An Zeppelin WoO VI/21
for male voice choir
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An Zeppelin
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- An Zeppelin WoO VI/21, Version for gemischten Chor a cappella
- An Zeppelin WoO VI/21, Version for Singstimme und Klavier
1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. II/10: Werke für Männer-, Frauen- und Kinderchor, S. 130f. |
| Herausgeber | Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl. Unter Mitarbeit von Knud Breyer und Stefan König. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.817. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | Oktober 2024. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2024 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.817. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | 979-0-007-31440-8. |
| ISBN | 978-3-89948-464-9. |
An Zeppelin
unknown
Note: Erschienen in Johann Christian Glücklich, Lose Blätter, 3. Auflage, Wiesbaden 1909, S. 268 (nur eine Strophe). Im Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel ist der Gedichtband am 18. Oktober 1909 (Nr. 242, S. 12339) angezeigt.
Note: Als Vorage verwendete Reger vermutlich eine Abschrift der publizierten Strophe (s. o.), ergänzt um eine (heute verschollene) zweite Strophe. Letztere wurde von Glücklich durch eine neue Strophe ersetzt und diese zusammen mit einer dritten Strophe Mitte September 1909 Reger brieflich übermittelt (siehe Zur Entstehung, Herausgabe und Rezeption der Werke).
Note: Zur Zeit der ersten und zweiten Auflage von Glücklichs Gedichtband (1886) waren die Luftschiffe des Grafen Zeppelin noch Zukunftsmusik (LZ 1 wurde erst 1899 gebaut). Überdies vermutete der Dichter bereits im Vorwort zur zweiten Auflage, “eine event. nötig werdende dritte Auflage [werde] voraussichtlich weit umfangreicher werden wie die erste und zweite” (s. o., Lose Blätter, S. 7).
Note: Die Wiederholungen in den jeweils letzten beiden Zeilen stammen von Reger. Weitere Eingriffe in den nachgelieferten Strophen sind vorstellbar. Da Reger die Einpassung dieser zwei Strophen dem Verlag überließ, muss sein Anteil an ihrer letztlichen Gestalt offen bleiben (siehe Zur Entstehung, Herausgabe und Rezeption der Werke).
1. Composition and Publication
Reger became acquainted with the insurance agent, estate agent, editor, writer and poet Johann Christian Glücklich during his time in Wiesbaden. In 1894, Reger set his poem Am Meer (WoO VII/18) to music, though it initially remained unpublished. In June 1909, presumably on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Glücklich approached Reger, asking to be allowed to publish this song.1 This did not come about. But now that contact had been re-established, Glücklich sent Reger his “Zeppelin-Hymne (Volksgesang)” (“Zeppelin Hymn. Popular song”), which he received on 3 September during his summer holiday in Kolberg, as he informed his publisher Bote & Bock, “with a request to set this text to music; I can hardly get out of it, so I will set the text! Then I’ll send it to the poet – a casual acquaintance of mine – but will make him expressly aware that he must not publish it without contacting you first!”2 Reger’s mail delivery book lists a registered letter being sent to Glücklich on 4 September,Posteinlieferungsbuch über Wert- und Einschreibsendungen, Postanweisungen und Nachnahmen (“mail delivery book for insured and registered items, postal orders and cash on delivery”), Meininger Museen, inventory no. XI-4-3316, p. 14. which presumably contained the finished composition.
After informing his publisher in a letter of 6 September that the Zeppelin Hymn had “turned out nicely”,3 Reger sent them the work in three versions on 9 September: “1.) for voice and piano! (2nd verse written above it.) 2.) For male voice choir 3.) for mixed choir! The version for mixed choir is less important.4 The version for male voice choir is more important, however; a 3rd verse will follow; I will send it to you as soon as I have this 3rd verse from the poet!”5
Glücklich’s poem might well have been penned in connection with the “Zeppelin donation of the German people” after the Zeppelin LZ 4 went up in flames near Echterdingen on 5 August 1908, or after civilian airship travel resumed with the LZ 5 in late May 1909. We do not know in what form Reger received the poem. The expanded, third edition of Glücklich’s poetry volume Lose Blätter (“Loose leaves”), which contained the first publication of An Zeppelin but which probably had not yet appeared at this time (early September 1909)6 contained only one verse. It is possible that Glücklich sent a second verse in a reply to Reger on 5 September, as the latter added such a verse to one of the publisher’s copies (see above).
However, this second verse did not meet with the publisher’s approval, at which Reger promised them: “I’ll get the poet to write 2 new verses”.7 Shortly afterwards, he asked his publisher to think about “what dedication we ought to give to the Zeppelin Hymn, which naturally has to be for Zeppelin [himself]! Please ponder the possible wording and let me know.”8 It is possible that Reger informed Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin directly (though no reply has survived), and thereafter came up with “the following wording for the dedication: ‘To His Excellency Count Zeppelin!’ The shorter the better!”9
Reger sent the two new verses to Berlin on 16 September, leaving it up to his publisher to add them to the music. “Please have them printed as soon as possible! And please exercise the greatest caution (especially in the middle voices) with regard to word divisions in the arrangement for male voice choir! The main thing is that this Zeppelin Hymn should appear as soon as it is at all feasible. […] Hopefully I will receive the proofs of both versions as soon as possible.”10 It is difficult to understand why Reger emphasised the middle voices, given that adjustments had to be made in all the parts (such as cue notes in measures 1, 9 and 20). The text repetitions in the last two lines were added by Reger; we may assume that he was also responsible for adding them to the two verses added after the fact. We can only speculate about the extent to which he may have intervened in these two strophes above and beyond this, though they do show a few inconsistencies (he did this in the case of Am Meer WoO VII/18).
Reger returned the corrected proofs (as yet with only the one verse) on 17 September. “No need to send me new proofs! […] But then ‘off’ with the Hymn in both versions to Friedrichshaven [sic], Stuttgart, Frankfurt/Main, Basel, Zurich, Lucerne, in short to all the places where Zeppelin is particularly celebrated. So please get in touch straightaway with the relevant music dealers in order to move forwards with ‘our’ Hymn.”11 On 1 October, Reger approved the title page.12 Just two days later, he received the first issue of his Duets op. 111a that he had cleared for publication at the same time, so we may assume that An Zeppelin was published that same month.13 Reger did not request any payment from Bote & Bock for “this folksy Zeppelin business”; “but let’s divide up in fraternal fashion what comes in and is left over once costs have been deducted.”14 The wording “von Kaiser und Reich” (“of Emperor and Empire”) in the second verse in the version for voice and piano was changed to “des Deutschen Reichs” (“of the German Empire”) in an edition that was presumably published after 1918.15
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Reception
In his review of the music, Ernst Isler wrote the following: “Reger too has now also paid tribute to the enthusiasm around Zeppelin, in musical form of course. ‘An Zeppelin’ is the title of a song for voice and piano, with Reger the composer and J. Christ. Glücklich the poet. The poem has a certain verve but is unfortunately more clichéd than felicitous. All the same, Reger’s notes breathe a simple, austere power and come close to a folksy, hymnic tone. I would nevertheless have preferred it if Reger had celebrated the bold, indomitable airman in one of his enthusiastic letters – with his fourfold or even sixfold underlinings – instead of with this song. Reger’s good intentions will surely be misunderstood pretty much everywhere.”1 Emil Liepe saw it as a hymn “that any other musician, better or worse, could also have written”.2 And Ernst Neufeldt dismissed the poem as a “trivial, occasional work”. Reger’s setting, he said, was “somewhat” better, “but not much”; and yet: “Judged on the basis of the enthusiasm for Zeppelin, it’s probably good, and as a four-part emergency valve for that enthusiasm, it’s probably even useful.”3
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Als Referenzquelle wurde der Erstdruck der Fassung für Singstimme und Klavier herangezogen.
3. Sources
Object reference
Max Reger: An Zeppelin WoO VI/21, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00269.html, version 3.1.0, 23rd December 2024.
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