LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,107)
  • Text Authors (19,481)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

Six Songs : the words from 'New Spring' by H. Heine , opus 31

by George Frederick Boyle (1886 - 1948)

1. The blue starred eyes of springtime  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
The blue-starred eyes of springtime;
 Peep from the grass around,
They are the gentle violets
  Which to a wreath I bound.

I ponder as I break them,
 And all that hidden tale
Of heartfelt love and longing
 Sings loud the nightingale.

Yea, what I think she chanteth
 Gladly in joyous tone;
I fear my tender secret
 To all the wood is known.

Text Authorship:

  • by Franz Hüffer (1843 - 1889), "Die blauen Frühlingsaugen", appears in Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine, ed. by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker, London: Walter Scott, Limited, page 196, first published 1887

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Neuer Frühling, no. 13
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

2. Softly and gently through my soul  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
[Soft]1 and gently through my soul
 Sweetest bells are ringing,
Speed you forth, my little song,
 Of springtime blithely singing!

Speed you onward to a house
 Where sweet flowers are fleeting!
If, perchance, a rose you see,
 Say, I send her greeting!

Text Authorship:

  • Singable translation by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker (1845 - 1904), "Leise zieht durch mein Gemüt", appears in Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine, ed. by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker, London: Walter Scott, Limited, page 194, first published 1887

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Neuer Frühling, no. 6
    • Go to the text page.

See other settings of this text.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Hadley: "Softly"; further changes may exist not shown above.

3. What brings thee out in the sweet spring night?  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
What brings thee out in the sweet spring night,
To make the flowers half mad with fright?
  The violets are all of a flutter.
The roses for very shame are red,
The lilies -- pale as are the dead --
  Impeach thee, beseech thee, and stutter.

O thou dear Moon, of what pious sect
Are then the flowers, that they detect
  My crimes without further token?
How could I know they had listened and heard
Each glowing, each love-besotted word
  That I with the stars had spoken?

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily (Jane Davis) Pfeiffer (1827 - 1890), "Was treibt dich umher, in der Frühlingsnacht?", appears in Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine, ed. by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker, London: Walter Scott, Limited, pages 197-198, first published 1887

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Neuer Frühling, no. 17
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

4. When by chance you cross my path  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
When by chance you cross my path,
  And your dress but touches me,
Bounding goes my gladdened heart,
  And I fain would follow thee.

When you turn to give me greeting --
  Greeting from large eyes to me
Fills my heart so full of terror
  That I dare not follow thee.

Text Authorship:

  • by J. Snodgrass , "Wenn du mir vorüberwandelst", appears in Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine, ed. by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker, London: Walter Scott, Limited, page 197, first published 1887

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Neuer Frühling, no. 14
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

5. Golden stars across the heavens  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Golden stars across the heavens
 With their small feet softly creep,
Fearing lest they should awaken
 Mother Earth, who lies asleep.

Listening stand the silent forests,
 Every leaf a little ear,
And, as in a dream, the mountain
 Shadow-arms outstretches near.

But who called? -- I heard an echo;
 Through my listening heart it fell.
Could it be her voice -- or was it
 Nothing but the nightingale?

Text Authorship:

  • by Alma Strettell (1856 - 1939), "Güldne Sternlein schauen nieder", appears in Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine, ed. by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker, London: Walter Scott, Limited, page 201, first published 1887

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Neuer Frühling, no. 37
    • Go to the text page.

See other settings of this text.

6. The elves' ride
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
In the forest moonbeam-brightened,
Late last night the elves were riding,
Horns and silver bells resounded
As their throng went past me gliding.

From the foreheads of their horses
Golden antlers were extending,
Swiftly, through the air, like swan-birds
They their rapid way were wending.

Graciously the elf queen beckoned,
On her palfrey backward leaning; --
Did she smile at my new passion,
Or was doom and death her meaning?

Text Authorship:

  • Singable translation by Franz Hüffer (1843 - 1889), "Durch den Wald, im Mondenscheine", appears in Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine, ed. by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker, London: Walter Scott, Limited, page 200, first published 1887

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Neuer Frühling, no. 32
    • Go to the text page.

See other settings of this text.

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris