WoO 107: "Schilderung eines Mädchens", песня для голоса и фортепиано

Время создания: предположительно 1783 год.
Издано в 1783 году

Дитрих Фишер-Дискау, баритон
Jörg Demus, фортепиано

This song is a setting of text by an unknown author and is apparently the earliest surviving vocal work of Beethoven. Its publication came in 1783, and so the piece might even date from the previous year. But it is a virtual certainty that it was not written any earlier than 1782 since the composer revealed that the Nine Variations for Piano, in C minor, on a march by Dressler, WoO. 63, and his three Piano Sonatas (in E flat major, F minor, and D major, WoO. 47), all from 1782, were his first works.

Obviously, not much is known about the circumstances surrounding this song, but one might observe that it already divulges the burgeoning talent of the young composer, who was but twelve or thirteen when he wrote it. Both the vocal writing and accompaniment are rather simple and direct, and feature an attractive melody and unhurried tempo. There are both charm and innocence here, and the composer shows a grasp of the emotional thrust of the text, too. Still, and not surprisingly, there is nothing particularly imaginative or distinctive in the writing, nothing yet pointing toward the style of his mature years.

All in all, however, this little song is valuable in showing the earliest evolution of Beethoven's immense talent.

(Robert Cummings, Rovi)