English translations of Fünf Lieder, opus 3

by Christian Fink (1831 - 1911)

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1. Vom Berge  [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Fink (1831 - 1911), "Vom Berge", op. 3 (Fünf Lieder) no. 1, published 1857 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner
Language: German (Deutsch) 
[Da]1 unten wohnte sonst mein Lieb,
Die ist jetzt schon begraben,
Der Baum noch vor der Türe blieb,
Wo wir gesessen haben.

Stets muß ich nach dem Hause sehn
Und seh doch nichts vor Weinen
Und wollt' ich auch hinuntergehn,
Ich stürb' dort so alleine!

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1 Hasse: "Dort"; further changes may exist not shown above.

by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
1. From the mountain
Language: English 
Down there once lived my love,
Who has now already been buried;
The tree still remains before the door
Where we used to sit.

I always want to see the house
And yet I see nothing through my tears
And if I wanted to go down too,
There I would die, utterly alone!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2022 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 title "Vom Berge" = "From the mountain"


This text was added to the website: 2022-06-27
Line count: 8
Word count: 53

Translation © by Emily Ezust
2. Der Abendstern  [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Fink (1831 - 1911), "Der Abendstern", op. 3 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2, published 1857 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Du lieblicher Stern,
Du leuchtest [so]1 fern,
Doch hab ich dich denoch 
Von Herzen so gern.

Wie lieb ich doch dich
So herzinniglich!
Dein funkelndes Äuglein
Blickt immer auf mich.

So blick ich nach dir,
Sei's dort oder hier:
Dein freundliches Äuglein
Steht immer vor mir.

Wie nickst du mir zu
In fröhlicher Ruh!
O liebliches Sternlein,
O wär ich wie du!

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1 Dresel, Friedland: "von"; further changes may exist in Friedland's text not shown above.

by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798 - 1874)
2. You lovely star
Language: English 
You lovely star,
You shine from afar,
And so I hold you
Dearly in my heart.

How I do love you
So deep in my heart!
Your twinkling eyes
Look ever on me.

So I look to on you,
As you are there or here:
Your friendly eyes
Stand ever before me.

How you nod at me
In peaceful rest!
O lovely little star,
O were I like you!

Text Authorship:

  • by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "You lovely star", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 69

Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)
3. Schäfers Klagelied  [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Fink (1831 - 1911), "Schäfers Klagelied", op. 3 (Fünf Lieder) no. 3, published 1857 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Da droben auf jenem Berge,
Da steh' ich tausendmal,
An meinem Stabe [gebogen]1
Und [schaue]2 hinab in das Thal.

Dann folg' ich der weidenden Herde,
Mein Hündchen bewahret mir sie.
Ich bin herunter gekommen
Und weiß doch selber nicht wie.

Da [stehet]3 von schönen Blumen
[Die]4 ganze Wiese so voll.
Ich breche sie, ohne zu wissen,
Wem ich sie geben soll.

Und Regen, Sturm und Gewitter
[Verpass']5 ich unter dem Baum.
Die Thüre dort bleibet verschlossen;
[Doch]6 alles ist leider ein Traum.

Es stehet ein Regenbogen
Wohl über jenem Haus!
Sie aber ist [weggezogen]7,
[Und weit]8 in das Land hinaus.

Hinaus in das Land und weiter,
Vielleicht gar über die See.
Vorüber, ihr Schafe, [vorüber]9!
Dem Schäfer ist gar so weh.

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Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 94-95, and with Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1804, Herausgegeben von Wieland und Goethe, Tübingen, in der Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, pages 113-114.

1 Schubert: "hingebogen"; Zelter: "bogen"
2 Schubert (only second version): "sehe"
3 Schubert (only second version): "steht"
4 Schubert: "Da steht die"
5 Zelter: "Vergeß'"
6 Schubert (only second version): "Und"
7 Schubert: "fortgezogen"; Zelter: "weg gezogen"
8 Schubert (only second version): "Gar weit"; Naumann: "Weit"
9 Schubert: "nur vorüber"

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
3. High upon that mountain
Language: English 
High upon that mountain,
I have stood a thousand times,
bowed over my staff
and gazing down into the valley.

