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.
Wo ich bin, mich rings umdunkelt (Wolf)
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Finsternis so dumpf und dicht,
Seit mir nicht mehr leuchtend funkelt,
Liebste, deiner Augen Licht.
Mir erloschen ist der süssen
Liebessterne goldne Pracht,
Abgrund gähnt zu meinen Füssen –
Nimm mich auf, uralte Nacht!
Darkness gathers about me
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
So heavy and close,
Now that your sparkling eyes,
Beloved, no longer shine on me.
The golden splendour of love’s sweet firmament
Is now extinguished for me,
The abyss gapes beneath my feet –
Receive me, O primeval night!
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Wo ich bin, mich rings umdunkelt (Wolf)
German source:
Heinrich Heine
Darkness gathers about me
English source:
Richard Stokes
Wo ich bin, mich rings umdunkelt
Darkness gathers about me,
Finsternis so dumpf und dicht,
So heavy and close,
Seit mir nicht mehr leuchtend funkelt,
Now that your sparkling eyes,
Liebste, deiner Augen Licht.
Beloved, no longer shine on me.
Mir erloschen ist der süssen
The golden splendour of love’s sweet firmament
Liebessterne goldne Pracht,
Is now extinguished for me,
Abgrund gähnt zu meinen Füssen –
The abyss gapes beneath my feet –
Nimm mich auf, uralte Nacht!
Receive me, O primeval night!
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…