Elegiac Song (Op. 118) First Edition - Ludwig van Beethoven - Bauman Rare Books

Elegiac Song (Op. 118)

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN

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Elegiac Song (Op. 118)

“OTHER-WORLDLY TRANQUILITY”: 1826 FIRST EDITION OF BEETHOVEN’S ELEGIAC SONG

BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van. Elegischer Gesang. “Sanft du lebtest, hast du vollendet.” Wien: Tobias Haslinger, [1826]. Quarto, original self wrappers; full score and parts, with seven page full score, two page piano score, one page parts (17 pages total). Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box.

First edition, fully engraved of the beautiful Elegiac Song, with full score and original parts.

In 1804, Beethoven moved into lodgings in a house in Vienna owned by Baron Johann Baptist von Pasqualati, the Empress Maria Theresa’s personal physician. Seven years later, some time after Beethoven had moved elsewhere, the baron’s wife, Eleonore, died in childbirth. On the third anniversary of her death, Beethoven presented the Elegischer Gesang to Pasqualati with the inscription, “To the memory of the transfigured wife of my honored friend.” The lyrics (by an unknown author) are brief and deeply sympathetic: “Tender as thou lived / So thou died / Too holy for sorrow. / No eye can weep / At the homecoming of a heavenly angel.” It was first performed on August 5, 1814, at the house of the dedicatee. “Its musical setting is filled with the otherworldly tranquility that so often appeared in the slow movements of Beethoven’s works at this time. His sensitivity to the declamation of the text and its inner meaning is amazing… The ending is particularly haunting” (Scherman & Biancolli, 1082). The song is not often performed, both because of its brevity and its unusual scoring for four voices and string quartet. “The combination of string quartet and four voices for the gentle and moving Elegischer Gesang… is particularly original and uplifting” (Cooper, 232). This first edition was published only eight months before Beethoven’s death in 1827. Scored for four voices and a string quartet; there is also a two-page piano reduction of the quartet parts. With title page on recto of the full score. Kinsky-Halm, 341. Contemporary owner signature and inkstamp of “Ferd. v. Lidl.”

A little bit of foxing, edgewear to leaves; closed tears along fold of full score. Very rare.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
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