Zärtliche Liebe

"Zärtliche Liebe" (Tender Love), WoO 123, or "Ich liebe dich" (I love you), is a love song by Ludwig van Beethoven that he composed in 1795 and first published in 1803. Beethoven was 25 years old when he wrote it. The song is occasionally referred to by its first line, "Ich liebe dich, so wie du mich".

History
Though Alexander Thayer put the date of composition to be 1797–98 in Thayer's Life of Beethoven, recent research has found that "Zärtliche Liebe" was probably composed in 1795. 1795 was a turning point in Beethoven's career, since he was starting to become noticed by nobility and his works were becoming more popular. He had lived in Vienna for two years, and had studied with composers such as Haydn.

"Zärtliche Liebe" was first published in 1803 by Johann Traeg in Vienna, one year before Beethoven's 3rd symphony. It was published along with "La partenza", WoO 124.

The autograph of the song has a unique history. It passed into the hands of Franz Schubert, who used the blank pages in June 1817 to sketch out the second movement of his Piano Sonata in E-flat major, D 568 and to write down some exercises in reading musical notation for an unknown pupil (whose written answers are also preserved on the manuscript). From there the autograph was divided up. Half came into the possession of Schubert's friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner (who inscribed an owner's note on it), and thence to the Viennese collector Johann Nepomuk Kafka, and thence to Johannes Brahms in 1870; in April 1872 Brahms acquired the other half from Schubert's nephew Eduard Schneider. Brahms added his own owner's note to the autograph. In 1893 he presented it to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, where the musicologist Eusebius Mandyczewski added his own owner's note as well. The autograph is thus known as "the autograph of three masters": it preserves the handwriting of Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms, as well as that of Hüttenbrenner, Mandyczewski, and an unknown child.

Text
The lyrics are from a poem by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Herrosee (1754–1821), a German pastor and writer. In the poem, the narrator expresses love for another, saying how their love lets them share sorrow and comfort.