Die Nacht (from Vier Notturnos, Op. 22, no. 2) by Heinrich von Herzogenberg 4-Part - Sheet Music

SKU: AN.AMP-0045

Herzogenberg/Bloesch.

Many of Eichendorff's poems were published first in his novels, only later to be printed separately in collected volumes of poetry. This poem appeared first in an early sketch of the novel Dichter und ihre Gesellen (Poetsand their Companions, 1834). When the poem was published in the 1837 edition of the collected poems, it bore the title Nachtblume (The Night Flower). The poem symbolizes the interconnectedness of thenight, the sea, the sailing clouds, and the human heart. It is clear that Brahms knew Herzogenberg's Op. 22. Brahms wrote, in a letter to Elisabeth von Herzogenberg (December 12, 1877), I will not insult your intelligence by offering to explain the little jest I am sending, and need hardly say that I strongly advocate the exploitation of otherpeople's motifs. ..¹ Brahms refers hereto the manuscript of his 0 schyne Nacht, Op. 92, no.1, composed in 1877, which is heavily in debted to Herzogenberg's Op. 22, no.2. Herzogenberg's quietlyarpeggiated piano introduction, the key of E major, the slow tempo, and the general import of the poetry were all consciously imitated by Brahms, who wrote his little jest only one year after the appearance of Herzogenberg's Notturnos (a further connection is the fact that Brahms originally called his piece a Notturno).Herzogenberg's own reaction to Brahms's offering is worth quoting:

My best thanks, by the way, for taking my egg into your cuckoo's nest. History will not be able to say in our case that a pupil has robbed his master. Writers such as Emil Naumann and others will be so flustered, if this sort of thing goes on, as to be reduced to classifying Brahms as the epigone of his most faithful disciples. And it would serve you right.²

Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)