The second of Beethoven’s Opus 75 songs is “Neue Liebe, neues Leben” (“New love, new life”), set to a poem by Goethe first published in 1775. This is a greatly improved version of a setting that Beethoven had composed a decade earlier, catalogued as WoO 127 (Day 113).
Goethe was in his mid-20s when he wrote the poem “Neue Liebe, neues Leben,” reflecting a confusing and upsetting mental state triggered by the blossoming of love for a young woman — in Goethe’s case, the 17-year-old Lili Schönemann.
#Beethoven250 Day 220
“Neue Liebe, neues Leben” (Opus 75, No. 2), 1809
Even without the English subtitles, this performance by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore wins the Internet.
“Neue Liebe, neues Leben” mixes driving rhythms and more contemplative recitative with extensive repetition of the text. “Lively, but not too much” instructs Beethoven in the score. It has almost the structural feel of a concert aria, yet it’s all packed within a 3-minute Lied.
In the essential “Beethoven Song Companion,” Paul Reid observes:
“Beethoven, aside from an expressive ‘ja,’ hardly ever changed the actual words of a poem, but Neue Liebe, neues Leben is a prime example of the almost cavalier manner in which he often repeats words, phrases and entire stanzas to fit with his musical mold. The setting matches the mood of the text well — but is it still Goethe’s poem, or has the song, whose structure is hugely more extended than the poem’s, simply devoured the text? This is not a mere quibble, but points to a forward-looking aspect of Beethoven’s song technique, for Romantic and post-Romantic composers were to impose their personal interpretation and style on texts to a degree unimaginable in the eighteenth century.” (pp. 222-3)
#Beethoven250 Day 220
“Neue Liebe, neues Leben” (Opus 75, No. 2), 1809
A live performance from that great advocate of Beethoven lieder, Peter Schreier.