I have followed my grazing flock,
my hound standing guard for me.
I have come down somehow
and I do not myself know how.

Full of lovely flowers stands
the whole meadow.
I pick them without knowing
whom I should give them to.

And rain, storm and thunder -
beneath the tree I wait for it to pass.
The door there remains closed,
for all is unfortunately a dream.

There stands a rainbow
arching over that house!
But she has gone,
and far away to distant reaches.

To distant reaches and further,
perhaps even across the sea.
It's all over, my sheep, it is simply all over!
It is such woe for your shepherd.

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.


Based on:

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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 133

Translation © by Emily Ezust
4. Vergissmeinnicht  [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Fink (1831 - 1911), "Vergissmeinnicht", op. 3 (Fünf Lieder) no. 4, published 1857 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Es [blüht]1 ein [schönes]2 [Blümchen]3
Auf [unsrer]4 grünen Au.
Sein Aug' ist wie der Himmel
So heiter und so blau.

[Es]5 weiß nicht viel zu reden
Und Alles, was es spricht,
Ist immer nur dasselbe,
Ist nur: [Vergißmeinnicht]6.

Wenn ich zwei Äuglein sehe
So heiter und so blau,
So denk' ich an mein Blümchen
Auf [unsrer]4 grünen Au.

Da kann [ich auch]7 nicht reden
Und nur mein Herze spricht,
So bange nur, so leise,
Und nur: Vergißmeinnicht.

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Confirmed with Gedichte von Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Neunte Auflage, Berlin: G. Grote'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1887, pages 15-16.

1 Fink: "ist"; further changes may exist not noted above.
2 Berger: "blaues"; further changes may exist not noted above.
3 Goltermann: "Blümlein"; further changes may exist not noted above.
4 Leberl: "unser"
5 Dresel: "Das"
6 Dresel: "Vergiss mein nicht"
7 Dresel: "auch ich"

by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798 - 1874)
4.
Language: English 
[A lovely floweret is blooming]1
Upon our green meadow.
Its eye is as fair and as blue
As the sky.

It does not have much to say,
And everything it speaks
Is always ever the same,
Is only: forget me not.

When I see two little eyes
So bright and so blue,
Then I think of my floweret
Upon our green meadow.

Then I, too, cannot speak
And only my heart speaks,
So anxiously only, so softly,
And only: forget me not.

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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Translations of title(s):
"Das Vergißmeinnicht" = "The forget-me-not"
"Das Vergissmeinnicht" = "The forget-me-not"
"Es blüht ein schönes Blümchen" = "A lovely floweret is blooming"
"Vergißmeinnicht" = "Forget-me-not"

1 Fink: "There is a lovely floweret"; further changes may exist not noted above.
2 Berger: "A blue floweret is blooming "; further changes may exist not noted above.


This text was added to the website: 2021-09-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 83

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
5. Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen  [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Fink (1831 - 1911), "Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen", op. 3 (Fünf Lieder) no. 5, published 1857 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen,
Das einst die Liebste sang,
[So will mir die Brust]1 zerspringen
[Vor]2 wildem [Schmerzendrang.]3

[Es treibt mich]4 ein dunkles Sehnen
Hinauf [zur]5 Waldeshöh',
Dort löst sich auf in Tränen
Mein übergroßes Weh'.

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Confirmed with Heinrich Heine, Buch der Lieder, Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg, 1827, page 145.

1 Meyerbeer: "Will mir das Herz"
2 Schumann: "Von"
3 Franz, Hinrichs: "Schmerzensdrang"
4 Meyerbeer: "Mich treibt"
5 Hinrichs: "zu der"

by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)
5. I hear the dear song sounding
Language: English 
I hear the dear song sounding
That once my beloved sang.
And my heart wants to burst so strongly
From the savage pressure of pain.

A dark longing is driving me
Up into the heights of the woods
Where in my tears can be dissolved
My own colossal woe.

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.
    Contact: 

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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 49

Translation © by Paul Hindemith