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54-567: The Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra, Op.  80, usually called the Choral Fantasy , was composed in 1808 by then 38-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven . Beethoven intended the Fantasy to serve as the concluding work for the benefit concert he put on for himself on 22 December 1808; the performers consisted of vocal soloists, mixed chorus, an orchestra, and Beethoven himself as piano soloist. The Fantasy

108-413: A soprano ) voice. Other singers have sung the work transposed; for instance, the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recorded the work in A minor, a minor third lower than notated. Pilcher (2021:75) calls the song "formally adventurous," and it is indeed unusual for a composer to incorporate two poems into the same song. Beethoven sets the first stanza of "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten" with recitative , of

162-413: A break: The piece is scored for solo piano , mixed chorus , two soprano soloists, an alto soloist, two tenor soloists, a bass soloist, and an orchestra consisting of two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , two trumpets , timpani and strings . The Fantasy opens with a slow but virtuosic 26-bar piano introduction, beginning in C minor and modulating through

216-578: A commoner like Beethoven to form a love match with an aristocratic woman, and indeed Beethoven never succeeded in his life in creating a permanent romantic attachment; he died unwed. Hence it is possible that the sorrows and wishful thinking given in Bürger's poems resonated with Beethoven's own feelings. Beethoven encountered Bürger's poems in their published form in the Göttingen Musen-Almanach . Originally, it appears that Bürger wrote

270-672: A companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" ( Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major , 1800–01), paired in same opus number, with both being subtitled Sonata quasi una Fantasia , the only two of the kind in all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. Furthermore, the Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, in C-sharp minor is also catalogued as "Sonata No. 14", because it is the fourteenth sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Given composers' inconsistent or non-existent assignment of opus numbers, especially during

324-420: A composer's juvenilia are often numbered after other works, even though they may be some of the composer's first completed works. To indicate the specific place of a given work within a music catalogue , the opus number is paired with a cardinal number ; for example, Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801, nicknamed Moonlight Sonata ) is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as

378-581: A composer's works, as in the sets of string quartets by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Haydn's Op. 76, the Erdödy quartets (1796–97), comprises six discrete quartets consecutively numbered Op. 76 No. 1 – Op. 76 No. 6; whilst Beethoven's Op. 59, the Rasumovsky quartets (1805–06), comprises String Quartet No. 7, String Quartet No. 8, and String Quartet No. 9. From about 1800, composers usually assigned an opus number to

432-453: A composition, Prokofiev occasionally assigned a new opus number to the revision; thus Symphony No. 4 is two thematically related but discrete works: Symphony No. 4, Op. 47, written in 1929; and Symphony No. 4, Op. 112, a large-scale revision written in 1947. Likewise, depending upon the edition, the original version of Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major, is cataloged both as Op. 38 and as Op. 135. Despite being used in more or less normal fashion by

486-460: A distinction among Beethoven's songs: some are "folk-like", with each stanza given a fairly simple setting; others involve a "dramatic, even operatic approach"; "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" falls in the latter category. Orrey (1971), pursuing the same idea, notes that in Italian opera a soloist often would sing a recitative followed by a bipartite aria consisting of a slow passage, the cavatina , followed by

540-572: A final faster section, the cabaletta ; the three portions of "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" correspond to these three standard sections. Cooper (2008:65) later offered a slight different analogy: the work is a "double song" set in the form of a "miniature Italian cantata ." Historically, cantata and oratorio arias tended to follow operatic models. The use of term "cantata" for a solo vocal work with piano would have been familiar in Beethoven's time; his contemporaneous song Adelaide , likewise operatic in style,

594-404: A man, without having known love in its most intimate mysteries, have composed Adelaide, Fidelio and so many other works? […] I will note again that, as far as I know, all the objects of his passions were of a high rank." However, the fact that "all the objects of his passions were of a high rank" was problematic, as biographers such as Jan Swafford have pointed out: it was quite inappropriate for

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648-406: A mistake in the execution of the piece, it was stopped halfway through and restarted. In Ignaz von Seyfried 's words: When the master brought out his orchestral Fantasia with choruses, he arranged with me at the somewhat hurried rehearsal, with wet voice-parts as usual, that the second variation should be played without repeat. In the evening, however, absorbed in his creation, he forgot all about

702-563: A number of important early-twentieth-century composers, including Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and Anton Webern (1883–1945), opus numbers became less common in the later part of the twentieth century. To manage inconsistent opus-number usages — especially by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and of the Classical (1720—1830) music eras — musicologists have developed comprehensive and unambiguous catalogue number-systems for

756-781: A result, the plural opera of opus tends to be avoided in English. In other languages such as German, however, it remains common. In the arts, an opus number usually denotes a work of musical composition , a practice and usage established in the seventeenth century when composers identified their works with an opus number. In the eighteenth century, publishers usually assigned opus numbers when publishing groups of like compositions, usually in sets of three, six or twelve compositions. Consequently, opus numbers are not usually in chronological order, unpublished compositions usually had no opus number, and numeration gaps and sequential duplications occurred when publishers issued contemporaneous editions of

810-400: A stormy Allegro molto . The alternating phrases for piano and orchestra are a disguised variation of the principal theme. In fact, the three sections that follow the first variation set form another, larger-scale set of variations. The allegro molto soon takes on a developmental quality with a series of modulations, the strings playing phrases of the theme accompanied by rapid broken chords on

864-414: A trio of two clarinets and bassoon, and string quartet. A full orchestral version of the theme played at a forte dynamic leads to the re-entry of the piano and to what seems at first like a postlude to this variation set, but that once again turns toward the dominant. The music pauses with a cadenza on the dominant seventh for the solo piano. There is an abrupt change of mood as the minor mode returns in

918-401: A variety of keys in florid, improvisatory fashion. At its midpoint it settles on the dominant of the dominant, G major , with an extended cadenza. The implied key is never confirmed and the music eventually returns to C minor in a stormy passage, which at the last moment turns once more toward the dominant seventh of G in a sweeping arpeggio. This concludes the opening section. The main part of

972-584: A work or set of works upon publication. After approximately 1900, they tended to assign an opus number to a composition whether published or not. However, practices were not always perfectly consistent or logical. For example, early in his career, Beethoven selectively numbered his compositions (some published without opus numbers), yet in later years, he published early works with high opus numbers. Likewise, some posthumously published works were given high opus numbers by publishers, even though some of them were written early in Beethoven's career. Since his death in 1827,

1026-464: Is a widely used pattern, seen for instance in Goethe 's poem Wilkommen und Abschied . "Gegenliebe" is in a version of trochaic tetrameter in which half of the lines are catalectic ; i.e. they omit the final eighth syllable. In both poems, the lines are grouped into quatrains with rhyme scheme ABAB. The song reaches the A above middle C and thus is suited to be sung by a tenor (or, in principle,

1080-433: Is occasionally performed and recorded. As his friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler later remembered, Beethoven's composition of love songs coincided with a time that he himself was frequently in love: "In Vienna, at least for as long as I lived there, Beethoven was still engaged in romantic relationships, and at that time he had made conquests which would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for more than one Adonis. - Can

1134-441: Is the sound Of our life's harmonies, and from a sense of beauty arise Flowers which eternally bloom. Peace and joy advance in perfect concord, like the changing play of the waves. All that was harsh and hostile, has turned into sublime delight. When music's enchantment reigns, speaking of the sacred word, Magnificence takes form, The night and the tempest turns to light: Outer peace and inner bliss Reign o'er

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1188-608: The Baroque (1600–1750) and the Classical (1750–1827) eras, musicologists have developed other catalogue-number systems; among them the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV-number) and the Köchel-Verzeichnis (K- and KV-numbers), which enumerate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , respectively. In the classical period , the Latin word opus ("work", "labour"), plural opera ,

1242-517: The Fifth Symphony (1808) and the last piano sonata (1822). The operatic style of "Seufzer/Gegenliebe", and the fact that Beethoven never published it, suggests regarding it as a sort of preparation for more prominent works he created later on. Thus, Orrey (1971) sees "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" as an early preparation for Beethoven's concert aria " Ah! perfido " (1796), a more extended work written for soprano solo and orchestra. "Ah! perfido" shares

