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Donald Macleod explores Beethoven's only song cycle An die Ferne Geliebte and his cantatas, written to mark special events, with conductor Simone Young and pianist writer and broadcaster, Iain Burnside.

Beethoven was born into a family of singers. His grandfather Ludwig and his father Johann were both remarked on for their voices. Judging by contemporary accounts it seems that Beethoven himself wasn't similarly gifted. The librettist and lepidopterist Georg Friedrich Treitschke claimed that Beethoven would growl when he was composing; Beethoven's biographer Anton Schindler said that he howled, and Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries was of the view that his teacher did both. If those reports are true, then Beethoven's inability to produce a harmonious sound himself certainly didn't act as a deterrent to his compositional focus. A quick tally shows that somewhere in the region of half of his six hundred plus works were written for voice, mining subjects like love, persecution, loneliness, freedom, brotherhood and sacrifice, themes that Beethoven held very close to his heart.

Across the week Donald Macleod and his guests will be highlighting some personal favourites from Beethoven's vocal music, taking in the giants of choral repertory like Missa Solemnis and the ninth symphony, his opera Fidelio and orchestral vocal music, as well as relishing the astonishing variety of his songwriting, from the song cycle An die Ferne Geliebte and the most profoundly moving vocal masterpieces, to a comic song most likely dashed off to amuse friends in a bar.

The years surrounding the Congress of Vienna were difficult for Beethoven. He was still recovering from the wounds of an unhappy love affair, his brother was seriously ill, and he was short of money. All these aspects of his life can be found in the music he wrote during this period.

Maigesang (Mailied) op 52, no 4
Stephan Genz, baritone
Roger Vignoles, piano

Three Lieder to poems by Goethe op 83
Wonne der Wehmut
Sehnsucht
Mit einem gemalten Band
Peter Schreier, tenor
Walter Olbertz, piano

Der glorreiche Augenblick op 136 (excerpt)
Final chorus: Es treten hervor die Scharen der Frauen
Coro di voci bianche dell’Arcum
Coro e Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Myung-Whun Chung, conductor

Cantata on the Accession of Leopold II
Fliesse, Wonnezähre, fliesse!
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Orchestra of Deutsche Oper Berlin
Christian Thielemann, director

An die ferne geliebte
Christian Gerharher (baritone)
Gerold Huber (piano)

Meerestille und glückliche Fahrt, op 112
Monteverdi Choir
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor