In Beethoven’s marvelously sensitive song “Die laute Klage” (The Loud Lament, WoO 135), the poet complains of being awakened by a noisy turtledove in exultations of love, but the poet must conceal the sorrow of his heartbreak in love with silence.
“Die laute Klage” is the second of two songs that Beethoven set to poems of Johann Gottfried Herder, an important figure in the early German Romantic literary movement. Peculiarly, Beethoven’s first Herder song is also bird-related: “Der Gesang der Natchtigall” (Day 261)
Like “Der Gesang der Nachtigall,” the poem of “Die laute Klage” appeared in a 1792 collection by Herder entitled “Scattered Leaves: Flowers gathered from Eastern poets.” It is apparently adapted from an Arabian poem.
Here is Paul Reid’s translation from his indispensable “Beethoven Song Companion”:
Turtledove, you lament so loudly and rob the poor wretch
Of his only solace, the sweet sleep of forgetfulness:
Turtledove, I sorrow like you and conceal my sorrow
Within my wounded heart, within my stifled breast.
Ah, love, which apportions so cruelly, gave to you that
Loud sorrowful lament for solace, and to me silence!
#Beethoven250 Day 279
“Die laute Klage” (WoO 135), c. 1815?
It’s a shame this song isn’t performed more often. This is a studio recording by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with an animated score.
Paul Reid notes that Beethoven changed the last word of Herder’s “Die laute Klage” from “Gram” (sorrow) to “Sinn” (sense). Instead of Love giving the poet “muting sorrow” (in a more literal translation), it gives him “muting sense,” which might be Beethoven’s way of referencing his deafness. The 1864 Breitkopf and Härtel edition of the song restored the word “Gram,” and some performances use that version. (“Beethoven Song Companion,” p. 126)
“Just as the poet [of “Die Laute Klage”] has created a fine poem while complaining of being struck dumb, so Beethoven has managed to combine the expression of overwhelming sadness with a sophisticated perfection of form in this still neglected masterpiece.” (Paul Reid)