English translations of Vier Eichendorff'sche Lieder für 1 mittlere Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, opus 56

Die Abendglocken [klangen]1
  Schon durch das stille Thal,
Da saßen wir zusammen
  Da droben wohl hundertmal.

Und unten war's so stille
  Im Lande weit und breit,
Nur über uns die Linde
  Rauscht' durch die Einsamkeit.

Was gehn die Glocken heute,
  Als ob ich weinen müßt'?
Die Glocken, die bedeuten
  Daß mein Lieb' gestorben ist!

Ich wollt', ich läg' begraben,
  Und über mir rauschte weit
Die Linde jeden Abend
  Von [der alten, schönen]2 Zeit!

The evening bells were already
  [Ringing]1 in the quiet valley
When we sat together
  Up there, surely a hundred times.
 
And down below it was so quiet
  In the countryside far and wide,
Only the linden tree above us
  Soughed in the solitude.
 
How are the bells ringing today
  As if I must weep?
The bells signify
  That my love has died!
 
I wish that I lay buried
  And that above me broadly [spread out]
The linden tree soughed every evening
  Of [the old, beautiful time]2.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2015 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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Based on:

• a text in German (Deutsch) by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Vesper", appears in Gedichte, in 5. Totenopfer
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Translated titles:
"Vesper" = "Vespers"
"Die Abendglocken" = "Evening bells"
¹ Spohr: "sounding"; further changes may exist not shown above.
¹ Thelen: "olden and beautiful times"

This text was added to the website: 2015-06-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 89

Was ist mir denn so wehe?
  Es liegt ja wie im Traum
Der Grund schon, wo ich stehe,
  Die Wälder säuseln kaum
Noch von der dunklen Höhe.
  Es komme wie es will,
Was ist mir denn so wehe -
  Wie bald wird alles still.

What is it that pains me so?
 It lies as if already in a dream,
The ground upon which I stand;
 The forests are hardly soughing
Still from the dark heights.
 Come what may,
What is it that pains me so -
 How soon everything becomes quiet.

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.
  Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
  
  

Based on:

• a text in German (Deutsch) by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 5. Totenopfer, in Auf meines Kindes Tod, no. 3
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Translated titles:
"Auf meines Kindes Tod" = "On the Death of My Child"
"Was ist mir denn so wehe?" = "What is it that pains me so?"
"Wehmuth" = "Melancholy"
"Traum" = "Dream"

This text was added to the website: 2013-08-08
Line count: 8
Word count: 46

Mein liebes Kind, ade!
Ich konnt' ade nicht sagen
Als sie dich fortgetragen,
Vor tiefem, tiefem Weh.
 
[Jetzt]1 auf lichtgrünem Plan
Stehst du im Myrtenkranze,
Und lächelst aus dem Glanze
Mich still voll Mitleid an.
 
Und Jahre nahn und gehn,
Wie bald bin ich verstoben -
O bitt für mich da droben,
Daß wir uns wiedersehn!

My dear child, adieu!
I could not say adieu
When they carried you away,
Because of [my] deep, deep sorrow.

Now upon a bright green plain
You stand wearing a myrtle wreath,
And from out the brightness you
Quietly smile at me, full of sympathy.

And years approach and pass,
How soon shall I be dispersed --
Oh entreat for me there above,
That we may see each other again.

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.
  Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
  
  

Based on:

• a text in German (Deutsch) by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 5. Totenopfer, in Auf meines Kindes Tod, no. 10
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English poem title: 10. of "On the Death of My Child"
English song title (Fieletz, Kiel): My dear child, adieu!
English song title (Herzogenberg): Adieu!

This text was added to the website: 2013-08-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 69

Schwirrend Tamburin, dich schwing ich,
Doch mein Herz ist weit von hier.

Tamburin, ach könntst du's wissen,
Wie mein Herz von Schmerz zerrissen,
Deine Klänge würden müssen
Weinen um mein Leid mit mir.

Weil das Herz mir will zerspringen,
Laß ich hell die Schellen klingen,
Die Gedanken zu versingen
Aus des Herzens Grunde mir.

Schöne [Herren]1, tief im Herzen
Fühl ich immer neu die Schmerzen,
Wie ein Angstruf ist mein Scherzen,
Denn mein Herz ist weit von hier.

Whirring tambourine, I swing you,
But my heart is far from here.

Tambourine, ah, if you could know
How my heart is torn with pain,
Your sounds would have to weep
With me over my sorrow.

Because my heart is bursting,
I let the jingles1 ring out brightly,
To sing away the thoughts
From the depths of my heart.

[Handsome men]2, deep in my heart
I feel the pain ever anew,
My jesting is like a cry of fear,
For my heart is far from here.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 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.
  Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
  
  

Based on:

• a text in German (Deutsch) by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Die Musikantin", appears in Gedichte, in 8. Aus dem Spanischen
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Based on:

• a text in Spanish (Español) by Alvaro Fernandez de Almeida
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Translated titles:
"Die Musikantin" = "The musician"
"Tamburinschlägerin" = "Tambourine player"
"Die Tamburinschlägerin" = "The tambourine player"

¹ The metal plates set into the rim of a tambourine
² "Mistress" (Sommer views the last stanza as an answer by the musical instrument. On the score it is marked "Die Gegenrede des Tamburins ist sehr zart vorzutragen" (The response of the tambourine is to be performed very delicately).

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 89