Hugo Wolf - "Sonne der Schlummerlosen" (Byron) - Fischer-Dieskau, Moore

Описание: Continuing with my month long celebration of Hugo Wolf (born March 13).

"For Wolf, song ennobled itself by association with great poetry. The Wolf aesthetic focuses on deep understanding of the poets he sets and their inner world. He himself described his music as merely an enhancement of great poetry. Ravishingly beautiful as it is, Wolfs music perhaps demands more appreciation of meaning than most. Every subtle nuance, every shading of emotion matters."

From a review by Anne Ozorio, Music-Web International


"Sonne der Schlummerlosen" (Sun of the Sleepless) is one of two settings by Wolf of the poetry of Lord Byron as translated into German by Otto Gildemeister (1823-1902).



Sun of the Sleepless

Sun of the sleepless! melancholy star!
Whose tearful beam glows tremulously far!
That shows the darkness thou canst not dispel,
How like art thou to joy remember'd well!
So gleams the past, the light of other days,
Which shines, but warms not with its powerless rays;
A nightbeam Sorrow watcheth to behold,
Distinct, but distant - clear - but, oh how cold!

George Gordon Lord Byron (1788-1824)




Sonne der Schlummerlosen

Sonne der Schlummerlosen, bleicher Stern!
Wie Tränen zittern, schimmerst du von fern;
Du zeigst die Nacht, doch scheuchst sie nicht zurück,
Wie ähnlich bist du dem entschwundnen Glück,
Dem Licht vergangner Tage, das fortan nur leuchten,
Aber nimmer wärmen kann!
Die Trauer wacht, wie es durchs Dunkel wallt,
Deutlich doch fern, hell, aber o wie kalt!

German translation by Otto Gildemeister (1823-1902)



Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Gerald Moore (piano)