On 9 October 1813, Guiseppe Verdi was born in a village in the province of Parma. At the time, the area was under control of the French Empire.
Beethoven’s song “Der Bardengeist” (“The Bardic Spirit”) is dated 3 November 1813, shown here as published in an 1814 Music Almanac. The setting appeared along with the eight-stanza poem (the last stanza the same as the first) by Franz Rudolph Herrmann.
“Der Bardengeist” is in the tradition of tales of the heroic bard: “The ghost of an ancient bard” evokes the “golden age of the Germans.” Now, however, “fragile ruins” are all that’s left of old “Teutonia.” For the poet, the sadness of the bard’s song “tears my heart to shreds.”
In The Beethoven Song Companion, Paul Reid notes that this is the only Beethoven song with the vocal part written in bass clef. It only extends from D♯₃ to B₃, so it’s in the middle of the baritone range and fine for a tenor, but the implicit message is “No girls allowed.”
#Beethoven250 Day 263
“Der Bardengeist” (WoO 142), 1813
An animated score accompanies a Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recording but he sings only the first and third of the eight stanzas.
#Beethoven250 Day 263
“Der Bardengeist” (WoO 142), 1813
All eight stanzas are sung by baritone Florian Prey from Volume 7 of the Brilliant Classics Beethoven Complete Edition.