Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin today is starting its festival devoted to the lieder of Franz Schubert, curated by Thomas Hampson. I wrote about Schubert and his poets for the program (p. 31ff).
Goethe provided the source for more Schubert songs than any other poet. A sample:
Nähe des Geliebten
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ich denke dein, wenn mir der Sonne Schimmer
Vom Meere strahlt;
Ich denke dein, wenn sich des Mondes Flimmer
In Quellen malt.
Ich sehe dich, wenn auf dem fernen Wege
Der Staub sich hebt;
In tiefer Nacht, wenn auf dem schmalen Stege
Der Wandrer bebt.
Ich höre dich, wenn dort mit dumpfem Rauschen
Die Welle steigt.
Im stillen Hain da geh ich oft zu lauschen,
Wenn alles schweigt.
Ich bin bei dir, du seist auch noch so ferne.
Du bist mir nah!
Die Sonne sinkt, bald leuchten mir die Sterne.
O wärst du da!
Nearness of the Beloved
I think of you when sunlight
glints from the sea;
I think of you when the moon’s glimmer
is reflected in streams.
I see you when, on distant roads,
dust rises;
in the depths of night, when on the narrow bridge
the traveller trembles.
I hear you when, with a dull roar,
the waves surge up.
I often go to listen in the tranquil grove
when all is silent.
I am with you, however far away you are.
You are close to me!
The sun sets, soon the stars will shine for me.
Would that you were here!
[Translation © Richard Wigmore first published by Gollancz and reprinted in the Hyperion Schubert Song Edition]
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 