Lieder der Goethezeit für Gesang und Harfe

Einzelne Vertonungen für Harfe – Selected German songs for harp and voice

Étienne Nicolas Méhul: Romanze aus der Oper "Die beyden Füchse"

        Romanze aus der Oper die beyden Füchse mit Begleitung des Forte-Piano, oder Harfe. Vienna, Mollo (ca. 1803).

Signature of the Bavarian State Library: 2 Mus.pr. 2405

Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (Givet, Ardennes, 22 June 1763 - Paris, 18 October 1817), was a French composer and one of the leading musicians in Paris during the French Revolution, the Consulate and the Empire. In France, Méhul was best known as a composer of vocal music. His óperas comiques were very well known in Europe, and were often performed in Brussels, Berlin, Vienna and St Petersburg. His romances were especially poignant to amateur performers and aficionados.

The following piece is not a Vertonung in the strict sense of the word, but a Romance for the piano or harp. It was taken from Méhul's work Une folie. Comédie mêléé de chants, whose libretto was written by Bouilly. This work was premièred at the Ópera-Comique in Paris on 5 April 1802. Many of Méhul's operas had great success in Europe. Une folie was translated into German and frequently performed in Germany and Austria at the beginning of the 19th century.

The following Romance was adapted for the piano or the harp and its performance was not only suitable for public concerts, but also for home music or amateur private concerts. The text of this piece has been translated from the French, so it cannot be strictly considered as a lied. However, the barriers between different music genres were more diffuse at the beginning of thr 19th century than they are nowadays. This fact and the beauty of the present work led us to include Romanze aud der Oper die beyden Füchse mit Begleitung der Forte-Piano, oder Harfe in this project.

Thanks to the efforts of the Bavarian State Library, this piece has been digitalised and can be found clicking on the following URL:

 http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0004/bsb00042157/images/index.html?projekt=1199863919&id=00042157&fip=91.13.148.233&no=1&seite=3 (10-08-2010).

Front page of Étienne Nicolas Méhul's Romanze aus der Oper Die beyden Füchse...

With special permission of the Bavarian State Library.