Songs

Die Nachtigall (1907)

Part of a series or song cycle:

Die Nachtigall

Theodor Storm

Das macht, es hat die Nachtigall

Die ganze Nacht gesungen;

Da sind von ihrem süssen Schall,

Da sind in Hall und Widerhall

Die Rosen aufgesprungen.

Sie war doch sonst ein wildes Blut,

Nun geht sie tief in Sinnen;

Trägt in der Hand den Sommerhut

Und duldet still der Sonne Glut

Und weiß nicht, was beginnen.

Das macht, es hat die Nachtigall

Die ganze Nacht gesungen;

Da sind von ihrem süssen Schall,

Da sind in Hall und Widerhall

Die Rosen aufgesprungen.

The nightingale

English Translation © Richard Stokes

It is because the nightingale

Has sung throughout the night,

That from the sweet sound

Of her echoing song

The roses have sprung up.

She was once a wild creature,

Now she wanders deep in thought;

In her hand a summer hat,

Bearing in silence the sun’s heat,

Not knowing what to do.

It is because the nightingale

Has sung throughout the night,

That from the sweet sound

Of her echoing song

The roses have sprung up.

Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Composer

Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His circle included the musicians Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker, the painter Gustav Klimt, the writer and satirist Karl Kraus, the architect Adolf Loos, and the poet Peter Altenberg.