Songs
Sonne der Schlummerlosen
by Hugo Wolf From Vier Gedichte nach Heine, Shakespeare und Lord Byron (1897)
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 William Dazeley and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Sonne der Schlummerlosen
German source:
Otto Gildemeister
Wie Tränen zittern, schimmerst du von fern;
Du zeigst die Nacht, doch scheuchst sie nicht zurück,
Wie ähnlich bist du dem entschwundnen Glück,
Dem Licht vergangner Tage, das fortan nur leuchten,
Aber nimmer wärmen kann!
Die Trauer wacht, wie es durchs Dunkel wallt,
Deutlich doch fern, hell, aber o wie kalt!
Sun of the sleepless
English translation ©
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Whose tearful beam glows tremulously far!
That show’st the darkness thou canst not dispel,
How like art thou to joy remember’d well!
So gleams the past, the light of other days,
Which shines, but warms not with its powerless rays;
A nightbeam Sorrow watcheth to behold,
Distinct, but distant – clear – but, oh how cold!
Sonne der Schlummerlosen
German source:
Otto Gildemeister
Sun of the sleepless
English source:
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Sonne der Schlummerlosen, bleicher Stern!
Sun of the sleepless! melancholy star!
Wie Tränen zittern, schimmerst du von fern;
Whose tearful beam glows tremulously far!
Du zeigst die Nacht, doch scheuchst sie nicht zurück,
That show’st the darkness thou canst not dispel,
Wie ähnlich bist du dem entschwundnen Glück,
How like art thou to joy remember’d well!
Dem Licht vergangner Tage, das fortan nur leuchten,
So gleams the past, the light of other days,
Aber nimmer wärmen kann!
Which shines, but warms not with its powerless rays;
Die Trauer wacht, wie es durchs Dunkel wallt,
A nightbeam Sorrow watcheth to behold,
Deutlich doch fern, hell, aber o wie kalt!
Distinct, but distant – clear – but, oh how cold!
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
Performances
Previously performed at:
- Lord Byron's Grand Tour 12 Oct 2018
- Songs from the East: Benjamin Appl & Graham Johnson 17 Oct 2017