Songs

Songs

Liebeszauber (1844) Op. 13 no.3

Part of a series or song cycle:

Liebeszauber

Emanuel Geibel

Die Liebe saß als Nachtigall

Im Rosenbusch und sang;

Es flog der wundersüße Schall

Den grünen Wald entlang.

Und wie er klang, - da stieg im Kreis

Aus tausend Kelchen Duft,

Und alle Wipfel rauschten leis’,

Und leiser ging die Luft;

Die Bäche schwiegen, die noch kaum

Geplätschert von den Höh’n,

Die Rehlein standen wie im Traum

Und lauschten dem Getön.

Und hell und immer heller floß

Der Sonne Glanz herein,

Um Blumen, Wald und Schlucht ergoß

Sich goldig roter Schein.

Ich aber zog den Wald entlang

Und hörte auch den Schall.

Ach! was seit jener Stund’ ich sang,

War nur sein Widerhall.

Love’s magic

English Translation © Richard Stokes

Love, as a nightingale,

Perched on a rosebush and sang;

The wondrous sound floated

Along the green forest.

And as it sounded, there arose a scent

From a thousand calyxes,

And all the treetops rustled softly,

And the breeze moved softer still;

The brooks fell silent, barely

Having babbled from the heights,

The fawns stood as if in a dream

And listened to the sound.

Brighter, and ever brighter

The sun shone on the scene,

And poured its red glow

Over flowers, forest and glen.

But I made my way along the path

And also heard the sound.

Ah! all that I’ve sung since that hour

Was merely its echo.

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

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Composer

Clara Schumann, née Clara Josephine Wieck, was a German musician and composer, consider by many to be one of the most disguished composers of the Romantic era. She composed a large body of work, including various piano concertos, chamber works, and choral pieces. She was married to Robert Schumann, and maintained a close relationship with Johannes Brahms.

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Poet

Emanuel Geibel

Emanuel von Geibel , German poet and playwright.
He was born at Lübeck, the son of a pastor. He was originally intended for his father's profession and studied at Bonn and Berlin, but his real interests lay not in theology but in classical and romance philology. In 1838 he accepted a tutorship at Athens, where he remained until 1840. In the same year he published, in conjunction with his friend Ernst Curtius, a volume of translations from Greek. His first poems were published in a volume entitled Zeitstimmen in 1841. In 1842 he entered the service of Frederick William IV, the king of Prussia, with an annual stipend of 300 thalers; under whom he produced König Roderich (1843), a tragedy, König Sigurds Brautfahrt (1846), an epic, and Juniuslieder (1848), lyrics in a more spirited and manlier style than his early poems.

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