Ludwig van Beethoven:
Adelaide, Op. 46 (with Score & Lyrics)
Composed: 1795
Lyricist: Friedrich von Matthisson (1761–1831)
Tenor: Peter Schreier
Piano: Walter Olbertz
During the period he created Adelaide, Beethoven was in his mid twenties; he had come to Vienna in 1792 to pursue a career and was in the early stages of making a name for himself as pianist and composer.
The work was especially popular in Beethoven's day, and went through many editions. Various composers, including Sigismond Thalberg and Franz Liszt (who wrote three versions, S.466) prepared arrangements of the song for solo piano. Later in the nineteenth century, the critic Eduard Hanslick called Adelaide "the only song by Beethoven the loss of which would leave a gap in the emotional life of our nation." The song is less well-known today; the New Grove calls it "once-popular".
