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 Benjamin Hulet and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Frühlingsgrüsse
German source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Da bringt Frühveilchen mir ein bettelnd Kind.
Es ist betrübt, dass so den ersten Gruss
Des Frühlings mir das Elend bringen muss.
Und doch der schönen Tage Liebespfand
Ist mir noch werter aus des Unglücks Hand.
So bringt dem Nachgeschlechte unser Leid
Die Frühlingsstimmen einer bessern Zeit.
Spring greetings
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
A beggar child then brings me early violets.
It is sad that spring’s first greeting
Must be brought to me by misery.
And yet the love-token of happy days
Is more precious when given by misfortune.
And so our pain hands to those who follow
The spring voices of happier times.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Frühlingsgrüsse
German source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Spring greetings
English source:
Richard Stokes
Nach langem Frost, wie weht die Luft so lind!
How gently, after long frosts, the breezes blow!
Da bringt Frühveilchen mir ein bettelnd Kind.
A beggar child then brings me early violets.
Es ist betrübt, dass so den ersten Gruss
It is sad that spring’s first greeting
Des Frühlings mir das Elend bringen muss.
Must be brought to me by misery.
Und doch der schönen Tage Liebespfand
And yet the love-token of happy days
Ist mir noch werter aus des Unglücks Hand.
Is more precious when given by misfortune.
So bringt dem Nachgeschlechte unser Leid
And so our pain hands to those who follow
Die Frühlingsstimmen einer bessern Zeit.
The spring voices of happier times.
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
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the nom de plume of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau, a German-language Austrian poet. He was born at Schadat, now Lenauheim, Romania, then in Hungary. His father, a Habsburg government official, died in 1807 in…