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 Geraldine McGreevy and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken
German source:
Paul Heyse
Auch kleine Dinge können teuer sein.
Bedenkt, wie gern wir uns mit Perlen schmücken;
Sie werden schwer bezahlt und sind nur klein.
Bedenkt, wie klein ist die Olivenfrucht,
Und wird um ihre Güte doch gesucht.
Denkt an die Rose nur, wie klein sie ist
Und duftet doch so lieblich, wie ihr wisst.
Even small things can delight us,
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Even small things can be precious.
Think how gladly we deck ourselves with pearls;
They fetch a great price but are only small.
Think how small the olive is,
And yet it is prized for its goodness.
Think only of the rose, how small it is,
And yet smells so lovely, as you know.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken
German source:
Paul Heyse
Even small things can delight us,
English source:
Richard Stokes
Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken,
Even small things can delight us,
Auch kleine Dinge können teuer sein.
Even small things can be precious.
Bedenkt, wie gern wir uns mit Perlen schmücken;
Think how gladly we deck ourselves with pearls;
Sie werden schwer bezahlt und sind nur klein.
They fetch a great price but are only small.
Bedenkt, wie klein ist die Olivenfrucht,
Think how small the olive is,
Und wird um ihre Güte doch gesucht.
And yet it is prized for its goodness.
Denkt an die Rose nur, wie klein sie ist
Think only of the rose, how small it is,
Und duftet doch so lieblich, wie ihr wisst.
And yet smells so lovely, as you know.
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…
Performances
Previously performed at:
- Grieg, Strauss & Berlioz: Ailish Tynan & James Baillieu 28 Mar 2020
- Young Artist Platform: Harriet Burns & Michael Pandya 21 Oct 2018
- Mastercourse Day One 23 Oct 2017
- Mahler: Reader, Thinker, Composer: Christina Sidak & Deirdre Brenner 22 Oct 2017