From Diego Manazares. Ilmerine (recte Aus Diego Manzanares. Almerine)
(Poet's title: Aus Diego Manazares. Ilmerine (recte Aus Diego Manzanares. Almerine))
Set by Schubert:
D 458
Schubert did not set the strophes in italics[July 30, 1816]
Wo irrst du durch einsame Schatten der Nacht,
Wo bist du, mein Leben, mein Glück?
Schon sind die Gestirne der Nacht
Aus tauenden Wolken erwacht,
Und ach der Geliebte kehrt noch nicht zurück!
Sei, schönster der Sterne, dem Liebenden hold,
Geleit ihn mit freundlichem Strahl!
Hier seufz ich und harre noch sein,
Ich seufze verlassen, allein,
Und noch rausche kein Wandeln durchs schweigende Tal!
Was flüsterst du quälende Ahnung mir denn;
Ach, dass ich sein Herz wohl verlor?
Er könnte vergessen den Bund,
Den oft mir so zärtlich sein Mund
In seligen Stunden der Liebe beschwor?
Where are you wandering, through the lonely shadows of the night?
Where are you, my life, my happiness?
Already the constellations of night
Have woken up through the hazy clouds,
And, oh, my beloved has not yet returned!
Most beautiful of the stars, be beauteous for my lover,
Lead him with a friendly beam!
Here, I am sighing and still waiting for him,
I am sighing, abandoned, alone,
And still there is no sound of anyone walking through the silent valley!
So, what disturbing intimation are you whispering to me;
Oh, that I have actually lost his heart?
Is it possible that he has forgotten the connection
Which his mouth so often tenderly
Swore to me in blessed hours of love?
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
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Themes and images in this text:
Being solitary, alone and lonely Clouds Dew Night and the moon Shade and shadows Stars Walking and wandering
Graham Johnson summarises Krosigk’s narrative as follows:
This story in prose [is] devoted to the heroic deeds of the noble knight Don Diego Manzanares . . . The great-hearted Manzanares allows Zamet, a captured Moorish soldier of some valour, to return to his beloved, Almarine, daughter of the brave Omar. The spelling of her name is different to the 'Ilmerine' of Schubert's manuscript, but the song she sings as she waits to be reunited with Zamet is identical to the five-line poem set by the composer. (Franz Schubert. The Complete Songs. Volume One Yale University Press 2014 page 266)
The text itself is fairly typical of other ‘waiting’ poems of the same date (such as Schiller’s ‘Die Erwartung‘ D 159), but now that it is clear that the writer was a woman we can perhaps read it differently. Rather than just being a formulaic genre piece, it could be a genuine insight into the frustrations of people who were expected not to make the first move, whose movements were restricted and who could only imagine what it was to ‘wander around’ at night.
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Original Spelling Aus Diego Manazares. Ilmerine (recte Aus Diego Manzanares. Almerine) Wo irr'st Du durch einsame Schatten der Nacht? Wo bist Du mein Leben, mein Glück? Schon sind die Gestirne der Nacht Aus thauenden Wolken erwacht, Und ach, der Geliebte kehrt noch nicht zurück! <i>Sey, schönster der Sterne, dem Liebenden hold, Geleit' ihn mit freundlichem Strahl! Hier seufz' ich und harre noch sein, Ich seufze verlassen, allein, Und noch rausche kein Wandeln durch's schweigende Thal! Was flüsterst Du quälende Ahnung mir denn; Ach, daß ich sein Herz wohl verlor? Er könnte vergessen den Bund, Den oft mir so zärtlich sein Mund In seligen Stunden der Liebe beschwor?</i>
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Taschenbuch für das Jahr 1805. Egeria, herausgegeben von Karl Müchler. Berlin. Bey Johann Friedrich Unger. 1805, pages 70-71.
The poem is the song of Almerine, a central character in the novella “Diego Manzanares” by Ernestine von Krosigk, geb. Krüger (pages 47-82 of the above source). The text has long been misattributed to Franz von Schlechta, and the names have been misspelled “Ilmerine” and “Diego Manazares”.
To see an early edition of the text, go to https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101066161843&view=1up&seq=96