#Beethoven250 Day 37
“Que le temps me dure” (WoO 116), 1793
This song is notable for being based on a poem by French Enlightenment philosopher and novelist Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “How time drags for me / When spent distant from you.”
The Jean-Jacques Rousseau poem that Beethoven used for WoO 116 was also set to music by Rousseau himself, but using just three notes for the vocal line: G, A, and B. Other composers were inspired to also write melodies with just three notes. (See Reid’s “Beethoven Song Companion”)
It isn’t quite clear whether Beethoven’s counterpoint lessons with Haydn were successful. Beethoven later claimed he didn't learn anything, but he kept them up for a year.
In January 1794, Haydn left for England for his second 18-month visit, and the lessons were forever over.
#Beethoven250 Day 37
“O care selve” (WoO 119), 1794
The text of this song is from an opera libretto by the prolific Pietro Metastasio. A chorus of shepherdesses celebrate “beloved woods” where “pleasure is enjoyed” and “peace reigns secure.”