Beethoven’s song “So oder so” (This or that, WoO 148) dates from about February 1817. It is Beethoven’s only setting of a poem by Karl Gottlieb Lappe, but apparently the poem was quite famous in its day.
Paul Reid calls “So oder so”
a rather quizzical poem which encourages readers to come to terms with their lot by setting up a series of contrasting situations, and then demonstrating that it is how one copes with one’s current situation which really matters. ( Beethoven Song Companion, p. 259)
The seven stanzas of the original “So oder so” presents the contrasts:
- North or south?
- Town or country?
- Servant or master?
- Poor or rich?
- Pale or ruddy?
- Young or old?
- Sleep or death?
The third stanza was stricken from some editions, and from Beethoven’s setting of the poem. “So oder so” ends:
Sleep or death? Welcome, twin brothers!
The day is over; you close our eyelids.
Earth’s joy and misery are but a dream.
O day too short! O life that fades too quickly!
Why so beautiful and yet so swift to vanish?
Sleep or death!
Brightly shines the rosy dawn.
#Beethoven250 Day 301
“So oder so” (WoO 148), 1817
This recording trims the song down to contrasts between North or South, Poor or Rich, and Sleep or Death.
As for me, my health has been undermined for a considerable time. The condition of our country has been partly responsible for this; and so far no improvement is to be expected, nay rather, every day there is a further deterioration. — Beethoven Letters No. 758, 15 Feb 1817