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 Nicky Spence and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Lieber alles
German source:
Joseph von Eichendorff
Studieren sehr beschwerlich,
Das Dichten süss und zierlich,
Der Dichter gar possierlich
In diesen wilden Zeiten.
Ich möcht’ am liebsten reiten,
Ein gutes Schwert zur Seiten,
Die Laute in der Rechten,
Studentenherz zum Fechten.
Ein wildes Ross ist’s Leben,
Die Hufe Funken geben,
Eer’s ehrlich wagt, bezwingt es,
Und wo es tritt, da klingt es!
Sooner all three
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Studying’s most arduous,
Poetry’s sweet and graceful,
The poet’s a figure of fun
In these barbarous times.
Most of all I’d like to ride,
A good sword at my side,
A lute in my right hand,
With a student’s heart for the fight.
Life’s an untamed steed,
Its hooves strike sparks,
The truly bold man will tame it,
And where it treads it resounds!
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Lieber alles
German source:
Joseph von Eichendorff
Sooner all three
English source:
Richard Stokes
Soldat sein ist gefährlich,
Soldiering’s dangerous,
Studieren sehr beschwerlich,
Studying’s most arduous,
Das Dichten süss und zierlich,
Poetry’s sweet and graceful,
Der Dichter gar possierlich
The poet’s a figure of fun
In diesen wilden Zeiten.
In these barbarous times.
Ich möcht’ am liebsten reiten,
Most of all I’d like to ride,
Ein gutes Schwert zur Seiten,
A good sword at my side,
Die Laute in der Rechten,
A lute in my right hand,
Studentenherz zum Fechten.
With a student’s heart for the fight.
Ein wildes Ross ist’s Leben,
Life’s an untamed steed,
Die Hufe Funken geben,
Its hooves strike sparks,
Eer’s ehrlich wagt, bezwingt es,
The truly bold man will tame it,
Und wo es tritt, da klingt es!
And where it treads it resounds!
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
Joseph von Eichendorff
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some…