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 Daniel Norman and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Und starrte ihr Bildnis an,
Und das geliebte Antlitz
Heimlich zu leben begann.
Um ihre Lippen zog sich
Ein Lächeln wunderbar,
Und wie von Wehmutstränen
Erglänzte ihr Augenpaar.
Auch meine Tränen flossen
Mir von den Wangen herab –
Und ach, ich kann’s nicht glauben,
Dass ich dich verloren hab!
I stood in dark dreams
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
And gazed at her likeness,
And that beloved face
Sprang mysteriously to life.
A smile played wondrously
About her lips,
And her eyes glistened,
As though with sad tears.
My tears too
Streamed down my cheeks –
And ah, I cannot believe
I have lost you!
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen
German source:
Heinrich Heine
I stood in dark dreams
English source:
Richard Stokes
Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen
I stood in dark dreams,
Und starrte ihr Bildnis an,
And gazed at her likeness,
Und das geliebte Antlitz
And that beloved face
Heimlich zu leben begann.
Sprang mysteriously to life.
Um ihre Lippen zog sich
Ein Lächeln wunderbar,
Und wie von Wehmutstränen
Erglänzte ihr Augenpaar.
Auch meine Tränen flossen
Mir von den Wangen herab –
Und ach, ich kann’s nicht glauben,
Dass ich dich verloren hab!
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
Heinrich Heine
Heine was born of Jewish parents. Much of his early life was influenced by the financial power of his uncle Salomon Heine, a millionaire Hamburg banker, with whom he remained on an awkward footing for many years. After he had been educated in the…