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 Mark Stone and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder
German source:
Paul Heyse
Ich wünsche nicht, dass ihr ein Grab mir grabt.
Genüber jenen Mauern legt mich nieder,
Wo ihr so manchmal mich gesehen habt.
Dort legt mich hin, in Regen oder Wind;
Gern sterb’ ich, ist’s um dich, geliebtes Kind.
Dort legt mich hin in Sonnenschein und Regen;
Ich sterbe lieblich, sterb’ ich deinetwegen.
If I should die, then shroud my limbs in flowers
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
I do not wish you to dig me a grave.
Lay me down to face those walls
Where you have so often seen me.
Lay me down there in wind or rain;
I’ll gladly die if it’s for you, dear child.
Lay me down there in sunshine and rain;
I’ll die happy if I die for your sake.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder
German source:
Paul Heyse
If I should die, then shroud my limbs in flowers
English source:
Richard Stokes
Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder;
If I should die, then shroud my limbs in flowers;
Ich wünsche nicht, dass ihr ein Grab mir grabt.
I do not wish you to dig me a grave.
Genüber jenen Mauern legt mich nieder,
Lay me down to face those walls
Wo ihr so manchmal mich gesehen habt.
Where you have so often seen me.
Dort legt mich hin, in Regen oder Wind;
Lay me down there in wind or rain;
Gern sterb’ ich, ist’s um dich, geliebtes Kind.
I’ll gladly die if it’s for you, dear child.
Dort legt mich hin in Sonnenschein und Regen;
Lay me down there in sunshine and rain;
Ich sterbe lieblich, sterb’ ich deinetwegen.
I’ll die happy if I die for your sake.
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…