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Время создания: лето 1816 года
На слова Ф. А. Клейншмидта (Friedrich August Kleinschmid)
Günther Leib, баритон
Walter Olbertz, фортепиано
In August/September 1816 Beethoven wrote the following in a letter to Sigmund Anton Steiner, "I am sending you herewith - (as a present) - a little field piece which should be put into the armoury at once." (from the translation by Emily Anderson, 1961). The "field piece" he is referring to is probably the lied "Der Mann vom Wort" op. 99, which Beethoven's publisher Sigmund Anton Steiner published in November 1816. Although it is only a short lied, Steiner printed it with an opus number. The autograph score of the lied is written so neatly that it was possibly the engraver's model for the edition. The title of the original edition was "Der Mann von Wort". This seems to have gone against Beethoven's direct intention, as he had underlined the word "vom" several times in the title and in the first line of music in the autograph score.
(beethoven-haus-bonn.de)
Beethoven set Friedrich August Kleinschmid's text during a period of relatively low output for the composer. Much of what Beethoven did compose in 1816 was vocal music; An die ferne Geliebte was finished only a month before "Der Mann von Wort," which was published in November 1816 in Vienna by Steiner.
The first strophe of Kleinschmid's text presents a simple but profound question: Can one trust a person who does not keep his word? The question seems to be a rhetorical one, for the offender is not given a chance to answer. Instead, a lecture on the virtue of keeping one's word follows and we learn that women typically break their word, and that trustworthiness is a male, German trait passed down through ancestors.
Musically, Beethoven's setting best reflects the text of the first strophe. After a brief piano introduction, the voice enters in a rather subdued manner over an accompaniment of disconnected chords. After the narrator proclaims, "Das war dein Wort" ("That was your word"), the piano participates in the admonishment of the untrustworthy man by repeating the melody of those four words. The music becomes more aggressive as the narrator poses the question, "Ist das ein Mann / Auf dessen Wort man trauen kann?" ("Is that a man / whose word we can trust?"), at which point the piano reinforces the vocal line. Beethoven repeats the passage, as if to amplify the rebuke. What is most peculiar is that Beethoven gave this trifle, albeit a fine one, an opus number, which he reserved for his more significant works.
(John Palmer, Rovi)
(автор текста: Friedrich August Kleinschmidt)
Der Mann von Wort
Du sagtest, Freund, an diesen Ort
komm ich zurück, das war dein Wort.
Du kamest nicht; ist das ein Mann,
auf dessen Wort man trauen kann?
Fast größer bild' ich mir nichts ein,
als seines Wortes Mann zu sein;
wer Worte, gleich den Weibern, bricht,
verdient des Mannes Namen nicht.
Ein Wort, ein Mann, war deutscher Klang,
der von dem Mund zum Herzen drang,
und das der Schlag von deutscher Hand,
gleich heil'gen Eiden, fest verband.
Und dieses Wort, das er dir gab,
brach nicht die Furcht am nahen Grab,
nicht Weibergunst, noch Menschenzwang,
nicht Gold, nicht Gut, noch Fürstenrang.
Wenn so dein deutscher Ahne sprach,
dann folg', als Sohn, dem Vater nach,
der seinen Eid: Ein Wort, ein Mann,
als Mann von Wort verbürgen kann.
Nun sind wir auch der Deutschen wert,
des Volkes, das die Welt verehrt.
Hier meine Hand; wir schlagen ein,
und wollen deutsche Männer sein.