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 Daniel Norman and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Spätherbstnebel
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Überfloren Berg und Tal,
Sturm entblättert schon die Bäume,
Und sie schaun gespenstig kahl.
Nur ein einz’ger, traurig schweigsam
Einz’ger Baum steht unentlaubt,
Feucht von Wehmutstränen gleichsam,
Schüttelt er sein grünes Haupt.
Ach, mein Herz gleicht dieser Wildnis,
Und der Baum, den ich dort schau’
Sommergrün, das ist dein Bildnis,
Vielgeliebte schöne Frau!
Late autumn mists
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Drape mountain and valley,
Storms already denude the trees,
And they appear spectrally bare.
Only one tree, standing in sad silence,
One lone tree still shows its leaves,
Wet, as with the tears of sadness,
It shakes its verdant crown.
Ah, my heart is like this wilderness,
And the tree I see there
Summer-green, that is the image of you,
Fair lady much loved!
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Spätherbstnebel
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Late autumn mists
English source:
Richard Stokes
Spätherbstnebel, kalte Träume,
Late autumn mists, cold dreams
Überfloren Berg und Tal,
Drape mountain and valley,
Sturm entblättert schon die Bäume,
Storms already denude the trees,
Und sie schaun gespenstig kahl.
And they appear spectrally bare.
Nur ein einz’ger, traurig schweigsam
Only one tree, standing in sad silence,
Einz’ger Baum steht unentlaubt,
One lone tree still shows its leaves,
Feucht von Wehmutstränen gleichsam,
Wet, as with the tears of sadness,
Schüttelt er sein grünes Haupt.
It shakes its verdant crown.
Ach, mein Herz gleicht dieser Wildnis,
Ah, my heart is like this wilderness,
Und der Baum, den ich dort schau’
And the tree I see there
Sommergrün, das ist dein Bildnis,
Summer-green, that is the image of you,
Vielgeliebte schöne Frau!
Fair lady much loved!
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
Heinrich Heine
Heine was born of Jewish parents. Much of his early life was influenced by the financial power of his uncle Salomon Heine, a millionaire Hamburg banker, with whom he remained on an awkward footing for many years. After he had been educated in the…