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 Sophie Daneman and Sholto Kynoch, or click here to buy the CD from Stone Records.
Zitronenfalter im April
German source:
Eduard Mörike
Du weckst mich vor der Zeit,
Dem nur im Maienwonne
Die zarte Kost gedeiht!
Ist nicht ein liebes Mädchen hier,
Das auf der Rosenlippe mir
Ein Tröpfchen Honig beut,
So muss ich jämmerlich vergeh'n
Und wird der Mai mich nimmer sehn
In meinem gelben Kleid.
Brimstone butterfly in April
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
You wake me before my time,
For only in blissful May
Can my delicate food grow!
If there’s no dear girl here
To offer me a drop of honey
From her rosy lips,
Then I must perish miserably
And May shall never see me
In my yellow dress.
Zitronenfalter im April
German source:
Eduard Mörike
Brimstone butterfly in April
English source:
Richard Stokes
Grausame Frühlingssonne,
Merciless spring sun,
Du weckst mich vor der Zeit,
You wake me before my time,
Dem nur im Maienwonne
For only in blissful May
Die zarte Kost gedeiht!
Can my delicate food grow!
Ist nicht ein liebes Mädchen hier,
If there’s no dear girl here
Das auf der Rosenlippe mir
To offer me a drop of honey
Ein Tröpfchen Honig beut,
From her rosy lips,
So muss ich jämmerlich vergeh'n
Then I must perish miserably
Und wird der Mai mich nimmer sehn
And May shall never see me
In meinem gelben Kleid.
In my yellow dress.
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
Eduard Mörike
Eduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet. Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike (d. 1817), a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer. He attended the Latin school at Ludwigsburg, and the…