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 Mark Stone and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Ich liess mir sagen und mir ward erzählt
German source:
Paul Heyse
Der schöne Toni hungre sich zu Tode;
Seit ihn so überaus die Liebe quält,
Nimmt er auf einen Backzahn sieben Brote.
Nach Tisch, damit er die Verdauung stählt,
Verspeist er eine Wurst und sieben Brote,
Und lindert nicht Tonina seine Pein,
Bricht nächstens Hungersnot und Teurung ein.
I inquired and have been informed
German translation ©
Richard Stokes
That handsome Toni’s starving himself to death;
Ever since love’s tormented him so cruelly,
He eats seven loaves to a molar.
After meals, to steel his digestion,
He devours a sausage and seven loaves,
And if Tonina doesn’t ease his pain,
There’ll soon be an outbreak of famine and rising prices.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Ich liess mir sagen und mir ward erzählt
German source:
Paul Heyse
I inquired and have been informed
German source:
Richard Stokes
Ich liess mir sagen und mir ward erzählt,
I inquired and have been informed
Der schöne Toni hungre sich zu Tode;
That handsome Toni’s starving himself to death;
Seit ihn so überaus die Liebe quält,
Ever since love’s tormented him so cruelly,
Nimmt er auf einen Backzahn sieben Brote.
He eats seven loaves to a molar.
Nach Tisch, damit er die Verdauung stählt,
After meals, to steel his digestion,
Verspeist er eine Wurst und sieben Brote,
He devours a sausage and seven loaves,
Und lindert nicht Tonina seine Pein,
And if Tonina doesn’t ease his pain,
Bricht nächstens Hungersnot und Teurung ein.
There’ll soon be an outbreak of famine and rising prices.
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
Paul Heyse
Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse was a distinguished German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the Tunnel über der Spree in Berlin and Die Krokodile in Munich, he wrote novels, poetry, 177 short stories, and about sixty…