RWA Online Encyclopedia II – Songs and Choral Works WoO V/7

Night Thoughts WoO V/7

for one-part children’s choir or voice and piano

Content
Creation
Komponiert in Meiningen, Ende Februar 1913
Status
–
Dedication
–
Performance medium
Children's choir; [Voice]; Piano
Work collection
  • -
Original work
  • -
Versions
  • -

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe Bd. II/10: Werke für Männer-, Frauen- und Kinderchor, S. 172f.
Bd. II/5: Werke für Männer-, Frauen- und Kinderchor, S. 177f.
Herausgeber Bd. II/10 Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl.
Unter Mitarbeit von Knud Breyer und Stefan König.
Herausgeber Bd. II/5 Knud Breyer und Stefan König.
Unter Mitarbeit von Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl.
Verlag Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.817 (Bd. II/10) bzw. CV 52.812 (Bd. II/5).
Erscheinungsdatum Oktober 2024.
Notensatz Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Copyright 2024 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.817 bzw. CV 52.812.
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 (Bd. II/10)
M-007-33910-4 (Bd. II/5).
ISBN 978-3-89948-464-9 (Bd. II/10)
978-3-89948-463-2 (Bd. II/5).

Night Thoughts

Werk
Category
Text template
First edition
unknown
Template edition

unknown

Annotations

Note: Erstausgabe unbekannt. In den “Acknowledgements” der Sammlung The Progressive Music Series, S. 4, ist sie nicht genannt.

Note: Vorlage unbekannt. Reger erhielt den Text vermutlich von Horatio Parker zusammen mit der Bitte um Vertonung (siehe Zur Entstehung, Herausgabe und Rezeption der Werke).

1. Composition and Publication

In the winter of 1912/13, the American composer, organist and pedagogue Horatio Parker was released from his duties as a professor at Yale University so that he might take a trip to Europe. He established contact with contemporary composers during his travels1 and his diary mentions several of them, including Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Max Bruch, Engelbert Humperdinck, Claude Debussy, Julius Röntgen, Jean Sibelius, Richard Strauss – and Reger.2 Parker had lived in Munich from 1881 to 1884, studying composition with Josef Rheinberger. He was one of the co-initiators of the Progressive Music Series, a collection of music education textbooks for schools in the USA that was published by Silver, Burdett & Co. Its fourth volume, intended for the eighth grade, contains assorted original contributions from the composers whom Parker consulted in Europe, including two by Reger.3

On 24 February 1913, presumably not long after having been recruited by Parker for his project, Reger informed his principal publisher Bote & Bock that he had been “asked to contribute 3 little songs to an American school songbook”. (Letter from Reger to Hugo Bock of 24 February 1913) However, volume four of the series featured only two songs by him: Night Thoughts WoO V/7 for voice or unison children’s choir and piano after a poem by Louise Ayres Garnett, and Good Night WoO VI/25 for mixed choir, after a poem attributed to Victor Hugo.4 The third song, The Snow (WoO V/8) for two-part school choir and piano, was only published posthumously, in 1931, in the fifth volume of the series.5 Reger probably wanted to be able to give Parker the finished songs before he returned to the USA, so he asked Bote & Bock “for an answer as soon as possible” as to whether he might be granted permission “to assign the songs for the American school songbook only for the first print [...] so that all rights would remain with me, that is, with you, if you wish to acquire them”. (Letter to Hugo Bock of 24 February 1913) No further letters from Reger to his publisher have survived regarding this matter, so we may assume that Bote & Bock indeed agreed to his request, and that they had no interest in the songs themselves.

The fourth volume of the Progressive Music Series was published in 1915, though the fee was already paid on 21 April 1913, as is noted on separate proofs of the music.6 We do not know if Reger was informed when the songbook was finally published.

2.

Translation by Chris Walton.

1
See William K. Kearns, Horatio Parker 1863–1919. His Life, Music, and Ideas, Metuchen 1990, pp. 32f.
2
See William K. Kearns, Horatio Parker 1863–1919. His Life, Music, and Ideas, Metuchen 1990, p. 258, footnote 36.
3
See The Progressive Music Series for Basal Use in Primary, Intermediate and Grammar Grades, ed. Horatio Parker et al., book 4, Boston, New York, Chicago 1915, pp. 24–25 (Night Thoughts) and p. 74 (Good Night).
4
See RWA vol. II/9.
5
See RWA vol. II/10.
6
See publisher’s copies of Night Thoughts and Good Night (still in the posses- sion of the publisher Silver Burdett Ginn in 1997). There we find the handwrit- ten remark: “Paid $ 16 66 4/21/13”. We may assume that Reger was paid the same sum for The Snow, meaning that he received a total fee of USD 50 for all three pieces.

1. Reception

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

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 Referenzquelle wurde der weitere Druck aus dem Bundesstaat Kansas herangezogen.

3. Sources

  • Erstdruck
  • Weiterer Druck
Object reference

Max Reger: Night Thoughts WoO V/7, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_01035.html, version 3.1.0-rc3, 20th December 2024.

Information

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