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 Marcus Farnsworth and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Meeresstille
(1795)
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ohne Regung ruht das Meer,
Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer
Glatte Fläche rings umher.
Keine Luft von keiner Seite!
Todesstille fürchterlich!
In der ungeheuern Weite
Reget keine Welle sich.
Deep silence weighs on the water
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Motionless the sea rests,
And the fearful boatman sees
A glassy surface all around.
No breeze from any quarter!
Fearful, deadly silence!
In all that vast expanse
Not a single ripple stirs.
Meeresstille
(1795)
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Deep silence weighs on the water
English source:
Richard Stokes
Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser,
Deep silence weighs on the water,
Ohne Regung ruht das Meer,
Motionless the sea rests,
Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer
And the fearful boatman sees
Glatte Fläche rings umher.
A glassy surface all around.
Keine Luft von keiner Seite!
No breeze from any quarter!
Todesstille fürchterlich!
Fearful, deadly silence!
In der ungeheuern Weite
In all that vast expanse
Reget keine Welle sich.
Not a single ripple stirs.
Composer
Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (5 January 1880 [O.S. 24 December 1879] – 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and pianist. Although he fell into relative obscurity after his death, he now recognised as one of the most significant Russian composers…
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…