Reconstruction of unfinished Beethoven song ‘Rastlose Liebe’

Based on sketches by Ludwig van Beethoven Unv 22 Hess 149

‘Rastlose Liebe‘ is a poem by Goethe, which he wrote in 1776, during the Sturm und Drang period in German literature. Beethoven probably made his sketches of ꞌRastlose Liebeꞌ Unv 22 before 1796. He intended to put several of Goetheꞌs texts to music: from the same period, he also left us sketches of ꞌErlkönigꞌ (WoO 131), ꞌGretchen am Spinnradeꞌ and ꞌHeidenrösleinꞌ (Unv 23). It is quite possible that Beethoven intended to work out and publish those four songs as a bundle, but he never completed the song fragments. For what reasons? That will likely never be known. Beethoven thought highly of these poems by Goethe, which is further underlined by the fact that he wanted to complete and publish the songs once more in 1823.

Beethovenꞌs sketch of ꞌRastlose Liebeꞌ Unv 22 consists of no fewer than 149 bars and the composer did write out the entire melody and the complete text. In addition, there are several places where he indicates the ritornellos for the piano, as well as tempo differences and ritenuti. Cees respected all these indications and added nothing himself. Beethoven sometimes repeats words, which is probably influenced by the Italian style, which was highly valued in Vienna. These textual repetitions, no matter how strange they may seem, are also treated with complete respect by Cees. The piano score, on the other hand, had to be worked out to a large extent.

After the publication of ꞌErlkönigꞌ WoO 131 in 2019, we now proudly present ꞌRastlose Liebeꞌ Unv 22 . We sincerely hope it will prove a welcome addition in the song literature of Beethovenꞌs songs.

Are you interested in performing or recording ‘Rastlose Liebe’ for Voice and Piano? Please contact us!

For ordering the sheetmusic, click here