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 Geraldine McGreevy and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Mein Liebster singt am Haus im Mondenscheine
German source:
Paul Heyse
Und ich muss lauschend hier im Bette liegen.
Weg von der Mutter wend’ ich mich und weine,
Blut sind die Tränen, die mir nicht versiegen.
Den breiten Strom am Bett hab’ ich geweint,
Weiss nicht vor Tränen, ob der Morgen scheint.
Den breiten Strom am Bett weint’ ich vor Sehnen;
Blind haben mich gemacht die blut’gen Tränen.
My sweetheart's singing outside the moonlit house
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
And I must lie in bed and listen.
I turn away from my mother and weep,
My tears are blood, which will not dry.
I have wept that broad stream by the bed,
I do not know for tears if day has dawned.
I’ve wept that broad stream out of longing;
The tears of blood have blinded me.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Mein Liebster singt am Haus im Mondenscheine
German source:
Paul Heyse
My sweetheart's singing outside the moonlit house
English source:
Richard Stokes
Mein Liebster singt am Haus im Mondenscheine,
My sweetheart’s singing outside the moonlit house,
Und ich muss lauschend hier im Bette liegen.
And I must lie in bed and listen.
Weg von der Mutter wend’ ich mich und weine,
I turn away from my mother and weep,
Blut sind die Tränen, die mir nicht versiegen.
My tears are blood, which will not dry.
Den breiten Strom am Bett hab’ ich geweint,
I have wept that broad stream by the bed,
Weiss nicht vor Tränen, ob der Morgen scheint.
I do not know for tears if day has dawned.
Den breiten Strom am Bett weint’ ich vor Sehnen;
I’ve wept that broad stream out of longing;
Blind haben mich gemacht die blut’gen Tränen.
The tears of blood have blinded me.
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…