Songs

Auf eine Christblume II, "Im Winterboden schläft"

by Hugo Wolf From Mörike-Lieder

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This song was recorded live at the Oxford Lieder Festival as part of Hugo Wolf: The Complete Songs on Stone Records.

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Text & Translation

View IPA

Auf eine Christblume II, "Im Winterboden schläft"
German source: Eduard Mörike

Im Winterboden schläft, ein Blumenkeim,
Der Schmetterling, der einst um Busch und Hügel
In Frühlingsnächten wiegt den samtnen Flügel;
Nie soll er kosten deinen Honigseim.

Wer aber weiss, ob nicht sein zarter Geist,
Wenn jede Zier des Sommers hingesunken,
Dereinst, von deinem leisen Dufte trunken,
Mir unsichtbar, dich blühende umkreist?

On a Christmas rose II, "There sleeps within the wintry ground"
English translation © Richard Stokes

There sleeps within the wintry ground, itself a flower-seed,
The butterfly that one day over hill and dale
Will flutter its velvet wings in spring nights.
Never shall it taste your liquid honey.

But who knows if perhaps its gentle ghost,
When summer’s loveliness has faded,
Might some day, dizzy with your faint fragrance,
Unseen by me, circle you as you flower?

Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Auf eine Christblume II, "Im Winterboden schläft"
German source: Eduard Mörike

On a Christmas rose II, "There sleeps within the wintry ground"
English source: Richard Stokes

Im Winterboden schläft, ein Blumenkeim,
There sleeps within the wintry ground, itself a flower-seed,
Der Schmetterling, der einst um Busch und Hügel
The butterfly that one day over hill and dale
In Frühlingsnächten wiegt den samtnen Flügel;
Will flutter its velvet wings in spring nights.
Nie soll er kosten deinen Honigseim.
Never shall it taste your liquid honey.

Wer aber weiss, ob nicht sein zarter Geist,
But who knows if perhaps its gentle ghost,
Wenn jede Zier des Sommers hingesunken,
When summer’s loveliness has faded,
Dereinst, von deinem leisen Dufte trunken,
Might some day, dizzy with your faint fragrance,
Mir unsichtbar, dich blühende umkreist?
Unseen by me, circle you as you flower?

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

Eduard Mörike

Eduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet. Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike (d. 1817), a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer. He attended the Latin school at Ludwigsburg, and the…

Performances

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