Garden Songs

Translations © by Grant Hicks

by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847)

View original-language texts alone: Gartenlieder : Sechs Gesänge für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Bass

1. Hörst du nicht die Bäume rauschen
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Hörst du nicht die Bäume rauschen
Draußen durch die stille Rund?
Lockts dich nicht, hinabzulauschen
Von dem Söller in den Grund,
Wo die vielen Bäche gehen
Wunderbar im Mondenschein
Wo die stillen Schlösser sehen
In den Fluß vom hohen Stein?

Kennst du noch die irren Lieder
Aus der alten, schönen Zeit?
Sie erwachen alle wieder
Nachts in Waldeseinsamkeit,
Wenn die Bäume träumend lauschen
Und der Flieder duftet schwül
Und im Fluß die Nixen rauschen -
Komm herab, hier ist's so kühl.

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by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
1. Don't you hear the trees rustling
Language: English 
Don't you hear the trees rustling
Outside through the surrounding stillness?
Aren‘t you tempted to listen
Down from the balcony to the ground,
Where the many streams flow
Wondrously in the moonlight,
And the quiet castles look
Into the river from the high rock?

Do you still remember the sweet songs
From the beautiful olden days?
They all come awake again
At night in the solitude of the forest,
When the dreaming trees listen
And the lilac gives out a sensuous perfume
And in the river the water-sprites murmur,
"Come down, it's so cool here.”

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Gesang der Wasserfrauen" = "Song of the Mermaids"
"Hörst du nicht die Bäume rauschen" = "Don't you hear the trees rustling"
"Lockung" = "Temptation"
"Nachtgesang" = "Night Song"
"Schwüle Nächte" = "Sultry Nights"



This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 95

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Schöne Fremde
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
  Es rauschen die Wipfel und schauern,
Als machten zu dieser Stund'
Um die halbversunkenen Mauern
Die alten Götter die Rund'.

  Hier hinter den Myrtenbäumen
In heimlich dämmernder Pracht,
Was sprichst du wirr wie in Träumen
Zu mir, phantastische Nacht?

  Es funkeln auf mich alle Sterne
Mit glühendem Liebesblick,
Es redet trunken die Ferne
Wie vom künftigem, großem Glück!

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Confirmed with Gedichte von Joseph Freiherrn von Eichendorff, Halle an der Saale: Druck und Verlag von Otto Hendel, [no year], page 23.


by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
2. Beautiful Foreign Lands
Language: English 
The treetops rustle and tremble
As if at this very hour
Round the half-fallen walls
The old gods were circling.

Here beneath the myrtles
In secret twilight splendor
What are you saying in dreamlike confusion
To me, fantastic night?

All the stars twinkle at me
With love’s ardent glance,
Far-off lands speak drunkenly
Of future great fortune!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 57

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Im Herbste  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Seid gegrüßt mit Frühlingswonne,
Blauer Himmel, goldne Sonne!
Drüben auch aus Gartenhallen
Hör' ich frohe Saiten schallen.

Ahnest du, o Seele wieder
Sanfte, süße Frühlingslieder?
Sieh umher die falben Bäume!
Ach, es waren holde Träume.

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Confirmed with Uhlands Werke, Erster Teil, Gedichte, herausgegeben von Adalbert Silbermann, Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Co., [no year], page 27.


by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862)
3. In Autumn
Language: English 
Greetings to you with Spring's delight,
Blue heavens, golden sun!
Over there, also, from the garden hall
I hear joyous strings resounding.

Do you sense once more, O soul,
Gentle, sweet songs of spring?
Look around at the dun-colored trees!
Ah, they were lovely dreams.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Im Herbst" = "In Autumn"
"Im Herbste" = "In Autumn"



This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 8
Word count: 45

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. Morgengruß
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Schnell fliehen die Schatten der Nacht,
hell blühen die Matten in Pracht,
hoch rauschet der Wald in dem Glanze,
still lauschet ihm heimlich die Pflanze
im blütenverklärenden Tauen,
wie selig, den Morgen zu schauen.

Was fehlt noch dem goldenen Raum?
Komm, Liebchen, erfülle den Traum,
mein Lied tönt in wonnigem Rauschen,
o komm, wie die Blume zu lauschen,
es will dich mein liebendes Sehnen
betauen mit seligen Tränen.

