Der Einsiedler


Der Einsiedler Op. 144a, is a composition for baritone soloist, five-part choir and orchestra by Max Reger, written in 1915. The German text is a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff, beginning "Komm' Trost der Welt, du stille Nacht". The composition was published in 1916 after Reger's death by N. Simrock, combined with the Hebbel Requiem, as Zwei Gesänge für gemischten Chor mit Orchester,.

History

Reger composed the work in Jena, dating it 15 July 1915, setting a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff. He dedicated it to the Bach-Verein Heidelberg and its founder and conductor Philipp Wolfrum, writing "dem hochverehrlichen 'Bach-Verein Heidelberg' und seinem ausgezeichneten Dirigenten Herrn Geheimrat, Generalmusikdirektor, Professor Dr. Philipp Wolfrum".
Reger sent two works to the publisher, Der Einsiedler and Hebbel Requiem. He wrote to Simrock on : "I've finished two choral works. I think I can safely say that they're both among the most beautiful things I've ever written." The two works were as Zwei Gesänge für gemischten Chor mit Orchester,. Reger himself had edited the piano version.
The Hebbel Requiem was first performed in Heidelberg on 16 July 1916, after the composer's death, as part of a memorial concert for Reger, with Rolf Ligniez, the choirs Bachverein and Akademischer Gesangverein, and the enlarged Städtisches Orchester, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.

Lyrics

The German text is poem in three stanzas of six lines each by Joseph von Eichendorff. The poem was first published in 1837 in the anthology Deutscher Musenalmanach. The first stanza is based on the "Lied des Einsiedlers" from Grimmelshausens's Der Abentheuerliche Simplizissimus Teutsch.
A solitary person, forgotten by the world, addresses the night as consolation, reflecting tiredness of day, desire and need, and expecting an eternal dawn. The poem was set to music by other composers, such as a Lied by Robert Schumann, Op. 83, No 3.