English translations of Two songs, opus 1
by John Herbert Foulds (1880 - 1939)
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.
Text Authorship:
- by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 47, first published 1825
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View original text (without footnotes)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"
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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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 47, first published 1825
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This text was added to the website: 2009-08-10
Line count: 8
Word count: 49
Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with stars to see, Bread I dip in the river - There's the life for a man like me, There's the life for ever. Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o'er me; Give the face of earth around And the road before me. Wealth I seek not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I seek, the heaven above And the road below me. Or let autumn fall on me Where afield I linger, Silencing the bird on tree, Biting the blue finger. White as meal the frosty field - Warm the fireside haven - Not to autumn will I yield, Not to winter even! Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o'er me; Give the face of earth around, And the road before me. Wealth I [ask]1 not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I ask, the heaven above And the road below me.
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The vagabond", subtitle: "To an air of Schubert", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 1, first published 1896
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with The Complete Poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson: A Child's Garden of Verses, e-artnow, 2015 (via Google Books).
Note: "lave" = "that which is left"1 Dunhill: "seek"