1296-503: The Mass in C major . To conclude this memorable concert program, Beethoven wanted a "brilliant finale" that would unite in a single piece the different musical elements highlighted in the concert night: piano solo, mixed chorus and orchestra. The Fantasia , Op. 80, written shortly before, was thus composed expressly to fulfil this role. Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo offers an example of his improvisational style (at

1350-492: The opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition , or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer 's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work. Opus numbers do not necessarily indicate chronological order of composition. For example, posthumous publications of

1404-989: The Mendelssohn heirs published (and cataloged) them as the Italian Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 , and as the Reformation Symphony No. 5 in D major and D minor, Op. 107 . While many of the works of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) were given opus numbers, these did not always bear a logical relationship to the order in which the works were written or published. To achieve better sales, some publishers, such as N. Simrock , preferred to present less experienced composers as being well established, by giving some relatively early works much higher opus numbers than their chronological order would merit. In other cases, Dvořák gave lower opus numbers to new works to be able to sell them to other publishers outside his contract obligations. This way it could happen that

1458-498: The best work of an artist with the term magnum opus . In Latin, the words opus (singular) and opera (plural) are related to the words opera (singular) and operae (plural), which gave rise to the Italian words opera (singular) and opere (plural), likewise meaning "work". In contemporary English, the word opera has specifically come to denote the dramatic musical genres of opera or ballet, which were developed in Italy. As

1512-536: The case of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); after his death, the heirs published many compositions with opus numbers that Mendelssohn did not assign. In life, he published two symphonies ( Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 ; and Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ), furthermore he published his symphony-cantata Lobgesang , Op. 52, which was posthumously counted as his Symphony No. 2; yet, he chronologically wrote symphonies between symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, which he withdrew for personal and compositional reasons; nevertheless,

1566-466: The cases of César Franck (1822–1890), Béla Bartók (1881–1945), and Alban Berg (1885–1935), who initially numbered, but then stopped numbering their compositions. Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) were also inconsistent in their approaches. Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was consistent and assigned an opus number to a composition before composing it; at his death, he left fragmentary and planned, but numbered, works. In revising

1620-1349: The chorus, two solo sopranos sing the main theme, followed by a variation featuring a trio of men's voices. After these two variations the entire chorus is joined by the orchestra for the first time in a tutti rendition of the theme. The music gains excitement and eventually breaks into an accelerated coda ( Presto ) with all forces joining to bring the piece to a triumphant close. Schmeichelnd hold und lieblich klingen unseres Lebens Harmonien, und dem Schönheitssinn entschwingen Blumen sich, die ewig blühn. Fried und Freude gleiten freundlich wie der Wellen Wechselspiel. Was sich drängte rauh und feindlich, ordnet sich zu Hochgefühl. Wenn der Töne Zauber walten und des Wortes Weihe spricht, muss sich Herrliches gestalten, Nacht und Stürme werden Licht. Äuß're Ruhe, inn're Wonne herrschen für den Glücklichen. Doch der Künste Frühlingssonne läßt aus beiden Licht entstehn. Großes, das ins Herz gedrungen, blüht dann neu und schön empor. Hat ein Geist sich aufgeschwungen, hallt ihm stets ein Geisterchor. Nehmt denn hin, ihr schönen Seelen, froh die Gaben schöner Kunst Wenn sich Lieb und Kraft vermählen, lohnt den Menschen Göttergunst. Graceful, charming and sweet

1674-415: The first four symphonies to be composed were published after the last five; and (c) the last five symphonies were not published in order of composition. The New World Symphony originally was published as No. 5, later was known as No. 8, and definitively was renumbered as No. 9 in the critical editions published in the 1950s. Other examples of composers' historically inconsistent opus-number usages include

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1728-435: The fortunate ones. All art in the spring's sun Lets light flow from both. Greatness, once it has pierced the heart, Then blooms anew in all its beauty. Once one's being has taken flight, A choir of spirits resounds in response. Accept then, you beautiful souls, Joyously the gifts of high art. When love and strength are united, Divine grace is bestowed upon Man. The piece ends with repetition of phrases from

