SCHUBERT, Franz, composer.
A fine contemporary volume of ten works containing 18 Lieder including his most famous early songs ‘Erlkönig’ and ‘Der Wanderer’, and several first editions; setting poems by Goethe, Rückert, Schiller, Schlegel, etc.
Vienna, 1821-1833
Ten works, oblong folio, pp. 11, 11, 19, 14, 7, 19, 15, 3, 7, 19, engraved music, each work with its own engraved title-page; the first seven with the additional contemporary publisher’s stamps ‘Prag bei Marco Berra’; a few small stains, dusty in places, but very good copies bound together in contemporary half calf and marbled boards, rubbed, morocco labels; ‘Die Rose’ (Deutsch 745) includes a list of Schubert’s works as published by Diabelli in Vienna up to Opus 87, on which the contents of the present volume have been ticked off.
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A fine contemporary volume of ten works containing 18 Lieder including his most famous early songs ‘Erlkönig’ and ‘Der Wanderer’, and several first editions; setting poems by Goethe, Rückert, Schiller, Schlegel, etc.
A rare collection of Schubert Lieder in a contemporary binding, apparently as retailed by the Czech music publisher Berra, including three first editions.
Erlkönig, Ballade von Goethe (Deutsch 328), probably Schubert’s most famous Lied, chosen by him as his Opus 1, was the last of nearly 150 songs composed by him in 1815. Written at great speed and to an enthusiastic response, it was nevertheless revised several times before its eventual publication, by private subscription, in 1821. ‘The response was overwhelming … The firm of Cappi & Diabelli was commissioned to engrave the works’, and as a result Op. 1 - 8 were issued in 1821, each with carefully directed dedications on the title-pages. Erlkönig ‘spread Schubert’s fame far beyond the bounds of his native city. In his own lifetime, and for generations afterwards, it was considered his greatest song’ (Grove). It is present here in an edition issued by Diabelli alone after Cappi’s retirement in 1824, as is Opus 4, Der Wanderer von Schmidt v. Lübeck, Morgenlied von Werner, Wandrers-Nachtlied von Göthe (1821, Deutsch 493, 685, and 224). ‘Der Wanderer’ was one of Schubert’s ‘most popular songs during his lifetime and for many years afterwards,’ becoming ‘the delight of Viennese drawing-rooms some time before it was published … Der Wanderer is said to have brought in 27,000 florins within forty years to Diabelli’ (Capell, Schubert’s Songs).
The works in first edition are: Der Wanderer und den Mond. Das Zügenglöcklein. Im Freyen (Deutsch 870, 871 and 880, 1827, setting Seidl); Das Lied im Grünen von Reil. Wonne der Wehmuth von Göthe. Sprache der Liebe von Fr. v. Schlegel (Deutsch 917, 260 and 410, 1829); and Der Blumenbrief, von Al. Schreiber. Vergiss mein nicht, von F. von Schober (Deutsch 622 and 792, 1833). ‘An Sylvia’ (Deutsch 891, 1829) a setting of Shakespeare, is present in its second edition, printed as No. 295 of Diabelli’s collection Philomele. Full details are available on request.
