Ich bin bereit! WoO 201 (Part One)

Ich bin bereit! WoO 201 (1818?).

This musical joke comes from a letter addressed to Vincenz Hauschka. Hauschka, on behalf of the Society of Musical Friends of Austria, had asked Beethoven to write an heroic oratorio for the Society. Beethoven, in high humor, responded as follows:

Best and Chief Member of the Society of Musical Fiends [sic] of the Austrian Imperial State!

"Ich bin Bereit! Ich bin Bereit!" (I am ready! I am ready!) I have only a sacred subject, but you want a heroic one, and that also suits me, only I think I shall mix a little sacred with it, which for such a mass would be in the right place. Herr von Bernard would suit me very well, but mind and pay him; for myself I say nothing, as you already call yourself music-friends, so it is natural that on this score you will act liberally!!! Now farewell my good fellow (I wish you open bowels and convenience), so far as I am concerned, I wander here among the mountains, clefts and valleys with a sheet of music paper, and I scribble a lot for the sake of bread and money, for to this pitch have I arrived in this all-powerful Phaeacian Land [i.e., Austria], that in order to win time for great work, I am always compelled beforehand to do so much daub-work for the sake of money, so that I may stand the strain of a great work. For the rest my health has greatly improved, and if haste is required, I can already serve you. If you want to speak to me, write, and then I will arrange all about it. My best respects to the Society of Musical Fiends.

[Translation by Dr. A.C. Kalischer, Beethoven's Letters, (Dover, 1972) p.253.]

However, the oratorio in question, The Victory of the Cross, was never written. The libretto, by Joseph Karl Bernard, was not supplied to Beethoven until October 1823, and then was found to be so unsatisfactory that Beethoven never began serious work on the project.

Ludwig Misch , discussing Beethoven's Riddle Canons, writes about WoO 201 : "The motifs given in a letter to Hauschka in 1818 also permits canonic imitation, the first [Ex.1] (which Beethoven follows immiately with the comes ['Tenor'] and to which he later [Ex.3] adds a counterpoint) at the unison at the distance of one bar. The second [Ex.2] at the fifth below at the distance of one bar, possibly also on the fourth above at the distance of half a bar. But naturally these are not really fragments of canons but conceits evolved from Beethoven's contrapuntal thinking."

Misch' reproduction of Beethoven's first motif [our Ex.1] contains an error : it has an additional barline after the first two beats, giving the impression as if the music is in 2/4 metre. This makes Misch' proposal for canonic imitation (entry at the distance of one bar, ie., 2 beats) appear nonsensical; viewed against the correct note text (entry at a distance of 4 beats) his suggestion works fine (ignoring Beethoven's 'comes'). This is rather ironic.

WoO: 201

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