1782-470: The instructions which he had given, repeated the first part while the orchestra accompanied the second, which sounded not altogether edifying. A trifle too late, the Concertmaster, Unrath, noticed the mistake, looked in surprise at his lost companions, stopped playing and called out dryly: 'Again!' A little displeased, the violinist Anton Wranitzky asked 'With repeats?' 'Yes', came the answer, and now

1836-518: The instrumental theme from the first Allegro forms the transition into the choral finale ( Allegretto ). The first half of this is essentially a recapitulation of previously heard material at the beginning of the Finale with the addition of solo voices and chorus, another point of similarity with the finale of the Ninth Symphony. After a prolonged dominant pedal and arpeggios from the soloist

1890-431: The kind widely used in opera. Following the recitative comes the main portion of "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten," in a leisurely 3/4 rhythm, marked andantino . This main portion ends not with a tonic cadence, but a loud dominant chord with fermata , making it clear that more is to come. Without pause there follows Beethoven's setting of "Gegenliebe", in 2/4 time with a faster tempo ( allegretto ). Cooper (1994) has put forth

1944-426: The last four lines. As noted above, the words were written in haste, and Beethoven was perhaps not entirely pleased with them. He later wrote to his publisher Breitkopf & Härtel : You may wish to print another text, as the text like the music was written very quickly ... Still with another set of words I want the word kraft ["strength"] to be kept or one similar to it in its place. As Kalischer et al. observe,

1998-430: The later Beethoven scholar Gustav Nottebohm doubted this attribution and suggested it may have been Georg Friedrich Treitschke , who in 1814 prepared the final text of Beethoven's opera Fidelio . The premiere performance seems to have been a rather troubled one; according to the composer's secretary, Anton Schindler , it "simply fell apart", a result most likely attributable to insufficient rehearsal time. Because of

2052-418: The piece, marked "Finale", begins with a march-like motive ( Allegro) played by the cellos and basses , alternating with recitative-like interjections from the piano. The music eventually brightens into C major and the solo piano introduces the principal theme ( meno allegro) discussed above. Variations on the theme are then played by gradually increasing contingents of instruments: a solo flute, two oboes,

2106-434: The poems separately, then realized their connectedness and had them printed in subsequent editions adjacently, in the order Beethoven encountered. As can be seen in the text below, Beethoven altered Bürger's words in minor ways. Seufzer eines Ungeliebten is composed in iambic tetrameter , with the first line of each couplet including an extra final unstressed syllable, so the lines alternate between 9 and 8 syllables. This

2160-407: The premiere he did, in fact, improvise this section). Beethoven wrote the piece during the second half of December 1808 in an unusually short time by his standards. He commissioned a poet—whose identity is disputed—to write the words shortly before the performance to fit the already written parts. According to Beethoven's pupil Carl Czerny , the poet was Christoph Kuffner  [ de ] , but

2214-643: The recitative-cavatina-cabaletta structure of "Seufzer/Gegenliebe,"and its cavatina section is likewise in E flat and set in 3/4 time. As with "Seufzer/Gegenliebe," the text deals with "thwarted love" (Orrey). Further on, Pilcher (p. 128) notes that Beethoven deployed the recitative-cavatina-cabaletta structure of "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" in his only opera Fidelio (1805-1814); it is used for the major solo scenes of his protagonists, Leonore and Florestan. The melody of "Gegenliebe," given below, continued to evolve in Beethoven's mind as his career progressed. Only slightly altered (with masculine rather than feminine endings ),

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2268-538: The same harmonic sequence at their climactic moments, the chords (in C major ) C–F–D–(G)–E ♭ , where the E ♭ stands out from its harmonic context and is performed fortissimo . The words sung at this point are (for the Choral Fantasy ) "Lieb und Kraft" ("love and strength") and (for the Ninth Symphony) "Über'm Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muss er wohnen." ("Above the tent of the stars, above

2322-475: The same opus number was given to more than one of his works. Opus number 12, for example, was assigned, successively, to five different works (an opera, a concert overture, a string quartet, and two unrelated piano works). In other cases, the same work was given as many as three different opus numbers by different publishers. The sequential numbering of his symphonies has also been confused: (a) they were initially numbered by order of publication, not composition; (b)

