ABSTRACT
Beethoven’s song-writing often defies usual aesthetic distinctions. In his Op. 52 collection he challenges his listeners to find variety even within the simplest strophic songs. Goethe and Matthisson created their own tribute to the power of strophic song in their chain of ‘Ich denke dein’ [I think of you] poems, a chain that Beethoven responded to with obvious enthusiasm. He seemed to relish the challenge to make song transcend time and space, as confirmed by the number of ‘distant beloved’ poems he set. The chapter explores how Beethoven often uses strophic repetition to expand and contract the listener’s sense of musical dimensions, ‘concertina’ techniques which reach fruition in his An die ferne Geliebte song-cycle.
