This song was recorded live at the Oxford Lieder Festival as part of Hugo Wolf: The Complete Songs on Stone Records.
Click here to listen to this song with Birgid Steinberger and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Ach, des Knaben Augen
German source:
Paul Heyse
Mir so schön und klar erschienen,
Und ein Etwas strahlt aus ihnen,
Das mein ganzes Herz gewinnt.
Blickt’ er doch mit diesen süssen
Augen nach den meinen hin!
Säh er dann sein Bild darin,
Würd’ er wohl mich liebend grüssen.
Und so geb’ ich ganz mich hin,
Seinen Augen nur zu dienen,
Denn ein Etwas strahlt aus ihnen,
Das mein ganzes Herz gewinnt.
Ah, the Infant's eyes
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
So beautiful and clear to me,
And a radiance streams from them
That captures my whole heart.
If only He would turn
Those sweet eyes on mine!
If He saw His image reflected there,
He would surely greet me lovingly.
So I surrender myself
To the sole service of His eyes,
For a radiance shines from them
That captures my whole heart.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Ach, des Knaben Augen
German source:
Paul Heyse
Ah, the Infant's eyes
English source:
Richard Stokes
Ach, des Knaben Augen sind
Ah, the Infant’s eyes seemed
Mir so schön und klar erschienen,
So beautiful and clear to me,
Und ein Etwas strahlt aus ihnen,
And a radiance streams from them
Das mein ganzes Herz gewinnt.
That captures my whole heart.
Blickt’ er doch mit diesen süssen
If only He would turn
Augen nach den meinen hin!
Those sweet eyes on mine!
Säh er dann sein Bild darin,
If He saw His image reflected there,
Würd’ er wohl mich liebend grüssen.
He would surely greet me lovingly.
Und so geb’ ich ganz mich hin,
So I surrender myself
Seinen Augen nur zu dienen,
To the sole service of His eyes,
Denn ein Etwas strahlt aus ihnen,
For a radiance shines from them
Das mein ganzes Herz gewinnt.
That captures my whole heart.
Composer
Hugo Wolf
Hugo Filipp Jakob Wolf was born on 13 March 1860, the fourth of six surviving children, in Windischgraz, Styria, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was taught the piano and violin by his father at an early age and continued to study piano at the…
Poet
Paul Heyse
Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse was a distinguished German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the Tunnel über der Spree in Berlin and Die Krokodile in Munich, he wrote novels, poetry, 177 short stories, and about sixty…