English translations of Sechs Duette, opus 131

by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937)

1. Der Traum  [sung text not yet checked]
by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Der Traum", op. 131 (Sechs Duette) no. 1 [ duet for 2 voices with piano ]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Im schönsten Garten wallten
Zwei Buhlen, Hand in Hand,
Zwo bleiche kranke Gestalten,
Sie saßen in's Blumenland.

Sie küßten sich auf die Wangen,
Sie küßten sich auf den Mund,
Sie hielten sich fest umfangen,
Sie wurden jung und gesund.

Zwei Glöcklein klangen helle,
Der Traum entschwand zur Stund';
Sie lag in der Klosterzelle,
Er fern in Turmes Grund.

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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 124.


by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862)
1. The dream
Language: English 
In the most beautiful of gardens there wandered
Two lovers hand in hand,
Two pale, sick figures,
They sat in the flowery landscape.

They kissed each other's cheeks,
They kissed each other's lips,
They held each other tightly,
They became young and healthy.

Two little bells rang out brightly,
The dream vanished immediately;
She lay in the cell of a nunnery,
He far away in a deep dungeon.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2013 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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This text was added to the website: 2013-05-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 68

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
2. Morgengefühl
 (Sung text)
by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Morgengefühl", op. 131 (Sechs Duette) no. 2 [ duet for 2 voices with piano ]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Der Morgenröte Schein
Den neuen Tag verkündet,
Es steht der junge Hain
Von Liebesglut entzündet.

Die Sterne, Wanderns satt,
Sind längst hinabgestiegen,
Die Vögel an der Statt
Froh durch den Himmel fliegen.

Das arme Herz, voll Pein,
Ist bang und schwer befangen;
Es sitzt, ein Vögelein,
Krank hinter Eisenstangen.

Wohl hört es den Gesang,
Den frohen Flug der andern,
Da sitzt es, matt und krank,
Kann singen nicht, noch wandern;

Und meinte doch im Traum,
Das Haupt versteckt im Flügel,
Es säng' auf einem Baum,
Flög' über Tal und Hügel.

Erlisch, du Sonnenstrahl!
Nacht, komm emporgestiegen,
Daß über Berg und Tal
Wir wieder fröhlich fliegen!

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by Justinus (Andreas Christian) Kerner (1786 - 1862)
2. Feelings at morning
Language: English 
The red glow of the dawn
Heralds the new day,
The young grove stands
Alight with the glow of love.

The stars, weary of wandering,
Have long since set,
In their stead, birds
Fly joyfully through the heavens.

My poor heart, full of anguish,
Is caught up in anxiety and the weight of care;
It sits, a little bird,
Sick behind iron bars.

It hears the singing well,
[Sees] the joyous flight of others,
There it sits, [sick and anxious]1,
It can neither sing nor wander;

And yet in its dreams, with its head
Hidden in its wings, it fancies
It is singing upon a tree,
It is flying over valley and hills.

Extinguish, you sunbeam!
Night, come and arise,
So that over mountain and valley
We may once again fly joyously.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 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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1 Ashton: "feeble and sick"


This text was added to the website: 2014-08-19
Line count: 24
Word count: 132

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
3. Verborgenheit  [sung text not yet checked]
by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Verborgenheit", op. 131 (Sechs Duette) no. 3 [ duet for 2 voices with piano ]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Laß, o Welt, o laß mich sein!
Locket nicht mit Liebesgaben,
Laßt dies Herz alleine haben
Seine Wonne, seine Pein!

Was ich traure, weiß ich nicht,
Es ist unbekanntes Wehe;
Immerdar durch Tränen sehe
Ich der Sonne liebes Licht.

Oft bin ich mir kaum bewußt,
Und die helle Freude zücket
Durch die Schwere, so mich drücket,
Wonniglich in meiner Brust.

Laß, o Welt, o laß mich sein!
Locket nicht mit Liebesgaben,
Laßt dies Herz alleine haben
Seine Wonne, seine Pein!

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Confirmed with Eduard Mörike, Gedichte, Dramatisches, Erzählendes, Zweite, erweiterte Auflage, Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachf., 1961, page 101.

Note to stanza 3, line 3: in some anthologies this line is given erroneously as "Durch die Schwere, die mich drücket."


by Eduard Mörike (1804 - 1875)
3. Seclusion
Language: English 
Oh, world, let me be!
Entice me not with gifts of love.
Let this heart in solitude have
Your bliss, your pain!

