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
German source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Kann mir nicht wie du
So das tiefste Herz bewegen,
Tiefe Meeresruh’!
Du allein nur konntest lehren
Uns den schönen Wahn
Seliger Musik der Sphären,
Stiller Ozean!
Nächtlich Meer, nun ist dein Schweigen
So tief ungestört,
Dass die Seele wohl ihr eigen
Träumen klingen hört;
Dass, im Schutz geschlossnen Mundes,
Doch mein Herz erschrickt,
Das Geheimnis heil’gen Bundes
Fester an sich drückt.
Sea calm
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Cannot move the heart
As profoundly as you,
Profound sea calm!
Only you were able to teach
Us the fair illusion
Of the spheres’ blissful music,
Calm ocean!
Nocturnal sea, your silence is now
So profoundly peaceful,
That the soul can perhaps hear
The sound of its own dreaming;
So peaceful – that, safeguarded by silence,
My heart grows afraid,
And presses more tightly to itself
The secret of this sacred bond.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Meeresstille
German source:
Nikolaus Lenau
Sea calm
English source:
Richard Stokes
Sturm mit seinen Donnerschlägen
The tempest with its peals of thunder
Kann mir nicht wie du
Cannot move the heart
So das tiefste Herz bewegen,
As profoundly as you,
Tiefe Meeresruh’!
Profound sea calm!
Du allein nur konntest lehren
Only you were able to teach
Uns den schönen Wahn
Us the fair illusion
Seliger Musik der Sphären,
Of the spheres’ blissful music,
Stiller Ozean!
Calm ocean!
Nächtlich Meer, nun ist dein Schweigen
Nocturnal sea, your silence is now
So tief ungestört,
So profoundly peaceful,
Dass die Seele wohl ihr eigen
That the soul can perhaps hear
Träumen klingen hört;
The sound of its own dreaming;
Dass, im Schutz geschlossnen Mundes,
So peaceful – that, safeguarded by silence,
Doch mein Herz erschrickt,
My heart grows afraid,
Das Geheimnis heil’gen Bundes
And presses more tightly to itself
Fester an sich drückt.
The secret of this sacred bond.
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
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…