Christoph August Tiedge (1752-1841) - Stich, wohl von Johann Friedrich Baumann und Johann Christian Benjamin Gottschick nach einer vermutlich von Friedrich Georg Weitsch stammenden Zeichnung aus der Zeit um 1810, Fotografie, Wien, um 1920

Christoph August Tiedge was one of the most distinguished German poets of Beethoven's lifetime. In 1800 Tiedge published a long didactic poem named "Urania" from which Beethoven wrote the music for the poem "An die Hoffnung" (op. 32) in 1804/05. In summer of 1811 the composer and the poet met in Teplitz. Even though there are no details about their meeting, several letters from Beethoven show that a warm friendship soon developed. Still, both men lost sight of each other rather soon. (In 1812 both returned to Teplitz, however, not at the same time.) Tiedge's poem "An die Hoffnung" was once more of interest to Beethoven in autum of 1813 when the composer wrote a second extended and fully composed musical version (op. 94) of this text.(S.B.)