Favorite Lieder (3): Robert Schumann "Schoene Fremde"

Dreamer (Ruins of the Oybin) by Caspar David Friedrich, ca. 1835 (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia)

My favorite song cycle is Robert Schumann's Liederkreis, op. 39 (1840). Liederkreis means "garland of songs," or a song collection. In this case, all the songs are settings of poems by the great Romantic poet Joseph von Eichendorff, and they form a kind of loose narrative of a wanderer's love and longing for his beloved and his homeland. The connections are of theme and mood, not strict storytelling. This collection of songs was written in 1840, during Schumann's "year of song," when he finally married his beloved Clara.

The op.39 Liederkreis is full of allusions to ancient times and ancient ruins, so it goes well with the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). Friedrich painted many scenes in which classical, Germanic, or Christian ruins are the subject or the evocative background. The Dreamer (left) is a good example. "Schoene Fremde" is half dream, half vision, and the word trunken (literally "drunkenly") expresses the poet's rapture, which is wonderfully reflected in Schumann's music.

See and hear a very young Bryn Terfel sing "Schoene Fremde" with Malcolm Martineau at the piano.

Schöne Fremde* (Robert Schumann, 1810-1856)

Es rauschen die Wipfel und schauern,
Als machten zu dieser Stund
Um die halbversunkenen Mauern
Die alten Götter die Rund.

Hier hinter den Myrtenbäumen
In heimlich dämmernder Pracht,
Was sprichst du wirr wie in Träumen
Zu mir, phantastische Nacht?

Es funkeln auf mich alle Sterne
Mit glühendem Liebesblick,
Es redet trunken die Ferne
Wie vom künftigem, großem Glück.

[Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)]

*German text with thanks to Emily Ezust from http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=5276.


In a Lovely Distant Land

The treetops sigh and tremble,
As if at this hour
The ancient gods circled
Around the half-buried walls.

Here amid the myrtle trees
In mysterious twilight splendor,
Why do you speak cryptically
as in a dream, wondrous night?

All the stars blaze at me
With the burning gaze of love,
Distant places speak ecstatically
Of great happiness to come.

Translation (c) 2008 by Celia Sgroi