Ludwig van Beethoven, "An die ferne Geliebte", Liederkreis for voice and piano op. 98, autograph No. 6: Andante con moto, cantabile

Up till now it has been unclear how Beethoven came by the text for the song cycle "An die ferne Geliebte" ("To the Distant Beloved") op 98, the autograph score of which can be seen here. There is no known authentic printed version of the text and one probably never even existed. The poet Alois Jeitteles possibly sent Beethoven the poems himself. Yet how did Jeitteles, who was studying medicine in Vienna, get to know the composer? Even this is not very clear. Beethoven might have got to know him through Ignaz Castelli, the general editor of an almanac in which Jeitteles published different poems. It is also unclear to what extent Beethoven wanted changes to the text when setting it to music, as the original model is missing. He would not have made any far-reaching changes, he might have merely added the last verse of the first song. In the autograph score Beethoven initially changed the title to "An die entfernte Geliebte" ("To the Distanced Beloved"). In the version printed he changed it to "An die ferne Geliebte" ("To the Distant Beloved"). The song cycle was composed in "1816 in the month of April" according to the date in the autograph score. (J.R.)

Up till now it has been unclear how Beethoven came by the text for the song cycle "An die ferne Geliebte" ("To the Distant Beloved") op 98, the autograph score of which can be seen here. There is no known authentic printed version of the text and one probably never even existed. The poet Alois Jeitteles possibly sent Beethoven the poems himself. Yet how did Jeitteles, who was studying medicine in Vienna, get to know the composer? Even this is not very clear. Beethoven might have got to know him through Ignaz Castelli, the general editor of an almanac in which Jeitteles published different poems. It is also unclear to what extent Beethoven wanted changes to the text when setting it to music, as the original model is missing. He would not have made any far-reaching changes, he might have merely added the last verse of the first song. In the autograph score Beethoven initially changed the title to "An die entfernte Geliebte" ("To the Distanced Beloved"). In the version printed he changed it to "An die ferne Geliebte" ("To the Distant Beloved"). The song cycle was composed in "1816 in the month of April" according to the date in the autograph score. (J.R.)