English translations of Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte, opus 24

by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872)

1. Herbstlied  [sung text not yet checked]
by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872), "Herbstlied", op. 24 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1853 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Mainz, Schott
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Feldeinwärts flog ein Vögelein
Und sang im muntern Sonnenschein
Mit süßem, wunderbaren Ton:
Ade, ich fliege nun davon,
      Weit! Weit!
  [Reis']1 ich noch heut!

Ich horchte auf den Feldgesang,
Mir ward so wohl und doch so bang,
Mit frohem Schmerz, mit trüber Lust
Stieg wechselnd bald und sank die Brust,
      Herz! Herz!
  [Brichst du vor Wonn' oder Schmerz?]2

[Doch als ich die Blätter]3 fallen sah,
Da [dacht]4 ich: Ach, der Herbst ist [da]5!
Der Sommergast, die Schwalbe zieht
Vielleicht so Lieb' und Sehnsucht flieht,
      Weit! weit!
  Rasch mit der Zeit!

Doch rückwärts kam der Sonnenschein,
Dicht [hinter]6 drauf das Vögelein,
Es sah mein tränend Angesicht
Und sang: die Liebe wintert nicht,
      Nein! Nein.
  [Ist und bleibt]7 Frühlingsschein!

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Note: in Fanny Hensel's score, on the repetition, stanza 3 line 4, word 6 becomes "zieht", which looks erroneous.

1 Draeseke: "Flieg"
2 Preis: "Brichst du vor Wonn'? Brichst du vor Schmerz?"
3 Preis: "Und als ich Blätter"; Oberthür, Schnaubelt: "Doch als ich Blätter"
4 Hensel: "sagt'"
5 Draeseke: "nah"
6 Barth, Hensel, Oberthür, Preis, Schnaubelt: "zu mir"
7 Preis: "Sie bleibt"

by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853)
1.
Language: English 
A little bird flew toward the field
And sang in the merry sunshine
With a sweet, wonderful sound:
Farewell now, I’m flying away,
Afar! Afar!
I’m leaving today!

I listened to his song out in the field,
I felt so well and yet so unsettled.
With a glad pain, with darkened joy
My wavering chest rapidly rose and sank,
Heart! Heart!
Are you breaking with pleasure or with pain?

Indeed, as I watched the leaves fall,
I thought: Ah, autumn has arrived!
The summer guest follows the swallow
Perhaps love and longing likewise flee,
Afar! Afar!
Quickly with the season!

Yet the sunshine came back,
And close behind it, the little bird,
He spied my tearful face
And sang: Love does not depart for winter,
No! No!
It is and remains the radiance of spring!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2022 by Michael P Rosewall, (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: 2022-06-27
Line count: 24
Word count: 135

Translation © by Michael P Rosewall
2. Schlaf ein
by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872), "Schlaf ein", op. 24 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1853 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Mainz, Schott
Language: German (Deutsch) 
— This text is not currently
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  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
2.
[Translation not yet available]
3. Wunsch
 (Sung text)
by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872), "Wunsch", op. 24 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1853 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Mainz, Schott
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ich hab' dich geliebt, du ahntest es nicht.
Ich wollte sprechen, ich durft' es nicht,
Ich harrte besserer Stunden.

Die besser'n Stunden, ich fand sie nicht,
Ein and'rer kam, er zögerte nicht.
Ich bin deinem Herzen entschwunden.

Wohl mag er dich lieben, ich weiss es nicht;
Ob treuer, als ich, ich glaub' es nicht.
O, hättest dein Glück du gefunden!

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by Robert Reinick (1805 - 1852)
3. Wish
Language: English 
I loved you, you didn’t suspect it,
I wanted to tell you, I dared not,
I waited for a more favorable time.

That more favorable time, I never found it,
Another person arrived, [he] didn’t hesitate.
I have vanished from your heart.

He may well love you, I do not know;
Whether more faithful than I? That I don’t believe.
Oh, would that you have found happiness!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2022 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 title(s):
"Ich hab' dich geliebt" = "I loved you"
"Wunsch" = "Wish"



This text was added to the website: 2022-12-22
Line count: 9
Word count: 67

Translation © by Michael P Rosewall
4. Du bist wie eine Blume  [sung text not yet checked]
by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872), "Du bist wie eine Blume", op. 24 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 4, published 1853 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Mainz, Schott
Language: German (Deutsch) 
  Du bist wie eine Blume
[So hold und schön und rein;]1
Ich [schau']2 dich an, und Wehmut
Schleicht mir ins Herz hinein.

