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 Nicky Spence and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Unfall
German source:
Joseph von Eichendorff
Ein Bürschlein traf ich draussen,
Das hat ’nen Stutzen in der Hand
Und zielt auf mich voll Grausen.
Ich renne, da ich mich erbos',
Auf ihn in vollem Rasen,
Da drückt das kecke Bürschlein los
Und ich stürzt’ auf die Nasen.
Er aber lacht mir ins Gesicht,
Dass er mich angeschossen,
Cupido war der kleine Wicht –
Das hat mich sehr verdrossen.
Mishap
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
I met a little boy
With a gun in his hand
Which he aimed at me most frighteningly.
Provoked, I rush at him
In a mighty rage,
The impish boy fires,
I fall flat on my nose.
But he laughs in my face
For having shot at me.
Cupid was the wretch’s name –
I was sorely vexed.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Unfall
German source:
Joseph von Eichendorff
Mishap
English source:
Richard Stokes
Ich ging bei Nacht einst über Land,
Once, when travelling by night over land,
Ein Bürschlein traf ich draussen,
I met a little boy
Das hat ’nen Stutzen in der Hand
With a gun in his hand
Und zielt auf mich voll Grausen.
Which he aimed at me most frighteningly.
Ich renne, da ich mich erbos',
Provoked, I rush at him
Auf ihn in vollem Rasen,
In a mighty rage,
Da drückt das kecke Bürschlein los
The impish boy fires,
Und ich stürzt’ auf die Nasen.
I fall flat on my nose.
Er aber lacht mir ins Gesicht,
But he laughs in my face
Dass er mich angeschossen,
For having shot at me.
Cupido war der kleine Wicht –
Cupid was the wretch’s name –
Das hat mich sehr verdrossen.
I was sorely vexed.
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
Joseph von Eichendorff
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some…