Songs

Gudmunds zweiter Gesang

by Hugo Wolf From Drei Gesänge aus Ibsens ,,Das Fest auf Solhaug“ (1890)

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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

Gudmunds zweiter Gesang
German source: Henrik Ibsen

Ich fuhr wohl über Wasser
Und in die Ferne weit,
Als ich zurück zur Heimat kam,
Freit' ich die schönste Maid.

Es war die Elfenfraue,
Die tät's mit Zürnen seh'n,
Und nimmer soll sein feines Lieb
Mit ihm zur Kirche geh'n.

Hör' an, du Elfenfraue,
Lass fahren die Beschwer!
Zwei Herzen, die sich lieben,
Die trennst du nimmermehr!

Emma Klingenfeld (1846-1935) after Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Gudmund's second song
English translation © Richard Stokes

I sailed across the water
And far away;
When I returned to my homeland,
I wooed the loveliest maiden.

But the elf-woman
Looked angrily on –
Never, she said, would his love
Go to church with him.

Listen, you elf-woman,
And complain no more!
If two hearts are in love,
You will never part them.

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

Gudmunds zweiter Gesang
German source: Henrik Ibsen

Gudmund's second song
English source: Richard Stokes

Ich fuhr wohl über Wasser
I sailed across the water
Und in die Ferne weit,
And far away;
Als ich zurück zur Heimat kam,
When I returned to my homeland,
Freit' ich die schönste Maid.
I wooed the loveliest maiden.

Es war die Elfenfraue,
Die tät's mit Zürnen seh'n,
Und nimmer soll sein feines Lieb
Mit ihm zur Kirche geh'n.

Hör' an, du Elfenfraue,
Lass fahren die Beschwer!
Zwei Herzen, die sich lieben,
Die trennst du nimmermehr!

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…

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