Daily Beethoven

Irish Songs, WoO 153-6

April 21, 2021

Today’s selection is the touching “Sad and luckless was the season” , WoO 153 number 6, text by William Smyth, a professor of history from Cambridge.

The setting of Robert Burns’ poem “I dream’d I lay where flow’rs were springing” is one of the few cases in which Beethoven agreed to revise a composition. George Thomson, the publisher, had objected that the introduction was too full of contrast and asked for something “more agreeable and cantabile”. Beethoven obliged with the following setting.

Irish Songs, WoO 153, 4

Tuesday, April 19, 2021

The next song we will enjoy is WoO 153 number 4, "Since greybeards inform us":

Irish Songs, WoO 153-2

Sunday, April 18, 2021

The second song from Beethoven's WoO 153 is "No riches from his scanty store", in which the young woman tells of the anxiety and sorrow while her man is gone in search of money.

Irish Songs, WoO 153-1

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Beethoven’s Irish Songs are numbered today according to the first German edition, published in Berlin in 1822. George Thomson’s first publication of Beethoven’s songs was a collection that included the 25 songs now known as WoO 152, together with the first four songs from WoO 153, as well as a setting by Haydn.

Irish Songs, WoO 152, 22-25

Friday, April 16, 2021

The WoO 152 collection of Irish Songs concludes with numbers with numbers 22-25, ending with the sad lament, "O harp of Erin":

Irish Songs, WoO 152, 18-21

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Beethoven’s personal touch is evident throughout his folksong settings, giving many of the songs preludes and postludes that were likely not present in the originals. His publisher, George Thomson, requested several times that Beethoven simplify the instrumentation, which Beethoven rejected out of hand, saying, “Unfortunately, I am not able to fulfill your request. I am not accustomed to retouching my compositions.”

Irish Songs, WoO 152, 13-17

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Today we have numbers 13 through 17 of Beethoven’s Irish Songs, WoO 152. Two of them were set to poems by Rabbie Burns: “Musing on the roaring ocean” and “In vain to this desert my fate I deplore”.

Irish Songs, WoO 152, 9-12

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

The titles suffice to introduce these songs. Today’s selection, numbers 9-12 from the WoO 152, starts with the beautiful “The Soldier’s Dream”.

Irish Songs, WoO 152, 4-8

Monday, April 12, 2021

This next set of Irish songs are numbers 4-8 of Beethoven’s WoO 152.

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