The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #161887   Message #3850631
Posted By: GUEST,keberoxu
15-Apr-17 - 04:16 PM
Thread Name: English Trans. Req: Fruhlingsmusikanten
Subject: RE: English Trans. Req: Fruhlingsmusikanten
Thanks, Grishka. As I recall, Zelter kept his four-part male chorus setting on the strophic side, and did not take advantage of the polyphonic opportunity afforded by Verse 3.

Yes, this was a time with many periodicals and journals publishing poetry, and after all it was Berlin. When Foerster first allowed his poem to be printed in the "Merkur," it was printed with just his initial, "von F."

Another periodical or two then grabbed the poem and printed it attributing it to Goethe.
A letter exists, in which Goethe was written to by his friend and colleague, who happens to be Carl Friedrich Zelter, the composer.    Zelter relates to Goethe that this poem has been attributed to him; that some composer nobody has heard of set it to music, and that the music stinks! So, Zelter explains, he himself will set it to music; and he just wants to be clear that HE knows it isn't by Goethe.

The poem goes through a lot of variation as it is printed in various places. At one point the "kingdom" is "Turkisch."