Ex. 6-3: An Maria

Louise Reichardt (1779–1826) was the daughter of the composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and grew up among the poets and writers of early German Romanticism. In 1809 she moved to Hamburg, where she worked on her own as a singing teacher, choir trainer, and composer — unusual for a woman at that time. This song is from her early years in Hamburg: it was published there in 1811, soon after she began working on her own. She never married: both of her fiancés, the writer Friedrich August Eschen and the painter Franz Gareis, died before their weddings. In her later years she turned to religious music.

The text is by Novalis, the pen name of Friedrich von Hardenberg (1772–1801). It comes from his Geistliche Lieder (Spiritual Songs), a poem to the Virgin Mary that begins "Ich sehe dich in tausend Bildern" (I see you in a thousand images). The poet sees Mary in countless pictures, but says none of them can show her as his soul sees her. Novalis wrote these poems after the death of his young fiancée, Sophie von Kühn.

The same poem was later set by many composers, including Schubert (1819) and Max Reger. Reichardt's song was published as No. 11 of her 12 Gesänge (12 Songs, Op. 3) by the Hamburg firm Joh. Aug. Böhme, and dedicated to Louise Sillem.

From the album The Lost Romantic – Songs of Louise Reichardt by Amy Pfrimmer and Dreux Montegut (2018)
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