Songs
Gudmunds erster Gesang
by Hugo Wolf From Drei Gesänge aus Ibsens ,,Das Fest auf Solhaug“ (1890)
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 Quirijn de Lang and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Gudmunds erster Gesang
German source:
Henrik Ibsen
Da zwitscherten ringsum die Vöglein im Walde.
So hell erscholl ihr lustiges Lied.
Hör' an, hör' an, wie die Liebe im Herzen erblüht!
Sie wächst wie die Eiche wohl Jahre lang,
Sie nährt sich von Sorgen, von Traum und Gesang,
Sie keimet geschwind, in der flüchtigsten Stund'
Fasset sie Wurzel im Herzensgrund!
Emma Klingenfeld (1846-1935) after Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
Gudmund's first song
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
The birds all around twittered in the wood,
So clearly their cunning song resounded:
Listen how love blossoms in the heart!
It grows like the oak for many a year,
It feeds off sorrow and dreams and song,
It flowers swiftly, in the most fleeting hour
It takes root deep within the heart.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Gudmunds erster Gesang
German source:
Henrik Ibsen
Gudmund's first song
English source:
Richard Stokes
Ich wandelte sinnend allein auf der Halde
Pensively I wandered alone on the hillside,
Da zwitscherten ringsum die Vöglein im Walde.
The birds all around twittered in the wood,
So hell erscholl ihr lustiges Lied.
So clearly their cunning song resounded:
Hör' an, hör' an, wie die Liebe im Herzen erblüht!
Listen how love blossoms in the heart!
Sie wächst wie die Eiche wohl Jahre lang,
It grows like the oak for many a year,
Sie nährt sich von Sorgen, von Traum und Gesang,
It feeds off sorrow and dreams and song,
Sie keimet geschwind, in der flüchtigsten Stund'
It flowers swiftly, in the most fleeting hour
Fasset sie Wurzel im Herzensgrund!
It takes root deep within the heart.
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
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential…