Although many of Beethoven's songs were published in collections, very few of them seem to have been conceived of as part of a larger artistic entity. The most obvious exception to this trend is his song cycle from 1816, An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 (To the Distant Beloved), the six songs of which are so musically interwoven as to be inseparable; however, an earlier example is his set of six songs, Op. 48, composed to the poetry of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. Unlike An die ferne Geliebte, the songs of Op. 48 each represent complete musical units and do not share musical material; but they are unified by the spirit of solemnity and devotion that runs through Gellert's poetry, and they are frequently programmed and performed as a group. Published in Vienna by Artaria in 1803, the Six Songs were dedicated to Count Johann von Browne (1767-1827), one of Beethoven's chief early patrons. Recent scholarship shows that the songs were composed before March 1802, and that No. 3 was sketched in 1798.

The Gellert Lieder were composer during a tumultuous time in Beethoven's life; in an 1801 letter to Dr. Franz Wegeler we find the composer's first mention of the growing deafness that would eventually drive him into near isolation. This distress, combined with the disappointment of his unrequited love for a "dear charming girl" (most likely the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a student of Beethoven and the dedicatee of the "Moonlight" Sonata, op. 27, No. 2) may have induced his temporary attraction to religious subjects such as the Gellert poems, or Christus am Ölberg (Mount of Olives), composed in 1803.

Beethoven's setting of "Bitten" (Entreaty), relating a narrator's petition to God, is through-composed. The "walking" bass line ceases only for the last line, "Denn ich will vor dir beten!" (For I want to pray before you!), the profundity of which is conveyed by Beethoven's setting each syllable to a single chord. Beethoven moves down a half step for "Die Liebe des Nächsten" (The love of Another)" instructing people to love their neighbor as they love themselves. In contrast to "Bitten," there is no moving bass line and nearly every syllable is given equal emphasis until "Gott ist die Lieb,'" set to longer notes. "Vom Tode" (Of Death) is one of several texts set by Beethoven concerning death, including "Opferlied," "Klage," and "In questa tomba oscura." Beethoven creates a lugubrious atmosphere through the minor mode, chromatic twists and low piano part. Two repetitions of the last line stress the main point of the text: "Säume nicht, denn Eins ist not" (Delay not, it [your death] is imperative."

"Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur" (The Glory of God in Nature) is a majestic description of nature's declarations of the glory of God. Octaves or block chords in the piano part trace the vocal line, which is more instrumental than vocal in conception. In "Gottes Macht und Vorsehung" (God's Power and Providence) triadic melodies, a chordal accompaniment and forte dynamic create a martial flavor. The narrator of "Busslied" (Song of Penance) begs God for forgiveness. Beethoven sets the first three verses, in which the anguished narrator pleads his case, in A minor and a Poco adagio tempo. The last three verses, describing the narrator's joy at experiencing God's comfort and compassion, are in A major with a running eight-note accompaniment at an Allegro tempo.



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1.Bitten

Bitten (Plea) is the first of six songs that together make up Ludwig van Beethoven's Op. 48. Published in 1803 (but thought to have been completed at least a year earlier), the songs in the collection are all on sacred texts by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715-1769). The Op. 48 collection is one of only two in Beethoven's oeuvre that can be considered a proper song "cycle," and while the other, An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 (1816), is built upon an overall unifying harmonic scheme, this group is principally held together by the religious and devotional nature of the poetry.

Nonetheless, the text and music of Bitten do convey an invocational mood that sets the tone for the remainder of the song cycle. The text unfolds at an even, measured pace above a moving bass line and spare accompaniment. There may be pictorial intent in the melodic leaps associated with the sense of distance suggested by the opening two lines, "Gott, deine Güte reicht so weit/So weit die Wolken gehen" (God, how far thy goodness extends, as far as the hovering clouds), but the overall attitude of the vocal line is one of restraint and piety. This reflects Beethoven's general tendency to avoid facile tone/text indulgences, preferring instead to convey or present the spirit of a text rather than depict it. Gellert's poem, with its spare, aphoristic quality, thus suits Beethoven's song style—he is, after all, much less known for lyrical, memorable melodic lines than for poignant moods and sturdy thematic structures, which tend to lend a certain austerity to much of his vocal music. (Indeed, although he wrote numerous songs, which in large part paved the way for the famously prolific Schubert, they linger in the shadow of his monumental instrumental works.) In fact, it is the harmonic structure of this song, more than the vocal line, that lends it its expressive shape. Beginning in the tonic of E major, the song takes an overall chromatic path away from the home key, increasing tension—some might say "distance," to use the spiritual metaphor described in the text—until, with a final re-utterance of the final line, "Denn ich will vor dir beten" (I shall pray before thee), the singer pulls the harmony back into the familiar realm of the home key.

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4.Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur ('The Worship of God in Nature')

There are only two instances in which Beethoven composed several songs as a set. The best known of these is An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98; the other is the Six Songs, Op. 48, setting texts by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, whose work Beethoven knew most likely through his Bonn teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe. Unlike An die ferne Geliebte, the songs of Op. 48 are not musically related to one another.

Beethoven's Gellert Lieder were composer during a tumultuous time in the composer's life. In 1801 we find Beethoven's first mention of his growing deafness, in a letter to Dr. Franz Wegeler in Bonn. The probability that his deafness was incurable tempted Beethoven to withdraw from society. During the same year, however, the composer writes of "a dear charming girl who loves me and whom I love. ... " This was certainly the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a student of Beethoven and the dedicatee of the "Moonlight" Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2, written in 1801. At sixteen years of age and a member of the aristocracy, Guicciardi seems to have had little interest in Beethoven as a lover. In November, 1803, Guicciardi married Count Wenzel Gallenberg, a young composer of ballet music with whom Guicciardi had been involved at least as long as she had known Beethoven. Myriad setbacks in Beethoven's life may have induced his temporary attraction to religious subjects such as the Gellert poems of Op. 48 or Christus am Ölberg, composed in 1803.

Published in Vienna by Artaria in 1803, the Six Songs were dedicated to Count Johann von Browne (1767-1827), one of Beethoven's chief early patrons. Recent scholarship shows that the songs were composed before March 1802, and that No. 3 was sketched in 1798.

"Die Himmel rühmen des ewigen Ehre" (The Heavens extol the Glory of God) was published as the fourth of the Six Songs, Op. 48, with the title, "Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur" (The Glory of God in Nature). The song is a majestic description of nature's declarations of the glory of God. Octaves or block chords in the piano part trace the vocal line, which is more instrumental than vocal in conception. Marked "majestic," the voice and piano begin by outlining the tonic triad, creating a military atmosphere. A quick modulation to G minor at "Vernimm, o Mensch, ihr göttlich Wort!" prepares us for the appearance of E flat major two measures later. As the poem describes, "Wer trägt der Himmel unzählbare Sterne?" (Who bears the heavens' innumerable stars?), Beethoven slowly returns to the tonic, C major.

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