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 Katarina Karnéus and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Mignon II
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Weiss, was ich leide!
Allein und abgetrennt
Von aller Freude,
Seh’ ich an’s Firmament
Nach jener Seite.
Ach! der mich liebt und kennt
Ist in der Weite.
Es schwindelt mir, es brennt
Mein Eingeweide.
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Weiss, was ich leide!
Mignon II
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Know what I suffer!
Alone and cut off
From every joy,
I search the sky
In that direction.
Ah! he who loves and knows me
Is far away.
My head reels,
My body blazes.
Only those who know longing
Know what I suffer!
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Mignon II
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Mignon II
English source:
Richard Stokes
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Only those who know longing
Weiss, was ich leide!
Know what I suffer!
Allein und abgetrennt
Alone and cut off
Von aller Freude,
From every joy,
Seh’ ich an’s Firmament
I search the sky
Nach jener Seite.
In that direction.
Ach! der mich liebt und kennt
Ah! he who loves and knows me
Ist in der Weite.
Is far away.
Es schwindelt mir, es brennt
My head reels,
Mein Eingeweide.
My body blazes.
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Only those who know longing
Weiss, was ich leide!
Know what I suffer!
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
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…
Performances
Previously performed at:
- Forgotten Voices: Women Composers in Song / Margarete Schweikert (Part One) 19 Mar 2022
- Dvorák, Schumann & Fauré: Dorottya Láng & Julius Drake 30 Mar 2020
- Maria Forsström & Sholto Kynoch 10 Mar 2018
- Mastercourse Concert 29 Oct 2016
- Mastercourse Day Three 26 Oct 2016