What I mourn, I know not.
It is an unknown pain;
Forever through tears shall I see
The sun's love-light.

Often, I am scarcely conscious
And the bright joys break
Through the pain, thus pressing
Delightfully into my breast.

Oh, world, let me be!
Entice me not with gifts of love.
Let this heart in solitude have
Your bliss, your pain!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Paul Hindemith, (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 between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 83

Translation © by Paul Hindemith
4. Lebensgewinn  [sung text not yet checked]
by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Lebensgewinn", op. 131 (Sechs Duette) no. 4 [ duet for 2 voices with piano ]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Zwischen Schmerz und Freuden,
Leben, fließe hin!
Hab' ich doch von beiden
Reichlichsten Gewinn!

Gottes Schönheit seh' ich,
Wie ich froh bin, ein;
Holde Pflicht -- versteh' ich --
Soll mir Freude seyn.

Kommen dann die Schmerzen --
Kommt nur immerhin!
Lehrt bereitem Herzen
Kraft und Menschensinn!

So, in dunkler Tage,
Wie in heller, Lauf,
Baut, aus Lust und Klage,
Sich die Weisheit auf.

Rinne, Strom des Lebens,
Rinne nur so zu!
Kannst doch nicht vergebens,
Flücht'ge Welle, du!

Liebe war am Quelle,
Liebe war im Hain --
Liebe wird, o Welle!
Wo du landest, seyn.

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by Ernst Freiherr von Feuchtersleben (1806 - 1849)
4.
[Translation not yet available]
5. Abend am Meere  [sung text not yet checked]
by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Abend am Meere", op. 131 (Sechs Duette) no. 5 [ duet for 2 voices with piano ]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
O Meer im Abendstrahl,
[An]1 deiner stillen Fluth
Fühl' ich nach langer Qual
Mich wieder fromm und gut.

Das heiße Herz vergißt,
Woran sich's müd' gekämpft,
Und jeder Wehruf ist
Zu Melodie gedämpft.

Kaum daß ein [leises]2 Weh
Durchgleitet das Gemüth,
Wie durch die stumme See
Ein weißes Segel zieht.

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1 Liszt: "In"
2 omitted by S. Wagner

by Alfred von Meißner (1822 - 1885)
5. Evening by the sea
Language: English 
Oh sea in the evening light,
[Beside]1 your quiet waters
After long suffering I feel
Myself to be again pious and good.
 
The burning heart forgets
That for which it fought till it was weary,
And every exclamation of woe
Has been muted to a melody.
 
A [quiet]2 pain glides through the spirit
Almost as imperceptibly
As a white sail skims
Over the silent sea.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2011 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:
"Abend am Meere" = "Evening by the sea"
"O Meer im Abendstrahl" = "Oh sea in the evening light"

1 Liszt: "In"
2 omitted by S. Wagner


This text was added to the website: 2011-04-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 65

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
6. Frühlingsnacht  [sung text not yet checked]
by Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Frühlingsnacht", op. 131 (Sechs Duette) no. 6 [ duet for 2 voices with piano ]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
[Über'n]1 Garten durch die Lüfte
Hört' ich Wandervögel ziehn,
Das bedeutet Frühlingsdüfte,
Unten fängt's schon an zu blühn.

Jauchzen möcht' ich, möchte weinen,
Ist mir's doch, als könnt's nicht sein!
[Alte]2 Wunder wieder scheinen
Mit dem [Mondesglanz]3 herein.

Und der Mond, die Sterne sagen's,
Und im [Träumen]4 rauscht's der Hain,
Und die Nachtigallen schlagen's:
Sie ist deine! Sie ist dein!

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1 or "Über'm". Both versions are common in the literature. Gumbert and Sternberg use this, according to Hofmeister; further changes may exist not noted above.
2 Schumann, Dover score: "Alle" (however, often sung as "Alte")
3 Jensen: "Mondenglanz"
4 Jensen, Schumann: "Traume"

by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
6.
Language: English 
Above the [gardens]1 and across the sky
I heard migrating birds passing;
that meant that spring was in the air;
below, things are already beginning to bloom.

I could rejoice, I could weep -
I feel as though it cannot be!
Old wonders appear again
with the moonlight.

And the moon and stars say it,
and in a dream the grove murmurs it,
and the nightingales sing it:
she is yours! She is yours!

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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Translation of titles
"Frühlingsnacht" = "Spring night"
"Frühlingsbotschaft" = "Spring message"

1 or "garden" when the original is "Über'm"


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 73

Translation © by Emily Ezust