“Adelaide” (op. 46)

July 15, 1939: Stockholm, Concert Hall

Harry Ebert, pf.

EMI 5 75900 2; Naxos 8.11078

August 23, 1949: Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, cond. Izler Solomon

Standing Room Only SRO-845-1

September 24, 1955: New York, Carnegie Hall

Frederick Schauwecker, pf.

RCA 88697748922

March 2, 1958: New York, Carnegie Hall

Frederick Schauwecker, pf.

RCA 60520-2-RG

When Beethoven found the courage to write to Friedrich von Matthisson in 1800, telling him he had set the poet's “Adelaide” to music several years earlier, he claimed that the song had come “warm from” his heart. Some fifteen years later, the composer performed “Adelaide” with the tenor Fritz Wild as part of a concert for the Empress of Russia, a choice that suggests an abiding affection for the song. It was the composer's last public appearance as a pianist, although he accompanied Wild once again in “Adelaide” at a private concert in the home of a Viennese music-lover in the spring of 1816.

Björling's first known performance of “Adelaide” also took place in a private house, that of the Swedish Liberal politician Sven Theodor Palme, in Stockholm in February 1931. He continued to include the song in his recital programs until the final years of his life. “Adelaide” was both the longest German song in his repertoire and the piece that, more than any other, attested to his special qualities as a singer of Lieder.