Category Archives: Franz Schubert


Collin: “Night and Dreams”

by Matthäus Kasimir von Collin (1779-1824), “Nachtfeier”

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By Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), “Nacht und Träume”, op. 43 no. 2, D. 827 (1822?), published 1825. Translation © by KarenL.

nacht-und-traume

Nacht und Träume

Holy night, you sink down;
Dreams also float down
As your moonlight fills the room,
Fills the sleeping hearts of men.
They listen with pleasure;
Crying, when the day awakes:
Return, fair night!
Fair dreams, return!

 

Sir Walter Scott: “Song of the Imprisoned Huntsman”

by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), “Song of the Imprisoned Huntsman” from The Lady of the Lake, The Guard Room, XXIV.
Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) , “Lied des gefangenen Jägers”, op. 52 no. 7, D. 843 (1825).

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“Lied des gefangenen Jägers”

,

 My hawk is tired of perch and hood.
My idle greyhound loathes his food,
My horse is weary of his stall
And I am sick of captive thrall.

,

I wish I were, as I have been,
Hunting the hart in forest green,
With bended bow and bloodhound free,
For that’s the life is meet for me.

,

I hate to learn the ebb of time
From yon dull steeple’s drowsy chime,
Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl,
Inch after inch, along the wall.

,

The lark was wont my matins ring,
The sable rook my vespers sing;
These towers, although a king’s they be,
Have not a hall of joy for me.

,

No more at dawning morn I rise,
And sun myself in Ellen’s eyes,
Drive the fleet deer the forest through,
And homeward wend with evening dew.

Theodor Körner: “That Was I”

By Theodor Körner (1791-1813). Set by Franz Schubert (1797-1828), “Das war ich,” D. 174 (1815), published 1845. Translation © Emily Ezust, from The Lied & Art Song Texts Page.

Das war ich

Recently I dreamed that I saw on the bright heights

a maiden walking in the young day –

she was so sweet and lovely, that she was entirely like you.

And before her knelt a young man,

who seemed to draw her gently to his chest:

and that was I.

Soon the scene had changed,

and in a deep flood I saw now the fair one,

her last bit of strength disappearing.

There came a youth flying to her aid:

he sprang after her and pulled her from the waves;

and that was I.

So the dream unfolded in colorful lines,

and everywhere I saw love triumph,

and everything revolved around you!

You flew ahead in unbound freedom,

the youth trailing behind you with quiet fidelity:

and that was I!

And when I finally awakened from this dream,

the new day brought new yearning;

your dear, sweet face remained floating in front of me.

I saw you enjoying the ardor of kisses,

I saw you lying blissfully in the arms of the youth:

and that was I!

,

,

Uhland: “Faith in Spring”

By Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862), “Frühlingsglaube”, from Lieder, in Frühlingslieder, no. 2 by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), “Frühlingsglaube”, D. 686 (1820). Translation by FiDiTanzer528.

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Frühlingsglaube

The gentle breezes have awakened,
They whisper and float day and night,
They create on all sides.
O fresh fragrance, o new sound!
Now, poor heart, be not afraid!
Now all, all must change.

.

The world becomes more beautiful with every day,
No one knows, what may become,
The blossoming will not end;
It blooms in the farthest, deepest valley:
Now, poor heart, forget thy pain!
Now all, all must change.

,

Salis-Seewis: “Into the Silent Land!”

By Johann Gaudenz Freiherr von Salis-Seewis (1762-1834). Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), “Ins stille Land,” D. 403 (1816), published 1845. Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), “Song of the Silent Land”, from Hyperion, published 1839.

 

Into the Silent Land!
Ah! who shall lead us thither?
Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather,
And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand.
Who leads us with a gentle hand
Thither, oh, thither,
Into the Silent Land?

Into the Silent Land!
To you, ye boundless regions
Of all perfection! Tender morning-visions
Of beauteous souls! The Future's pledge and band!
Who in Life's battle firm doth stand,
Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms
Into the Silent Land!

O Land! O Land!
For all the broken-hearted
The mildest herald by our fate allotted,
Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand
To lead us with a gentle hand
Into the Silent Land!


 

Müller: The phantom suns

by Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827)

Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), “Die Nebensonnen”, op. 89 no. 23, D. 911 no. 23 (1827), from Winterreise, no. 23. Translation Copyright Arthur Rishi. Please do not copy, publish, or distribute this translation without permission from the translator.

Die Nebensonnen

sun dogs

I saw three suns in the sky,
I stared at them long and hard;
And they, too, stood staring
As if unwilling to leave me.

 

Ah, but you are not my suns!
Stare at others in the face, then:
Until recently I, too, had three;
Now the best two are gone.

 

But let the third one go, too!
In the darkness I will fare better.

 

 



 



 

 


				
			
			

Klopstock: Time, announcer of the best joys

by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803)

Zeit, Verkündigerin der besten Freuden

Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) , “An sie”, D. 288 (1815), published 1895. Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, from The Lied & Art Song Texts Page.

Time, announcer of the best joys,
near, blessed Time: in the distance
I searched for you, shedding
too many troubled tears.
 
And yet you come! O, you are sent by angels!
Angels have sent you to me - they were once human,
and like me, they loved, and now love
as immortals love.
 
On the wings of peace, in the morning breezes,
bright from the dew of the day that smiles down from above,
with eternal Spring
you come down from the heavens.
 
For they feel whole and overflow with delight
in their hearts - these full souls -
when they think themselves beloved,
and are intoxicated with Love!

klopspor.jpg

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock