Text & Translation
Abendbild
source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Sanft umschlummert Natur, um ihre Züge
Schwebt der Dämmrung zarte Verhüllung, und sie
Lächelt, die holde;
Lächelt, ein schlummernd Kind in Vaters Armen,
Der voll Liebe zu ihr sich neigt; sein göttlich
Auge weilt auf ihr, und es weht sein Odem
Über ihr Antlitz.
Image of evening
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Nature gently falls asleep, around her features
Floats the soft veil of twilight, and she,
The gracious one, smiles;
Smiles, a slumbering child in the arms of her father,
Who bends lovingly over her; his divine
Eye dwells on her, and his breath passes
Over her countenance.
Abendbild
source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Image of evening
English source:
Richard Stokes
Friedlicher Abend senkt sich aufs Gefilde;
A peaceful evening descends on the fields;
Sanft umschlummert Natur, um ihre Züge
Nature gently falls asleep, around her features
Schwebt der Dämmrung zarte Verhüllung, und sie
Floats the soft veil of twilight, and she,
Lächelt, die holde;
The gracious one, smiles;
Lächelt, ein schlummernd Kind in Vaters Armen,
Smiles, a slumbering child in the arms of her father,
Der voll Liebe zu ihr sich neigt; sein göttlich
Who bends lovingly over her; his divine
Auge weilt auf ihr, und es weht sein Odem
Eye dwells on her, and his breath passes
Über ihr Antlitz.
Over her countenance.
Composer
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel
Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn (1805-47), was an exceptionally gifted musician whose potential was stifled by the gendered social conventions of her upper-middle-class background in mid-19th-century Berlin. She came from a wealthy and cultivated…
Poet
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the nom de plume of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau, a German-language Austrian poet. He was born at Schadat, now Lenauheim, Romania, then in Hungary. His father, a Habsburg government official, died in 1807 in…