Songs
Kommen und Scheiden
by Robert Schumann From Sechs Gedichte und Requiem (1850) Op. 90 1–5.viii.1850
Kommen und Scheiden
German source:
Nikolaus Lenau
So lieblich wie das erste Grün im Wald.
Und was sie sprach, drang mir zum Herzen ein
Süss wie des Frühlings erstes Lied.
Und als Lebwohl sie winkte mit der Hand,
War’s, ob der letzte Jugendtraum mir schwand.
Meeting and Parting
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Seemed as dear as the first green in the wood.
And what she said, pierced my heart
As sweetly as the spring's first song.
And when she waved to me in parting,
Youth's last dream seemed to vanish.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Kommen und Scheiden
German source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Meeting and Parting
English source:
Richard Stokes
So oft sie kam, erschien mir die Gestalt
Each time we met, the sight of her
So lieblich wie das erste Grün im Wald.
Seemed as dear as the first green in the wood.
Und was sie sprach, drang mir zum Herzen ein
And what she said, pierced my heart
Süss wie des Frühlings erstes Lied.
As sweetly as the spring's first song.
Und als Lebwohl sie winkte mit der Hand,
And when she waved to me in parting,
War’s, ob der letzte Jugendtraum mir schwand.
Youth's last dream seemed to vanish.
Composer
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured…
Poet
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the nom de plume of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau, a German-language Austrian poet. He was born at Schadat, now Lenauheim, Romania, then in Hungary. His father, a Habsburg government official, died in 1807 in…