Five songs after poems by Joseph von Eichendorff for medium voice and piano (op. 88b, 1987)
for my son Martin
I. Aus schweren Träumen, II Der wandernde Musikant, III Kurze Fahrt, IV Unfall, V Todeslust
The order of the songs given here was recommended by the composer for a cyclical performance.
Medium voice, piano
Duration: 13 minutes
Martin Hummel | Ernst Ueckermann
Title: 5 Lieder nach Texten von Jos. v. Eichendorff op. 88b - Length: 19 pages - Date: I. Aus schweren Träumen - / II. Wanderlied 28.12.87 / III. Kurze Fahrt 23.12.87 / IV. Accident 4.1.88 7 V. Todeslust 1.1.88 - Storage location:
Schott Music ED 20286 / ISMN: M-001-14991-4
Printing error in this edition:
Page 11 ("Unfall"), 1st bar: left hand: treble clef instead of bass clef
page 11 ("Unfall"), 3rd stave, last bar: left hand: treble clef instead of bass clef, right hand: chord on the crotchet: mf with accent
Page 17 ("Todeslust"), 4th stave, 1st bar: f mf instead of fp
Aus schweren Träumen
Aus schweren Träumen
fuhr ich oft auf
und sah durch Tannenwipfel
den Mond ziehn über stillem Grund und sang
vor Bangigkeit und schlummert' wieder ein. -
Ja, Menschenstimme, hell aus frommer Brust!
Du bist doch die gewaltigste, und triffst
den rechten Grundton, der verworren anklingt
in all den tausend Stimmen der Natur!
From burdensome dreams
From burdensome dreams
I often woke up
and saw through fir tops
the moon drifting over the silent ground and sang
and fell asleep again. -
Yes, human voice, bright from a pious breast!
You are the most powerful, and you hit
the right keynote, which resounds confusedly
In all the thousand voices of nature!
Der wandernde Musikant
Bist du manchmal auch vertimmt,
drück dich zärtlich an mein Herze,
dass mir's fast den Atem nimmt,
streich und kneif ich in süßem Scherze,
wie ein rechter Liebestor
lehn' ich sanft an dich die Wange,
und du singst mir fein in's Ohr.
Wohl im Hofe bei dem Klange
Katze miaut, Hund heult und bellt,
Nachbar schimpft mit wilder Miene —
doch was kümmert uns die Welt,
süße, traute Violine!
The wandering musician
Are you sometimes out of tune?
press yourself tenderly to my heart,
that it almost takes my breath away,
I stroke and pinch in sweet jest,
like a real love fool
I gently lean my cheek against you,
and you sing sweetly in my ear.
Well in the courtyard at the sound
Cat meows, dog howls and barks,
Neighbour scolds with a wild face -
but what do we care about the world,
sweet, sweet violin!
Kurze Fahrt
Posthorn, wie so keck und fröhlich
Brachst du einst den Morgen an,
vor mir lag's so frühlingsselig,
dass ich still auf Lieder sann.
Dunkel rauscht es schon im Walde,
wie so abendkühl wird's hier,
Schwager, stoß in's Horn - wie balde
Sind auch wir im Nachtquartier!
Short journey
Posthorn, how so bold and cheerful
You once dawned the morning,
before me it lay so springlike
that I silently pondered songs.
It's already dark in the forest,
How chilly it gets here in the evening,
Brother-in-law, toot your horn - how soon
We too will be in our night quarters!
Unfall
Ich ging bei Nacht einst über Land,
ein Bürschlein traf ich draußen,
das hat 'nen Stutzen in der Hand
und zielt auf mich mit Grausen.
Ich renne, da ich mich erbos'
auf ihn mit vollem Rasen,
da drückt das kecke Bürschlein los
und ich stürtz auf die Nasen.
Er aber lacht mir in's Gesicht,
dass er mich angeschossen.
Cupido war der kleine Wicht -
Das hat mich sehr verdrossen.
Accident
Once, when travelling by night over land,
I met a little boy
With a gun in his hand
Which he aimed at me most frighteningly.
Provoked, I rush at him
In a mighty rage,
The impish boy fires,
I fall flat on my nose.
But he laughs in my face
For having shot at me.
Cupid was the wretch’s name –
I was sorely vexed.
Todeslust
Bevor er in die blaue Flut gesunken,
träumt noch der Schwan und singet todestrunken;
die sommermüde Erde im Verblühen
läßt all ihr Feuer in den Trauben glühen;
die Sonne, Funken spühend, im Versinken,
gibt noch einmal der Erde Glut zu trinken,
bis, Stern auf Stern, die Trunkne zu umfangen,
die wunderbare Nacht ist aufgegangen.
Joseph von Eichendorff
Longing for death
Before he sank into the blue flood,
the swan still dreams and sings deathly drunk;
the summer-weary earth in fading
Lets all its fire glow in the grapes;
the sun, spitting sparks, as it sinks,
once more gives the earth embers to drink,
until, star upon star, the drinkers embrace,
the marvellous night has risen.
Joseph von Eichendorff
The songs written for the 200th birthday of the poet J.v. Eichendorff (1988) represent an attempt to trace the "tone" of the poems in our time - not in strophic songs but in "song scenes", in small "dramas" in which the piano characterises in a differentiated way what the singing voice performs.
Bertold Hummel
"Aus schweren Träumen" ("From burdensome dreams") is significantly placed at the beginning of the latest Hummel cycle (1988) on poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, for the poet had this very verse as the motto at the beginning of his "Romanzen" ("Romances"). Setting Eichendorff after Schumann was for Hugo Wolf a great challenge. He therefore emphasised, in contrast to Schumann, Eichendorff's realistic and humorous side. Bertold Hummel does the same in "Der wandernde Musikant" ("The wandering musician") and in "Unfall", songs marked by love for the violin. In the latter, the composer extracts much more grotesque results from the unexpected encounter with Amor and his arrow than Hugo Wolf with his leisurely setting. Here, frequent changes of time signature as well the often rapid transitions to the extremities of the piano's range contribute to the effect.
But it is not the serious motto alone that sounds the "right fundamental tone" for this cycle (in the last seven bars of "Aus schweren Träumen", the note A is circled by the vocal line and the piano, until it finally asserts itself as a held bass note): in "Kurze Fahrt" ("Short journey") and in the closing "Todeslust" ("Hunger for death"), ultimate feelings find strong expression. The "right fundamental tone" (D) of this final song - basis for the evocation of the "wunderbaren Nacht" ("wonderful night") - finally leaves the deep regions and fades away in the bright middle range of a widely spread D major in first inversion. Although a pure triad, it leaves - as in most of Hummel's songs - the cadence open.
Wolfgang Osthoff (in "Zu den Liedern Bertold Hummels", Tutzing 1998)