As Austria was threatened by the army of Revolutionary France under Bonaparte, patriotic Viennese poets wrote poems and patriotic Viennese composers set them to music. These Kriegslieder (“war songs”) were often sung at public gatherings to bolster nationalistic confidence.
In the autumn of 1796, Beethoven wrote a bland Kriegslied called “Abschiedsgesang an Wiens Bürger” (“Farewell Song to Vienna’s Citizens”) based on a pro-Hapsburg anti-Napoleonic poem by Joseph Friedelberg, who enlisted in the Viennese regiment and died of battle wounds in 1800.
Beethoven’s song of farewell is sung to the people of Vienna by the soldiers leaving for war: “Let no lament sound forth When the flag departs from here… Our Vienna will welcome us back, Crowned with fame, strong and upright. Rise now and let the flag wave on high!”
#Beethoven250 Day 81
“Abschiedsgesang an Wiens Bürger” (WoO 121), 1796
Of the six original verses, this recording includes only verses 1, 3, and 5. No great loss.
On 31 January 1797, in a suburb of Vienna, Franz Peter Schubert was born.