Elegischer Gesang (Elegiac Song), op. 118
for soprano, alto, tenor, bass with 2 violins, viola, and cello
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
The Elegiac Song was written in the summer of 1814 for Beethoven's friend, supporter and former landlord, Baron Johann Pasqualati in memory of his wife, who had died in childbirth three years earlier. The text is anonymous, perhaps written by Pasqualati himself. Beethoven's original setting was for four solo voices with string quartet, but he also provided an alternative version with piano accompaniment. It is sometimes also performed with a small chorus and string ensemble.
He composed this small, rarely heard gem at the beginning of a difficult time in his life, a period in which he produced few major works but appeared to be finding his way toward a new musical vocabulary and new compositional approaches. His "heroic" period, as it is often called, was over: he had already written all of his concertos and all but his last symphony. The more abstract, introspective style of his late quartets and last piano sonatas was still some years in the future.
While the Elegiac Song can hardly be said to anticipate the style of the late quartets, it does reflect a sense of searching, a sense that nothing is conventional, even in a small piece written for a friend. Harmonically it often goes in directions we would not expect based on his earlier music. Rhythmically there are surprises too, as when chords are unexpectedly sustained before resolving, and there are irregular phrase lengths. Even dynamics are sometimes unusual: they are generally soft, except for a few brief swellings of emotion at the words "für den Schmerz" (for sorrow) and "des himmlischen Geistes" (of the heavenly spirit).
Gently, as you lived,
thus have you died,
too holy for sorrow!
Let no eye shed tears
for the heavenly spirit's return home.
Sanft, wie du lebtest,
hast du vollendet,
zu heilig für den Schmerz!
Kein Auge wein' ob
des himmlischen Geistes Heimkehr.
