On Sunday I volunteered to sit in a basement for several hours doing very little. I forgot to bring something to read so I jotted down a couple of Lieder and had a go at translating them. The results, after some fine tuning at home, are below. Both of these could be improved – if you think of good alternatives, pop them in the comment box!
Singability was a priority here, so some choices were based on considerations like which vowels go best with high notes.
First – because it’s finally spring in Wisconsin – Erstes Grün (First Green) by Justinus Kerner (music by Robert Schumann):
| Du junges Grün, du frisches Gras!
Wie manches Herz durch dich genas, das von des Winters Schnee erkrankt, o wie mein Herz nach dir verlangt!
Schon wächst du aus der Erde Nacht, wie dir mein Aug entgegenlacht! Hier in des Waldes stillem Grund Drück ich dich, Grün, an Herz und Mund.
Wie treibts mich von den Menschen fort! Mein Leid das hebt kein Menschenwort; Nur junges Grün ans Herz gelegt, macht, dass mein Herze stiller schlägt. |
O young green shoots, O fresh green grass
Hearts turn to you for cure at last, Ailing from winter’s ice and snow, How my heart longed for you to grow!
You break out of the sleeping earth and fill my weary eye with mirth! Silently in the forest glade, Green, let me kiss each leaf and blade.
From men I flee, their words are vain! No human word can heal my pain; With young green things upon my breast Ah, only then my heart can rest.
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Then there’s Das verlassene Mägdlein (The abandoned girl) by Eduard Mörike (music by Hugo Wolf). Some imprecise rhymes here, but that’s usually better than rhymes that are too cute, especially when the speaker is this miserable:
| Früh, wann die Hähne krähn,
eh die Sternlein schwinden, muss ich am Herde stehn, muss Feuer zünden. Schön ist der Flammen Schein, es springen die Funken; ich schaue so darein, in Leid versunken. Plötzlich, da kommt es mir, treuloser Knabe, dass ich die Nacht von dir geträumet habe. Träne auf Träne dann stürzet hernieder; so kommt der Tag heran o ging er wieder! |
Up when the rooster crows,
ere the stars have faded, now I must light the stove, toiling unaided. Flames cast their golden shine, the sparks leap and glow, lonely I stare and pine, in deepest sorrow. And then, unfaithful boy, then I remember the dream I had of you last night in slumber. Tear after tear I shed, down they flow together; thus dawns the day ahead can’t it be over? |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3Pnwu19OQ
Interesting to note that you have translated the first Lied using words of almost entirely Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) origin. I suppose this is influenced by the source, possibly unconsciously, but also fits the scanning and “singability” requirements.