Heine: Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen

Heine, Buch der Lieder. Erstdruck, 1827
Antiquariat Dr. Haack Leipzig, Privatbesitz Wien
Foto © H.-P. Haack
no copyright infringement intended
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heine_Buch_der_Lieder_1827.jpg)

Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen
Mit meinem Gram allein;
Da kam das alte Träumen,
Und schlich mir ins Herz hinein.

Wer hat euch dies Wörtlein gelehret,
Ihr Vöglein in luftiger Höh?
Schweigt still! wenn mein Herz es höret,
Dann tut es noch einmal so weh.

»Es kam ein Jungfräulein gegangen,
Die sang es immerfort,
Da haben wir Vöglein gefangen
Das hübsche, goldne Wort.«

Das sollt ihr mir nicht mehr erzählen,
Ihr Vöglein wunderschlau;
Ihr wollt meinen Kummer mir stehlen,
Ich aber niemanden trau.

(http://www.staff.uni-mainz.de/pommeren/Gedichte/BdL/Lieder-3.html)

Wandering through the forest, alone with your thoughts.You've fallen in love, she ignored you. You hear a little word, whistled by the wind, rustled by the leaves, you don't know where it comes from: a little word like an answer to your love. The birds chirp it. Where did the birds learn the word? The birds, the wind, the leaves? And you realize: that forest is a magic garden.

Schumann, Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen, Liederkreis Op 24
Stephan Genz and Claar Ter Horst
(video by nadaniente115a)

Wandering among the trees
Alone with my deep sorrow,
I was visited by those old dreams
Which in my heart would burrow.

Who was it taught you to sing that word,
You birds up there on high?
Hush, for should it reach my heart
The pain will multiply.

“A girl who used to walk here,
She sang it all the time.
It was from her we learnt it,
That golden word sublime.”

You should not have let me know that,
You wily, sly old bird.
You’re trying to steal my anguish,
But I take no one’s word.

(Translation copyright © 2012 by Uri Liebrecht)

(Heinrich Heine)

(Robert Schumann)