The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #171031 Message #4137196
Posted By: keberoxu
19-Feb-22 - 12:53 PM
Thread Name: Beethoven op. 118: found Text Author.
Subject: RE: Beethoven op. 118: found Text Author.
Some more questions and comments. How do you translate into English:
"Nacheifer schafft Dein Wandel" ?
As elegant and concise as this German sentence is, I don't know how to render it in English. Most of the rest of Haug's poem is fairly accessible. A literal English translation would be a blessing, in any case.
Now, about the context of this poem. It is, in many ways, A Tale of Three (German) Poets.
At the above link, you can click on the words 'Song List' and see which great Lieder composers set Jacobi's words to music. I especially commend the little song by Mozart, a song which is a staple of singing teachers and studios everywhere, with sentiments of full-blown German romanticism. And the piano accompaniment is fun, as well.
This brings us to Johann Christoph Friedrich Haug (1761 - 1829), the author of the poetic tribute to Jacobi, and demonstrably the youngest of the three poets. There is no shortage of German Lieder which sets Haug's poetry to music, including such composers as Beethoven, Schubert, and Carl Maria von Weber. I can't link to Haug's Wikipedia biography page.
None of these poets are in the august league of a Goethe or a Schiller. They were active around the Enlightenment period, although at least two of them have certain streaks of religiosity or pietism which seems very dated now, but endeared them to the public of the time. In particular, Jacobi, often mocked by critics and fellow authors, had so affectionate a public that his funeral procession was noted for the enormous crowds in the streets.