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by Wilhelm Hensel (1794 - 1861)
4. Morning Greeting
Language: English 
The night's shadows quickly flee,
The meadows bloom brightly in splendor,
Up above, the forest murmurs in the radiance,
The plant listens in secretive silence,
In dew that transfigures its blossoms;
How blessed to behold the morning.

What more does the golden realm lack?
Come, my love, fulfill the dream,
My song sounds forth in blissful murmur,
O come, listen like the flowers,
My passionate yearning wishes
To bedew you with blessed tears.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 73

Translation © by Grant Hicks
5. Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald
Aus den tiefsten Gründen,
Droben wird der Herr nun bald
An die Sternlein zünden,
Wie so stille in den Schlünden,
Abendlich nur rauscht der Wald.

Alles geht zu seiner Ruh,
Wie die Welt verbrause,
Schauernd hört der Wandrer zu,
Sehnt sich tief nach Hause,
Hier in Waldes grüner Klause
Herz, geh' endlich auch zur Ruh!

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by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
5. In the evening the forest already murmurs
Language: English 
In the evening the forest [already]1 murmurs
From the depths of the land.
Above, the Lord will now soon
Set fire to the stars.
How quietly in the abysses,
In the evening the forest only murmurs.

All goes towards its rest,
[Forest and world cease their bustle]2;
Trembling, the wanderer listens,
Yearning deeply for home.
Here in the forest’s [green]3 cloister,
Heart, go also at last to rest.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Abendlich nur rauscht der Wald" = "In the evening the forest only murmurs"
"Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald" = "In the evening the forest already murmurs"
"Abendlied" = "Evening Song"
"Abends" = "In the Evening"
"Abends im Walde" = "In the Evening in the Forest"
"Abschied" = "Parting"

1 Fischer: "only"; further changes may exist not shown above.
2 Hensel: "As the world becomes calm"
3 Franz: "still"


This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 71

Translation © by Grant Hicks
6. Im Wald
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Im Wald, im hellen Sonnenschein
Wenn alle Knospen springen,
Dann mag ich gerne mittendrein
Eins singen.

Wie mir zu Muth in Leid und Lust,
Im Wachen und im Träumen,
Das stimm' ich an aus voller Brust
Den Bäumen.

Und sie verstehen mich gar fein,
Die Blätter alle lauschen,
Und fall'n am rechten Orte ein,
Mit Rauschen.

Und weiter wandelt Schall und Hall,
In Wipfeln, Fels und Büschen.
Hell schmettert auch Frau Nachtigall
Dazwischen.

Da fühlt die Brust am eignen Klang,
Sie darf sich was erkühnen --
O frische Lust: Gesang! Gesang
Im Grünen!

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Note: in Blumenthal's score there is a typo in stanza 2 line 3: word 4 is "gern" instead of "an".

by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884)
6. In the Forest
Language: English 
In the forest, in the bright sunshine,
When all the buds spring forth,
[There]1 I would gladly in their midst
Be singing.

How I feel in sorrow and joy,
In waking and in dreaming,
I sing forth with a full heart
To the trees.

And they understand me full well,
The leaves all listen,
And join in at the right place
With rustling.

And sound and echo travel further 
In treetops, crag, and bushes,
Lady Nightingale also warbles brightly
In their midst.

There the heart feels from its own sound
That it may venture something —
O [fresh joy:  Singing!  Singing]2
In the countryside.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Gesang im Grünen" = "Singing in the Countryside"
"Gesang im Grünen von Em. Geibel" = "Song in the Countryside by Em. Geibel"
"Im Grünen" = "IN the Countryside"
"Im Wald" = "In the Forest"
"Im Walde" = "In the Forest"
"Im Wald, im hellen Sonnenschein" = "In the forest, in the bright sunshine"
"Waldgesang" = "Forest Song"
"Waldlied" = "Forest Song"

1 Hensel, Raff, Sahr, Thuille: "Then"
2 Randhartinger, Thuille: "fresh breeze: Singing! Singing"; Zöllner: "fresh, happy song of joy"


This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 20
Word count: 106

Translation © by Grant Hicks