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Abendlied

Part of a series or song cycle:

Sechs Gesänge

Abendlied

Gottfried Kinkel

Es ist so still geworden,
Verrauscht des Abends Weh’n;
Nun hört man aller Orten
Der Engel Füsse geh’n.
Rings in die Tiefe senket
Sich Finsterniss mit Macht;
Wirf ab, Herz, was dich kränket
Und was dir bange macht!
Nun steh’n im Himmelskreise
Die Stern’ in Majestät;
In gleichem, festem Gleise
Der goldne Wagen geht.
Und gleich den Sternen lenket
Er deinen Weg durch Nacht;
Wirf ab, Herz, was dich kränket
Und was dir bange macht!

Evening Song

English Translation © Eric Sams

All is still;
So hushed is the evening
That you can hear
The footfalls of passing angels.
All around, night
Darkens and deepens;
Now cast away your sickness, my heart,
And your despair.
Now the stars arise in majesty
In the encircling sky;
The golden chariot of time
Passes on its assured way.
And your way through the night
Shall be safely guided too,
So now cast away your sickness, my heart,
And your despair.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

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Composer

Robert Schumann, arranged Aribert Reimann

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Poet

Gottfried Kinkel

Johann Gottfried Kinkel was a German poet also noted for his revolutionary activities and his escape from a Prussian prison in Spandau with the help of his friend Carl Schurz.

He was born at Oberkassel (now part of Bonn). Having studied theology at Bonn and Berlin, he established himself at Bonn in 1836 as a Privatdozent, or theology tutor, became master at the secondary school there, and was for a short time assistant preacher in Cologne.

Changing his religious opinions, he abandoned theology and delivered lectures on the history of art, in which he had become interested on a journey to Italy in 1837. In 1843, he married Johanna Mockel (1810–1858), a writer, composer and musician who assisted her husband in his literary work and revolutionary activities. They had four children. In 1846 he was appointed extraordinary professor of the history of art at the University of Bonn.

Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.


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