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 Neal Davies and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Harfenspieler III
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wer nie die kummervollen Nächte
Auf seinem Bette weinend sass,
Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte!
Ihr führt ins Leben uns hinein,
Ihr lasst den Armen schuldig werden,
Dann überlasst ihr ihn der Pein:
Denn alle Schuld rächt sich auf Erden.
The Harper III
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Who never throughout sorrowful nights,
Sat weeping on his bed,
He knows not you, Heavenly Powers.
You bring us into life,
The poor man you let fall into guilt,
Then leave him to his pain:
For all guilt is suffered for on earth.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Harfenspieler III
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Harper III
English source:
Richard Stokes
Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass,
Who never ate his bread in tears,
Wer nie die kummervollen Nächte
Who never throughout sorrowful nights,
Auf seinem Bette weinend sass,
Sat weeping on his bed,
Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte!
He knows not you, Heavenly Powers.
Ihr führt ins Leben uns hinein,
You bring us into life,
Ihr lasst den Armen schuldig werden,
The poor man you let fall into guilt,
Dann überlasst ihr ihn der Pein:
Then leave him to his pain:
Denn alle Schuld rächt sich auf Erden.
For all guilt is suffered for on earth.
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…