RWA Online Encyclopedia II – Songs and Choral Works WoO VI/5

Lacrimä Christi WoO VI/5

for male voice choir

Content
Creation
Komponiert in Weiden, August 1898
Status
–
Dedication
–
Performance medium
Men's choir [Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass 1, Bass 2]
Work collection
  • -
Original work
  • -
Versions
  • -

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe Bd. II/10: Werke für Männer-, Frauen- und Kinderchor, S. [4]–7.
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.

Lacrimä Christi

Werk
Category
Text template
First edition

Rudolf Baumbach: Lacrimae Christi, in: id.: Spielmannslieder, A. G. Liebeskind, Leipzig 1882, p. 60–61.

Template edition

unknown

Used for comparison purposes in RWA: Rudolf Baumbach: Lacrimae Christi., in: id.: Spielmannslieder, 2nd edition, A. G. Liebeskind, Leipzig 1882, p. 60–61.

Copy shown in RWA: unknown

Annotations

Note: Es gab bereits einige Vertonungen des Gedichts, auch für Männerchor (Gottfried Angerer, Ferdinand Langer, Hans Michael Schletterer, Max von Weinzierl). Möglicherweise hatte der Weidener Liederkranz eine davon in seinem Repertoire.

1. Composition and Publication

After returning from Wiesbaden to his parents’ home in Weiden in June 1898, Reger’s former teacher Adalbert Lindner took the opportunity of asking him “to write something for our men’s choral society (the Liederkranz)”.1 The prospect of a performance might well have persuaded Reger to abandon his initial reservations about this genre (see Reger and his works for men’s, women’s and children’s choir), “because he brought me the finished score of a piece for men’s choir not long afterwards”, Lindner recalled.2 Reger was evidently planning a whole cycle, because he designated Lacrimä Christi (“The tears of Christ”), a setting of a poem by Rudolf Baumbach, his op. 21 no. 1.

Reger dated his manuscript 20 August 1890, which is inexplicable and can only be a slip of the pen, given that its opus number (one that he ultimately assigned to another work) means only 1898 comes into question as the year of its composition.3 When he left Weiden at the end of August 1901, Reger gave the manuscript to the man who had asked for it, after adding the remark: “An unsuccessful men’s chorus”.

In Lindner’s opinion, Lacrimä Christi “above all succeeded in rendering excellently the archaising character of the poem […] through the use of the old Church modes […]. The subtly humorous character of the text was also conveyed excellently thanks to the extraordinarily vivid, lively way in which the individual voices were conceived. But the composer undoubtedly offered too much of a good thing in certain respects. Above all, he could have given the singers more rests, and not taken the organ as his ideal, with its endless breath.”4

Lindner says only that Reger “ruled out” having this choral piece printed,5 and we may also assume that it was also never performed. He must have decided relatively early on about withholding it from publication, because he ultimately used its opus number for his Hymne an den Gesang (“Hymn to song”) for male voice choir and orchestra, which he composed at the same time.6

2.

Translation by Chris Walton.

1
Adalbert Lindner, Max Reger. Ein Bildnis seines Jugendlebens und künstlerischen Werdens, Stuttgart 1922, pp. 140f. – Lindner had already got Reger to write for the local church choir when he spent his summer holidays in Weiden in 1895 (Tantum ergo in g WoO VI/2 and Gloriabuntur in te omnes WoO VI/3).
2
Ibid.
3
In 1890, Reger had not yet even composed his op. 1.
4
Adalbert Lindner, Max Reger. Ein Bildnis seines Jugendlebens und künstlerischen Werdens, Stuttgart 1922, pp. 140f.
5
Ibid.
6
See Reger’s letter to Ernst Guder of 16 August 1898: “In November, the local male voice choir, the ‘Liederkranz’, has its 60th anniversary; I’m writing the celebratory chorus with orchestra for them. It will soon be finished.”

1. Reception

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

1. Stemma

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

2. Quellenbewertung

Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle das Autograph zugrunde.

3. Sources

  • Autograph
Object reference

Max Reger: Lacrimä Christi WoO VI/5, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00979.html, version 3.1.0-rc3, 20th December 2024.

Information

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