Songs
Abendlied
(1816)
D499
Abendlied
Der Mond ist aufgegangen, Die goldnen Sternlein prangen Am Himmel hell und klar;Der Wald steht schwarz und schweiget, Und aus den Wiesen steigetDer weisse Nebel wunderbar.Wie ist die Welt so stille,Und in der Dämmrung HülleSo traulich und so hold! Als eine stille Kammer,Wo ihr des Tages JammerVerschlafen und vergessen sollt.Seht ihr den Mond dort stehen? Er ist nur halb zu sehen,Und ist doch rund und schön! So sind wohl manche Sachen, Die wir getrost belachen,Weil uns’re Augen sie nicht sehn.Gott, lass dein Heil uns schauen Auf nichts Vergänglichs trauenNicht Eitelkeit uns freun! Lass uns einfältig werden, Und vor dir hier auf ErdenWie Kinder fromm und fröhlich sein!
Evening Song
The moon is up,the golden stars shinebright and clear in the heavens. The woods lie dark and silent,and from the meadows, uncannily,the white mist rises.How still the world is, and in dusk’s mantlehow intimate and tender, like a peaceful roomwhere you may sleep and forgetthe day’s cares.Do you see the moon there? It is only half visibleand yet it is so round and fair. Thus it is with many things:we thoughtlessly mock thembecause we cannot see them.God, may we behold your grace, mistrust all that is transitory, and delight not in vanity.May we attain simplicity, and before you here on earthlive as children, pious and cheerful.
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
Franz Peter Schubert was an late Classical and early Romantic composer. He produced a vast oeuvre during his short life, composing more the 600 vocal works (largely Lieder), and well as several symphonies, operas, and a large body of piano music. He was uncommonly gifted from a young age, but appreciation of his music was limited during his lifetime. His work became more popular in the decades after his death, and was praised by 19th century composers, including Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Liszt.
Information from Wikipedia. Read more here.
See Full Entry
Poet
Matthias Claudius was a German poet, most notable for Der Mond ist aufgegangen (The Moon Has Risen) and editor of the journal Der Wandsbecker Bothe.
After studying at Jena, Claudius held a series of editorial and minor official positions in Copenhagen and Darmstadt until in 1788 he acquired a sinecure in the Schleswig-Holstein bank. He edited the Wandsbecker Bothe (1771–75), popular not only with a general readership, for whose enlightenment it was designed, but also with the most important literary men of the time. Among the journal’s contributors were the philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder, the poet Friedrich Klopstock, and the critic and dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, the three of whom, with Claudius, formed a circle that fought against the prevailing rationalist and Classical spirit and sought to preserve a natural and Christian atmosphere in literature. Claudius’ own poems, e.g., Der Tod und das Mädchen, have a naive, childlike, and devoutly Christian quality.
Taken from Encyclopedia Britannica. To view the full Britannica article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Abendlied
Evening Song
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
Franz Peter Schubert was an late Classical and early Romantic composer. He produced a vast oeuvre during his short life, composing more the 600 vocal works (largely Lieder), and well as several symphonies, operas, and a large body of piano music. He was uncommonly gifted from a young age, but appreciation of his music was limited during his lifetime. His work became more popular in the decades after his death, and was praised by 19th century composers, including Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Liszt.
Information from Wikipedia. Read more here.
See Full Entry
Poet
Matthias Claudius was a German poet, most notable for Der Mond ist aufgegangen (The Moon Has Risen) and editor of the journal Der Wandsbecker Bothe.
After studying at Jena, Claudius held a series of editorial and minor official positions in Copenhagen and Darmstadt until in 1788 he acquired a sinecure in the Schleswig-Holstein bank. He edited the Wandsbecker Bothe (1771–75), popular not only with a general readership, for whose enlightenment it was designed, but also with the most important literary men of the time. Among the journal’s contributors were the philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder, the poet Friedrich Klopstock, and the critic and dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, the three of whom, with Claudius, formed a circle that fought against the prevailing rationalist and Classical spirit and sought to preserve a natural and Christian atmosphere in literature. Claudius’ own poems, e.g., Der Tod und das Mädchen, have a naive, childlike, and devoutly Christian quality.
Taken from Encyclopedia Britannica. To view the full Britannica article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
About Oxford Lieder
Oxford Lieder is one of the world's leading promoters of song and the winner of a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award. The focal point of each year is the two-week Oxford Lieder Festival in October.
Find out More