Viola d'amour | Fair queen of the fiddles

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by Gustav Falke (1853 - 1916)

Translation © by Malcolm Wren

Viola d'amour

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Holde Königin der Geigen,
der die Liebe Namen lieh,
Liebe spielt dich zart und eigen,
lockt und löst aus Traum und Schweigen
süße Melodie.

Liebesgeige, alles schönen,
alles tiefsten Zaubers reich,
Schmerz und Schmerzen zu versöhnen,
stimmst du mit den Silbertönen
Herz zu Herzen weich.

Und ich hör' dein Liedchen singen,
wie ein Hauch, ein Seufzer nur,
schwirrt es, und die Lüfte klingen
zärtlich unter seinen Schwingen,
Viola d'amour!

Confirmed with Gesammelte Dichtungen von Gustav Falke, Dritter Band: Der Frühlingsreiter, Hamburg und Berlin, Alfred Janssen, 1912, pages 16-17.

Text Authorship:

by Gustav Falke (1853 - 1916), "Viola d'amour" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Hermann von Glenck (1883 - 1952), "Viola d'amour", op. 1 (Vier Lieder) no. 1 (1901) [sung text not yet checked]
by Max Reger (1873 - 1916), "Viola d'amour", op. 55 (Fünfzehn Lieder) no. 11 (1901) [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Viola d'amor", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Malcolm Wren) , "Viola d'amour", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Viole d'amour", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 69

Viola d'amour

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Fair queen of the fiddles
who borrowed the name of love,
Love plays you. Tenderly and strangely,
out of dreams and silence, it lures and releases
sweet melodies.

Love's fiddle, rich in everything beautiful,
rich in deepest magic,
atoning for pain and wounds,
you speak with silver tones
to soften hearts.

And I hear your song singing,
like a breath, like a sigh now,
it buzzes, and the breezes resound
softly under its wings,
Viola d'amore!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2005 by Malcolm Wren, (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 Gustav Falke (1853 - 1916), "Viola d'amour"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2005-04-11
Line count: 15
Word count: 76