T: Lou Salome,
M: Friedrich Nietzsche
Voor een Nederlandse versie, klik hier
Nietzsche was pleased that his Hymnus was published (1887) and satisfied with the way it was printed—both in terms of instrumentation, choir-parts and layout (NB: his contribution is a piano-version with one voice – alto). He only signalled a printing error : the final note of the clarinet part was printed as a C, whereas it should be C-sharp (as manually corrected in this copy on Google Books !). The correction apparently came too late, or was never implemented. This error is also mentioned in Ecce Homo (1888, first published in 1908).
Although published, and cherished by some, it’s not good. Nietzsche’s writing is musical, his music is not. Just listen. if interested in the background of this hymn, here’s a page with all information. (in German) : You ll read about its origin as a ‘Lied almost ohne Worte’ (Hymnus an die Freundschaft) for piano (in Basle (1870s) dedicated to his friend, colleague and piano-partner-à-quatre-mains, Franz Overbeck, via Lou Salome’s Gebetslied (1882, piano/alto) to the publication for choir and orchestra in 1887 (via his friend, editor and fellow-not-very-succesful-composer Peter Gast/Heinrich Köselitz).