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.
Wie viele Zeit verlor ich, dich zu lieben!
German source:
Paul Heyse
Hätt’ ich doch Gott geliebt in all der Zeit,
Ein Platz im Paradies wär’ mir verschrieben,
Ein Heilger sässe dann an meiner Seit’.
Und weil ich dich geliebt, schön frisch Gesicht,
Verscherzt’ ich mir des Paradieses Licht,
Und weil ich dich geliebt, schön Veigelein,
Komm’ ich nun nicht ins Paradies hinein.
How much time I've lost in loving you!
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
If only I’d have loved God in all that time,
I should now be allotted a place in Paradise,
A saint would be seated at my side.
And because I’ve loved you, fair and fresh of face,
I have forfeited the light of Paradise,
And because I’ve loved you, fair violet,
I shall never now gain Paradise.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Wie viele Zeit verlor ich, dich zu lieben!
German source:
Paul Heyse
How much time I've lost in loving you!
English source:
Richard Stokes
Wie viele Zeit verlor ich, dich zu lieben!
How much time I’ve lost in loving you!
Hätt’ ich doch Gott geliebt in all der Zeit,
If only I’d have loved God in all that time,
Ein Platz im Paradies wär’ mir verschrieben,
I should now be allotted a place in Paradise,
Ein Heilger sässe dann an meiner Seit’.
A saint would be seated at my side.
Und weil ich dich geliebt, schön frisch Gesicht,
And because I’ve loved you, fair and fresh of face,
Verscherzt’ ich mir des Paradieses Licht,
I have forfeited the light of Paradise,
Und weil ich dich geliebt, schön Veigelein,
And because I’ve loved you, fair violet,
Komm’ ich nun nicht ins Paradies hinein.
I shall never now gain Paradise.
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…