2376-418: The same way as my pianoforte fantasia with chorus, but on a far grander scale." The Choral Fantasy theme is itself taken from an earlier work by Beethoven: it is a slightly modified version of the composer's " Seufzer eines Ungeliebten – Gegenliebe ,” a lied for high voice and piano written c. 1794–1795. The Choral Fantasy , which lasts about twenty minutes, is divided into two movements , played without

2430-407: The solo piano. After another cadenza on an E major triad the second large variation ( Adagio, ma non troppo ) follows, a calm, flowing A major section prominently featuring the clarinets. This ends with a call-and-response section between double reeds, horn, and piano, and leads without break into the key of F major and the third variation on the main theme, Marcia ( assai vivace ). A reprise of

2484-433: The stars he must dwell.") There are also affinities in the texts. The theme of the Choral Fantasy text – universal fraternity with the meeting of arts – evokes similar feelings as the "Ode to Joy" text. Beethoven himself acknowledged the kinship of the two works. In a letter of 1824, when he was writing the Ninth Symphony, he described his project as "a setting of the words of Schiller's immortal ' Lied an die Freude ' in

2538-414: The thing went straight as a string. The work includes a sequence of variations on a theme that is widely felt to be an early version of a far better known variation theme, namely the one to which Beethoven set the words of Friedrich Schiller 's " Ode to Joy " in his Ninth Symphony . The two themes are compared below. Michael Broyles has suggested another musical similarity: the two works share essentially

2592-452: The un-numbered compositions have been cataloged and labeled with the German acronym WoO ( Werk ohne Opuszahl ), meaning "work without opus number"; the same has been done with other composers who used opus numbers. (There are also other catalogs of Beethoven's works – see Catalogues of Beethoven compositions .) The practice of enumerating a posthumous opus ("Op. posth.") is noteworthy in

2646-585: The word Kraft "is treated with grand style in the music." A new German text was written by a German poet and Communist politician Johannes R. Becher in 1951, keeping the word Kraft in the same position. Becher's text, inspired by Beethoven's explicit permission to change the lyrics, is an ode to peace that reflects the post-war atmosphere. Becher's lyrics were used in several recordings especially in East Germany , for example those of Franz Konwitschny or Herbert Kegel . Opus number In music ,

2700-655: The works of composers such as: Seufzer eines Ungeliebten %E2%80%93 Gegenliebe The composer was about 24 when he wrote the song; he had arrived in Vienna in 1792 to study and build his career. Beethoven's primary teacher in Vienna was Joseph Haydn , who had himself already set the "Gegenliebe" poem to music (1784, Hob. XVIIa: 16). Beethoven also studied with Antonio Salieri , who helped him in his goal of becoming an opera composer. Beethoven's sketches for "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" are mixed with that of another song about unrequited love, Adelaide , which unlike 'Seufzer/Gegenliebe'

2754-582: Was designed to include all the participants in the program and thus unites all of these musical forces. The work is noted as a precursor to the later Ninth Symphony . The Fantasia was first performed at the Akademie of 22 December 1808 , a benefit concert which also saw the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Fourth Piano Concerto as well as a performance of excerpts of

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2808-404: Was first published as a "cantata". The key structure of "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" is centered on the tonality of C. The recitative is in c minor, the rest of "Seufzer" mostly in E flat major (the relative major of c minor), coming to a close on c minor again, and "Gegenliebe" is in C major. The shift from stormy c minor to exultant C major was a tonal pattern Beethoven would adopt again later on, in

2862-429: Was published at the time and was quite successful. It is unknown whether Beethoven attempted to publish "Seufzer/Gegenliebe" at the time of its composition. Much later in his lifetime, Beethoven offered the song to the publisher Peters of Leipzig, in a letter from 5 June 1822, but in the end it was published only posthumously (1837) by Anton Diabelli . The work appears today in standard editions of Beethoven's songs and

2916-409: Was used to identify, list, and catalogue a work of art. By the 15th and 16th centuries, the word opus was used by Italian composers to denote a specific musical composition, and by German composers for collections of music. In compositional practice, numbering musical works in chronological order dates from 17th-century Italy, especially Venice . In common usage, the word opus is used to describe

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