  Mir ist, als [ob ich]3 die Hände
Aufs Haupt [dir]4 legen sollt',
[Betend]5, daß [Gott dich]6 erhalte
[So rein und schön und hold]7.

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Confirmed with: Heinrich Heine’s sämtliche Werke in vier Bänden, herausgegeben von Otto F. Lachmann, Erster Band, Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von Philipp Reclam jun, [1887], page 136.

1 Ander: "So schön, so rein und hold"; Chadwick: "So schön, so hold, so rein"; Mayer: "So hold, so schön und rein"; Becker, Thuille: "So hold, so schön, so rein"; Unger: "So rein so schön und hold"
2 Becker: "seh'"
3 Hinrichs: "ob"
4 Hinrichs: "ich dir"
5 Dreyschock: "und beten"
6 Liszt: "dich Gott"
7 Ander: "So hold und schön und rein"; Chadwick, Thuille: "So schön, so hold, so rein"; Mayer: "So rein, so schön und hold"; Becker: "So rein, so schön, so hold"

by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)
4. Thou art, as is a flower
Language: English 
Thou art, as is a flower,
so meek and pure and fine,
I look at thee and sadness
steals o'er the heart of mine.

I feel that both my hands softly
thy hair, thy head should seek,
praying that God may preserve thee
so pure and fine and meek.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2009 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

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This text was added to the website: 2009-08-10
Line count: 8
Word count: 49

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
5. In der Ferne  [sung text not yet checked]
by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872), "In der Ferne", op. 24 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 5, published 1853 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Mainz, Schott
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Will ruhen unter den Bäumen hier,
Die [Vögelein]1 hör' ich so gerne.
Wie [singet]2 ihr so zum Herzen mir!
Von [unsrer]3 Liebe was wisset ihr
In dieser weiten Ferne?

Will ruhen hier an des Baches Rand,
Wo [duftige Blümlein]4 sprießen.
Wer hat euch Blümlein, [hieher]5 gesandt?
Seid ihr ein [herzliches]6 Liebespfand
Aus der Ferne von meiner Süßen?

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1 Aggházy, Herrmann, Unger: "Vöglein"
2 Herrmann: "singt"
3 Andersson: "meiner"
4 Aggházy: "duftige Blumen"; Herrmann: "duft'ge Blumen"
5 Brahms, Andersson: "hierher"
6 Herrmann: "herzlich"

by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862)
5. Far away
Language: English 
I will rest under the trees here,
I enjoy listening to the little birds so much;
How can your singing affect my heart so!
What do you know of our love,
In this far-off place?

I will rest here on the edge of the brook,
Where fragrant little flowers sprout.
Who has sent you little blossoms here?
Are you a heartfelt pledge of love
From my far-off sweetheart?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 68

Translation © by Emily Ezust
6. Sterbeklänge  [sung text not yet checked]
by Emil Steinkühler (1821 - 1872), "Sterbeklänge", op. 24 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 6, published 1853 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Mainz, Schott
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Was wecken aus dem Schlummer mich
Für süße Klänge doch?
O Mutter, sieh! wer mag es sein,
[In]1 später Stunde noch?

"Ich [höre nichts, ich sehe]2 nichts,
O schlummre fort so lind!
Man bringt dir keine Ständchen [jetzt]3,
Du armes, krankes Kind!"

[Es ist nicht irdische Musik,
Was]4 mich so freudig macht;
Mich rufen Engel mit Gesang,
O Mutter, gute Nacht!

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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 141.

1 Randhartinger (song with string quartet): "In so"
2 Hensel: "sehe nichts, ich höre"; Randhartinger (song with string quartet): "höre nichts, ich höre"
3 Lang: "mehr"
4 Mendel: "Nicht irdische Musik ist es/ Das"

by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862)
6. The serenade
Language: English 
What sweet sounds awaken me
From my slumbers?
Oh mother, go see! Who might it be
At such a late hour yet?

"I don't hear anything, I don't see anything,
Oh, keep on slumbering so gently!
No one is coming to serenade you [now]1,
You poor sick child!"

It is not earthly music
That fills me with such joy.
The angels are calling me with song;
Oh mother, good night!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2021 by Sharon Krebs, (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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Translated titles:
"Das Ständchen" = "The serenade"
"Ständchen" = "Serenade"
"Was wecken aus dem Schlummer mich" = "What awakens me from slumber"

1 Lang: "anymore"


This text was added to the website: 2006-12-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 72

Translation © by Sharon Krebs