Zweig MS 153

1814, [1816?]. Autograph score. Written in brown ink on systems of two staves; the staves drawn freehand. On a single leaf. The upper two-thirds of the recto have the text of the poem written out by Goethe, and dated by him ‘26 Jul 1814’. Zelter’s setting, which itself bears no date, begins below this and continues on the verso; beneath each stave he has written the text of the first of the two verses written out by Goethe. In another hand in ink at the foot of the verso is ‘Original-handschrift von Göthe und’, with ‘Zelter’ added in pencil; the lower edge of the leaf is trimmed, affecting the word ‘Original-handschrift’ and presumably removing Zelter’s name by the original annotator.

This setting appears as no. 94 in Kruse’s list of Zelter’s compositions for the Berlin Liedertafel. It is apparently unpublished. The Liedertafel was set up in 1809 and Zelter took part until his death. The record card in the provenance papers states that the leaf was sent by Goethe to Zelter in July 1814, but this seems unlikely on two grounds. First, from the published correspondence it is evident that the two men were together in Wiesbaden in the latter part of that month, Zelter making the journey first and arranging accommodation for Goethe. Then, in response to a letter from Goethe of 11 March 1816, enclosing verses beginning ‘Dir zu eröffnen mein Herz’, Zelter replied (in a letter written on 18 and 19 March) enclosing a setting of that text togther with ‘ein Pröbchen aus dem "Diwan"’. His enclosure is reproduced in facsimle in Hecker (between pp. 458 and 459). On the verso it contains the setting of ‘So lang man nüchtern ist’ also found in the present manuscript; it is also written on two staves, and the only difference is the slightly more complex harmonisation found in bars 19-24 in the source reproduced by Hecker.