“Beethoven never was out of love,” wrote his friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler. “In Vienna Beethoven … always had some love affair in hand, and on occasion he made conquests which many an Adonis would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to encompass.”
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
Beethoven’s love song “Adelaide” is set to a text by Friedrich von Matthison. For over 200 years, it’s been Beethoven’s most popular song.
An English translation of the text of Beethoven’s “Adelaide” is conveniently available in the Wikipedia article on the song.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
The poem by Friedrich von Matthison repeats the name Adelaide four times. In Beethoven’s setting, we hear the name fourteen times.
A few years earlier, Beethoven might have set “Adelaide” in strophic form — using the same melody and accompaniment for all four verses of the poem. He chose instead a through-composed approach for a more dramatic effect, even speeding up the tempo for the final verse.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
The late Peter Schreier warms up the audience by opening a recital of Beethoven lieder with “Adelaide.”
In The Classical Style Charles Rosen writes:
Adelaide is as much Italian Romantic opera as anything else: its long, winding melody, symmetrical and passionate, its colorful modulations and aggressively simple accompaniment could come easily from an early work of Bellini.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
The accompaniment in this performance is a fortepiano, giving a better sense of how the song might have sounded in Beethoven’s day.
In The Beethoven Song Companion, Paul Reid writes about Beethoven's “Adelaide”: “the musical images and phrases flow seamlessly into one whole … we are witnessing the birth of the German Romantic Lied” some 20 years before Schubert’s early songs.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
One indication of the popularity of a song is how it has been adapted for different instruments. Here the accompaniment is a guitar.
Paul Reid describes poet Friedrich von Matthisson:
His poised verse, sentimental without becoming emotionally taxing, often tinged with a fashionable melancholy and frequently employing classical metres, was standard reading among the lettered classes during his lifetime.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
The vocal line of “Adelaide” can be played on an instrument rather than sung. Here it is on clarinet in a recital in Saigon.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
In this lovely performance in Portugal, the vocal line of “Adelaide” is realized on a cello.
#Beethoven250 Day 45
“Adelaide” (Opus 46), 1794–95
This transcription of “Adelaide” for two pianos is by Carl Czerny, a Beethoven student and well-known piano pedagogue.