“What is your name?” he asked. “They call me Mignon.” “How old are you?” “Nobody has counted.” “Who was your father?” “The big devil is dead.”
This is how we learn the name of the enigmatic waif who haunts Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.
Throughout Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, Mignon’s background is gradually revealed: Abused, kidnapped, and exploited, Mignon is rescued by Wilhelm from a circus troupe. At the beginning of Part 3 of the novel, she sings “Kennst du das Land” (“Do you know the land?”)
“Kennst du das Land” has come to be regarded as Mignon’s signature song. Some of its musical settings — and there are many — are titled simply “Mignon” or “Mignon’s Song.”
The text is English can be found on page 229 of Thomas Carlyle’s 1824 translation of the novel
Beethoven’s setting of “Kennst du das Land” (sometimes called “Mignon”) is the first of six songs that comprise his Opus 75. These songs are mostly unrelated except that two of the other six songs in the collection are also based on texts by Goethe.
#Beethoven250 Day 219
“Kennst du das Land” / “Mignon” (Opus 75, No. 1), 1809
Soprano Mio Nakamune accompanying herself on piano, with German subtitles.
The three verses of Mignon’s song describe the country she’s from (Italy), the house she grew up in, and her treacherous abduction over the Alps. Each verse’s final line describes how Mignon views Wilhelm: as Geliebter (beloved), Beschützer (protector), and Vater (father).
Although Goethe intended for the three verses of “Kennst due das Land” to be set in strophic form — “Mignon is a person who can sing a song, not an aria” he said — Beethoven’s setting is technically through-composed, and switches from 2/4 to 6/8 at the word “Dahin!” (“Thither!”).
#Beethoven250 Day 219
“Kennst du das Land” / “Mignon” (Opus 75, No. 1), 1809
A soprano who seemingly wishes to be known only as “Audra T.”
The very first setting of “Kennst du das Land” was by Johann Friedrich Reichardt, whose music was included as in insert in the original 1795 edition of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. Page back from page 7 to see the music insert.
In an 1827 article, Robert Schumann estimated that there were at least a hundred different settings of “Kennst du das Land,” including those by Schubert (1815), Louis Spohr (1816), and Fanny Mendelssohn (1822), but Schumann thought Beethoven’s was the best.
Robert Schumann’s tally of settings of “Kennst du das Land” was too early to count those by Liszt (1842), Schumann himself (1849), Hugo Wolf (1888), Alban Berg (1907), and Mark Adorno for his 1998 opera of “Little Women.” (P.S. Hugo Wolf’s is the best!)
#Beethoven250 Day 219
“Kennst du das Land” / “Mignon” (Opus 75, No. 1), 1809
Goethe describes Mignon accompanying herself on the zither to sing this song, so perhaps a transcription for guitar is truer to the novel.