Adieu My Lov'd Harp, WoO 158/B - Ludwig van Beethoven

A wonderful folksong setting by Ludwig van Beethoven (as in he produced the harmony and instrumentation for the folk melody). I came across this gem whilst listening through the complete works (which I finished recently - in fact I'm onto the complete works of Mozart now, and it's going to take some time!)

This is listed in his 'British' folksong set, WoO 158/B, yet is an Irish song, and as Ireland is not a part of Britain, there appears to be some mistake!

Lyrics:

Adieu my lov'd harp, for no more shall
the vale,
Reecho thy notes as they float on the
gale;
No more melting pity shall sigh o'er thy
string;
Or love to thy tremblings so tenderly
sing.

When battles fell strife launch'd its
thunders afar,
And valours dark brow wore the
honours of war;
Twas thou breath'd the fame of the hero
around,
And young emulation was wak'd by the
sound.

Ye daughters of Erin soon comes the sad
day,
When over the turf where I sleep ye shall
say:
Oh! Still is the song we repaid with a
tear,
And silent the string that delighted the
ear.

Particularly love the 'when' that opens the second line of the last stanza.
This is also my first Beethoven video - enjoy!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Adieu
• my
• lov'd
• harp
• Ludwig
• van
• Beethoven
• british
• irish
• folksong
• setting
• WoO
• 158/B

[Divinemetal]

Finally, someone has uploaded this! My favourite works of Beethoven are mostly in his folk music. They are so overlooked. If you can upload more, that would be grand. I have had trouble doing it myself. 'Return to Ulster' is my favourite song of all time (song, not piece, mind you). 'What Shall I Do to Shew How Much I Love Her' and 'Wife, Children, and Friends' are also magnificent. I have the Christopher Maltman version of those, and he is an exceptional baritone. Thanks again for uploading.

[thelightisahead]

@Divinemetal

Thank you, no problem! Yes I've been exploring these recently, I have a great interest in folk music, so for me, a giant like Beethoven taking these folksongs and arranging them with piano and strings accompaniment etc. is a goldmine! I love how he captures the moods of the melodies and words so well in his accompaniments, keeping the flavour of the song, which in the case of these UK ones would have been foreign flavours to him! I may upload more when I have more time :)

[wasabisuperhotyummy]

Ireland was part of Britain or more correctly The United kingdom when this was penned.Independance came much later.

[thelightisahead]

Ahhh yes, I should've thought of that, I studied 'Translations' for A-level English!

[brcmano]

I've been listening this Folksong Arrangements, as Deutsche Grammophon call them, for a month already, but they are so beautiful that I always get stuck here and there, specially with Ann Murray and John Mark Ainsley singing it.

[brcmano]

These works were published, I think in 1818 in England, and some years later on Germany. Beethoven, I believe, was asked to write these settings by an english or irish or welsh publisher, I dunno.

[SieurPlanchet]

Thank you.

[thelightisahead]

I can tell you that the singer iiis *checks conveniently nearby CD sleeve* - Christine Wehler!

[SieurPlanchet]

Absolutely beautiful. But who is the singer?

[beethomozart]

too beautiful 1st song of beethoven woo 158,no 2, a collection of 7 popular english songs, long live lidwig van, by the way I've finished a few months ago to listen to as many as Mozart's koegels that I could find in you tube( about 60 to 70% of the 626 k. and now I´m doing the same with Beethoven's 138 opus and 205 woo, just now I crossed with a person who is doing exactly the same but he or she went over Beethoven first, I'm glad to have found another beethomozart fan!