Sehnsucht - Franz Schubert D. 656

Описание: I fell in love with Schubert's setting of Goethe's poem 'Nur wer die Sehnsucht Kennt' on the first beat of bar two the first time I played it! Originally written for male voice choir, the text is about longing for an absent loved one and the music perfectly expresses the angst and pain of hopeless yearning.

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Weiß, was ich leide!
Allein und abgetrennt Von aller Freude,
Seh ich ans Firmament Nach jener Seite.

Ach! der mich liebt und kennt,
Ist in der Weite.
Es schwindelt mir, es brennt Mein Eingeweide.
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Weiß, was ich leide!

A pretty literal translation of that reads:

Only those who know longing
Know what sorrows me!
Alone and separated
From all joy,
I look into the sky
To the yonder side.

Ah! the one who loves and knows me
Is in the distance.
It dizzies me, it burns
my guts.
Only those who know longing
Know how I suffer!

Fortunately, "the one who loves and knows me" is upstairs designing a Sports Centre. But our separation from the Arts for the last year is what "dizzies me" and "burns my guts". Whilst we eagerly wait for the vaccine roll-out to enable the return of the Arts to our lives, Schubert's music perfectly express that for which I am longing.

Ian Moffat
March 2021