Goethe’s poem “Das Göttliche” (The Godlike) finds divinity not in the heavens, nor in the fickle amorality of Nature and Fate, but within us as humans when we discover the nobility to be helpful and good to others. An early English translation is available on page 113 of this 1839 book
We know that Beethoven was familiar with Goethe’s “Das Göttliche” because in 1823 he based two short compositions on similar passages from the poem:
- the song “Der edle Mensch” (The Noble Man, WoO 151)
- the canon “Edel sei der Mesch” (Let Man be Noble, WoO 185)
Beethoven wrote the short song “Der edle Mensch” (The noble man, WoO 151) on 20 January 1823 in the album of Baroness Cäcilie von Eskeles, the wife of a banker who had helped Beethoven buy some stock to help guarantee the financial security of his nephew Karl.
The complete text of the WoO 151 song “Der edle Mensch” comes from the beginning of the last stanza of Goethe’s “Das Göttliche”:
Der edle Mensch / Sei hülfreich und gut!
Let noble Man / Be helpful and good.
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Canon “Der edle Mensch” (WoO 151), 1823
A studio performance by soprano Heidi Person with an animated score. (This is a song so short that it has to be repeated!)
Beethoven composed a six-part canon based on the opening lines of Goethe’s poem “Das Göttlich” for Darmstadt court conductor Louis Schlösser (b. 1800), who was acquainted with Beethoven in 1822 and 1823. Beethoven wrote the canon as Schlösser departed Vienna in early May 1823.
The text of the WoO 185 canon comes from the very beginning of Goethe’s “Das Göttliche”:
Edel sei der Mensch, / Hülfreich und gut!
Noble be Man, / Helpful and good!
This phrasing uses the subjunctive; the last stanza used for the WoO 151 song is an imperative.
About 60 years after Louis Schlösser spent some time with Beethoven, he recorded his reminiscences. The first time he saw Beethoven was following a performance of Fidelio:
I hardly noticed that the house was gradually growing empty; until my faithful friend Franz Schubert seized my arm to accompany me to the exit. Together with us, three gentlemen, to whom I paid no further attention because their backs were turned to me, stepped out of a lower corridor; yet I was not a little surprised to see all those who were streaming by toward the lobby crowing to one side, in order to give the three plenty of room. Then Schubert very softly plucked my sleeve, pointing with his finger to the gentleman in the middle, who turned his head at that moment so that the bright light of the lamps fell on it and — I saw, familiar to me from engravings and paintings, the features of the creator of the opera I had just heard, Beethoven himself.
Here’s the requisite first sight of Beethoven’s workroom:
> I entered and found myself in a rather commodious but entirely undecorated apartment; a large, four-square oak table with various chairs, which presented a somewhat chaotic aspect, stood in the middle of the room. On it lay writing-books and lead-pencils, music-paper and pens, a chronometer, a metronome, and ear-trumpet made of yellow metal and various other things. On the wall at the left was the bed, completely covered with music, scores and manuscripts.
As Schlösser was leaving Vienna, Beethoven gave him a letter, and said:
“I have also brought you a little souvenir: I know that you will attach some value to it. Take it for remembrance’s sake and continue to think well of me! With trembling hands I received the precious sheet of music paper. It contained a canon for six voices on the words: “‘Man should be noble, helpful and good!’ Words by Goethe, tones by Beethoven. Vienna, in May 1823.” On the back was written: “A prosperous journey, my dear Mr. Schlösser! May all things turnout as according to your wish, Your most devoted Beethoven.” (Beethoven: Impressions by His Contemporaries, pp. 132–148)
The autograph of the WoO 185 canon that Beethoven-Haus makes available on their website is evidently not the one that Beethoven gave Louis Schlösser, for the inscription does not match and there is nothing on the back.
The Beethoven-Haus autograph manuscript seems to be what the Wiener Zeitschrift used to publish the canon following page 608 in their 21 June 1823 issue.
Another copy of that page from the Wiener Zeitschrift is also available on the Beethoven-Haus site.
Note how the section symbol (§) is used as dal segno (“from the sign”) marker to indicate how the complete canon is to be constructed. The completed canon was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1864.
Another rendition of the completed canon was published in on page 244 of a 1908 German edition of Beethoven’s letters.
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Canon “Edel sei der Mensch” (WoO 185), 1823
This studio recording of the six-part canon uses three contraltos and three clarinets.
Some additional confusion exists about the WoO 185 canon: The IMSLP site) indicates there are two versions, one in E major and the other in E♭ major. But the E♭ version is nowhere to be seen.