Songs
Beherzigung I (Feiger Gedanken)
by Hugo Wolf From Sechs Gedichte von Scheffel, Mörike, Goethe und Kerner (1887) 1883-87
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 William Berger and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Beherzigung I (Feiger Gedanken)
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Bängliches Schwanken,
Weibisches Zagen,
Ängstliches Klagen
Wendet kein Elend,
Macht dich nicht frei.
Allen Gewalten
Zum Trutz sich erhalten,
Nimmer sich beugen,
Kräftig sich zeigen,
Rufet die Arme
Der Götter herbei!
Take this to heart
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Fearful hesitation,
Womanish timidity,
Anxious lamenting
Will not avert sorrow,
Will not make you free.
If you defy
All force,
If you never surrender,
If you show strength –
That will bring
The help of the gods!
Beherzigung I (Feiger Gedanken)
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Take this to heart
English source:
Richard Stokes
Feiger Gedanken
Cowardly thoughts,
Bängliches Schwanken,
Fearful hesitation,
Weibisches Zagen,
Womanish timidity,
Ängstliches Klagen
Anxious lamenting
Wendet kein Elend,
Will not avert sorrow,
Macht dich nicht frei.
Will not make you free.
Allen Gewalten
If you defy
Zum Trutz sich erhalten,
All force,
Nimmer sich beugen,
If you never surrender,
Kräftig sich zeigen,
If you show strength –
Rufet die Arme
That will bring
Der Götter herbei!
The help of the gods!
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…