Songs

Anakreons Grab

by Hugo Wolf From Goethe-Lieder (1891)

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Text & Translation

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Anakreons Grab
German source: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wo die Rose hier blüht, wo Reben um Lorbeer sich schlingen,
Wo das Turtelchen lockt, wo sich das Grillchen ergötzt,
Welch ein Grab ist hier, das alle Götter mit Leben
Schön bepflanzt und geziert? Es ist Anakreons Ruh.
Frühling, Sommer und Herbst genoß der glückliche Dichter;
Vor dem Winter hat ihn endlich der Hügel geschützt.

Anacreon’s Grave
English translation © Richard Stokes

Where the rose is in flower, where vine interlaces with laurel,
Where the turtle-dove calls, where the cricket rejoices,
Whose grave is this that all the gods have decked with life
And beautiful plants? It is Anacreon’s resting place.
The happy poet savoured spring, summer and autumn;
This mound has at the last protected him from winter.

Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Anakreons Grab
German source: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Anacreon’s Grave
English source: Richard Stokes

Wo die Rose hier blüht, wo Reben um Lorbeer sich schlingen,
Where the rose is in flower, where vine interlaces with laurel,
Wo das Turtelchen lockt, wo sich das Grillchen ergötzt,
Where the turtle-dove calls, where the cricket rejoices,
Welch ein Grab ist hier, das alle Götter mit Leben
Whose grave is this that all the gods have decked with life
Schön bepflanzt und geziert? Es ist Anakreons Ruh.
And beautiful plants? It is Anacreon’s resting place.
Frühling, Sommer und Herbst genoß der glückliche Dichter;
The happy poet savoured spring, summer and autumn;
Vor dem Winter hat ihn endlich der Hügel geschützt.
This mound has at the last protected him from winter.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on…

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