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 Sarah-Jane Brandon and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Ernst ist der Frühling
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Sind traurig, jede Blume schaut
Von Schmerz bewegt, es bebt geheime
Wehmut im Nachtigallenlaut.
O lächle nicht, geliebte Schöne,
So freundlich heiter, lächle nicht!
O weine lieber! eine Träne
Küss’ ich so gern dir vom Gesicht.
Solemn is the spring
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Are sad, every flower seems
To tremble with pain, the song of the nightingale
Quivers with sadness.
O do not smile, my fair beloved,
Do not smile so cheerfully!
O rather weep! I would love so dearly
To kiss from your face a tear.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Ernst ist der Frühling
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Solemn is the spring
English source:
Richard Stokes
Ernst ist der Frühling, seine Träume
Solemn is the spring, its dreams
Sind traurig, jede Blume schaut
Are sad, every flower seems
Von Schmerz bewegt, es bebt geheime
To tremble with pain, the song of the nightingale
Wehmut im Nachtigallenlaut.
Quivers with sadness.
O lächle nicht, geliebte Schöne,
O do not smile, my fair beloved,
So freundlich heiter, lächle nicht!
Do not smile so cheerfully!
O weine lieber! eine Träne
O rather weep! I would love so dearly
Küss’ ich so gern dir vom Gesicht.
To kiss from your face a tear.
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
Heinrich Heine
Heine was born of Jewish parents. Much of his early life was influenced by the financial power of his uncle Salomon Heine, a millionaire Hamburg banker, with whom he remained on an awkward footing for many years. After he had been educated in the…