to a genre in which he had not composed since his youth.
Reger had sketched this new duet on 19 September, during his summer holidays in Berchtesgaden and just less than a month before the concert.1 He had received the poem for it from Martha Ruben. It was by the Munich writer and lawyer Maximilian Brantl and had been published in the Simplicissimus-Kalender for 1909.2 Reger gave Ruben this draft as a gift, telling her: “Keep this; it is the text you gave me from Simplicissimus! This duet is already completely written out in a clean copy; when we come to Leipzig next Friday, I shall have Aron copy it and then you’ll receive it immediately by registered mail.” (Letter to Martha Ruben of 20 September 1908) The copy made by Reger’s pupil Paul Aron was used both in rehearsal and at the performance in Dresden.3
In early March 1909, Reger promised to dedicate a work to Elisabeth Jacoby, “certainly in the course of the current year”. (Letter to Elisabeth Jacoby of 2 March 1909) She was a businesswoman and a patron of the arts who hosted many artists in her home in Altona and acted as managing director of the Bignell Orchestral Society,4 an ambitious amateur ensemble. Whenever they were in Hamburg for concerts, the Regers always stayed with “Mother Jacoby”, (Letter to Hans von Ohlendorff of 25 March 1912) as Reger affectionately called her. On 16 May, he wrote to Bote & Bock to announce the completion of works including “Duets for soprano, contralto and women’s choir”. (Letter to Bote & Bock of 16 May 1909) By mid-June, he had composed two further pieces for the same forces, namely “Waldesstille” (“Forest silence”, L. Rafael) and “Frühlingsfeier” (“Spring celebration”, Ulrich Steindorff). These were then combined with “Abendgang” (“Evening walk”) to form the Three Duets op. 111 for soprano, contralto and piano accompaniment, which he dedicated to Jacoby. At the same time, Reger composed his Three Songs for four-part women’s choir a cappella op. 111b for the Hamburg Women’s Quartet. He also made arrangements for three-part women’s choir of these songs (op. 111c) and of the fourth volume of Schlichte Weisen op. 76.
On 12 July, Reger reported the following to Hugo Bock: “[...] everything is finished; I’m just looking through the things once more, very precisely”. (Letter to Bote & Bock (Hugo Bock) of 12 July 1909) He finally sent his complete op. 111 to his publisher on 26 July. He wrote that “the duets op. 111a [should] not be engraved in the order in which they appear in the manuscript, but in that order in which they appear on the enclosed sheet with the overall title!”5 He added that, “in view of” his publisher’s “generous goodwill” regarding the payment for his String Quartet in E-flat major op. 109, he would only ask for 600 marks for the entire opus 111. He also gave the engraver’s copies as a personal gift to “Councillor of Commerce Hugo Bock” (using the latter’s honorary title). [See letter to Bote & Bock (Gustav Bock) of 27 August 1909] Reger was dissatisfied with the quality of the engraving, (Reger’s letter to Bote & Bock [Gustav Bock] of 14 September 1909) but nevertheless asked for just his usual, single set of proofs. He received his free copies of the first print of his Three Duets op. 111a on 3 October 1909. (Letter to Bote & Bock [Hugo Bock] of 3 October 1909)
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Reception
These vocal duets met with a mixed reception from reviewers after their publication. Carl Rorich, the director of the Weimar Conservatory, described them as “splendid things for thoughtful musicians”.Note: Carl Rorich, “Max Reger: Drei Duette für Sopran und Alt mit Klavierbegleitung. op. 111a”, in Die Musik vol. IX, (1909/1910), no. 17 (first June 1910 issue = 2nd Schumann number), p. 325. The organist Ernst Isler, writing in the Schweizerische Musikzeitung, acknowledged a strong link to Brahms in them, and wrote that “A fine poetic air hangs over these duets. They ought to find friends everywhere, all the more so, since they are easily singable and are rewarding in the most beautiful sense”.1 However, Ernst Isler found these duets “strangely tame”, in other words lacking Reger’s typical characteristics, which he felt also meant that they had lost their “spirit of poetry and enthusiasm”.2 The musicologist Ernst Rychnovsky expressed similar disappointment in the Musikalisches Wochenblatt: “On paper, these songs look splendid, and the professional musician won’t put them down without having enjoyed them. But one’s acoustic impression of them falls considerably short of the visual impression they make”.3
These duets do not seem to have found their way into the concert repertoire, but were only popular for domestic musicmaking. At any rate, after “Abendgang” was first performed in Dresden, we know of no further public performances of op. 111a during Reger’s lifetime.
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Der Entwurf der Nr. 3 () sowie die Abschrift dieses Liedes spielten für die Edition eine untergeordnete Rolle.
3. Sources
- Entwurf zu Nr. 3 (E)
- Stichvorlagen (verschollen)
- Abschrift der Nr. 3, wohl von (AS)
- Erstdruck (ED)
Object reference
Max Reger: Drei Duette op. 111a, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00134.html, version 3.1.0, 23rd December 2024.
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