Songs

Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen

by Hugo Wolf From Italienisches Liederbuch

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This song was recorded live at the Oxford Lieder Festival as part of Hugo Wolf: The Complete Songs on Stone Records.
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Text & Translation

View IPA

Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen
German source: Paul Heyse

Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen,
Und hatte doch kein Haus mich zu empfangen,
Nicht Holz noch Herd zum Kochen und zum Braten,
Der Hafen auch war längst entzwei gegangen.
An einem Fässchen Wein gebrach es auch,
Und Gläser hat er gar nicht im Gebrauch;
Der Tisch war schmal, das Tafeltuch nicht besser,
Das Brot steinhart und völlig stumpf das Messer.

My sweetheart invited me to dinner
English translation © Richard Stokes

My sweetheart invited me to dinner,
Yet had no house to receive me,
No wood nor stove for boiling or roasting,
And the cooking pot had long since broken in two.
There was not even a small cask of wine,
And he simply didn’t use glasses;
The table was tiny, the table-cloth no better,
The bread rock hard and the knife quite blunt.

Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen
German source: Paul Heyse

My sweetheart invited me to dinner
English source: Richard Stokes

Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen,
My sweetheart invited me to dinner,
Und hatte doch kein Haus mich zu empfangen,
Yet had no house to receive me,
Nicht Holz noch Herd zum Kochen und zum Braten,
No wood nor stove for boiling or roasting,
Der Hafen auch war längst entzwei gegangen.
And the cooking pot had long since broken in two.
An einem Fässchen Wein gebrach es auch,
There was not even a small cask of wine,
Und Gläser hat er gar nicht im Gebrauch;
And he simply didn’t use glasses;
Der Tisch war schmal, das Tafeltuch nicht besser,
The table was tiny, the table-cloth no better,
Das Brot steinhart und völlig stumpf das Messer.
The bread rock hard and the knife quite blunt.

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

Paul Heyse

Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse was a distinguished German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the Tunnel über der Spree in Berlin and Die Krokodile in Munich, he wrote novels, poetry, 177 short stories, and about sixty…

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