Farewell to the harp
(Poet's title: Abschied von der Harfe)
Set by Schubert:
D 406
[March 1816]
Noch einmal tön, o Harfe,
Die nur Gefühle tönt,
Verhalle zart und leise
Noch jene Schwanenweise,
Die auf der Flut des Lebens
Uns mit der Not versöhnt.
Im Morgenschein des Lebens
Erklangst du rein und hell!
Wer kann den Klang verwahren?
Durch Forschen und Erfahren
Verhallet’ und versiegte
Des Liedes reiner Quell.
In spätern Jugendjahren
Hallt es schon zart und bang,
Wie Finkenschlag im Märze;
Mit des Entknospens Schmerze
Erbeben Herz und Saiten
Voll Liebe und Gesang!
Am Sommertag des Lebens
Verstummt das Saitenspiel!
Aus sehnsuchtsvoller Seele
Lockt’s noch, wie Philomele,
Schon seltner, aber rührend,
Nur Schwermut und Gefühl.
O schlag im dunklen Busen
Der ernsten Abendzeit!
Will um das öde Leben
Des Schicksals Nacht sich weben,
Dann schlag und wecke Sehnsucht
Nach der Unsterblichkeit!
Sound once more, oh harp,
You who only give sound to feelings!
Let it die away tenderly and gently
Once more, that swan-song
Which, on the flood of life
Reconciles us with necessity!
In the early morning glow of life
You rang out pure and bright!
Who can keep that sound safe?
Through exploration and experience
It faded and died away,
The pure source of the song.
In the later years of youth
It already rang out tenderly and anxiously,
Like the finch’s song in March;
With the pain of falling buds
The heart and strings throb
Full of love and song!
On life’s summer day
The sound of the strings falls silent!
Out of a soul full of yearning
Like Philomel, it is still tempted,
But more rarely, yet stirred
By melancholy and emotion.
Oh, strike up in the dark breast
Of this serious evening time!
Since barren life is going to
Weave itself into the night of fate,
Then strike up and awaken longing
For immortality!
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:
Birds Buds Chest / breast Evening and the setting sun Farewell and leave taking Floods and tides Harps and Aeolian harps Hearts Longing and yearning Melancholy Morning and morning songs Night and the moon Nightingales, Philomel Serenades and songs at evening Soothing and healing Songs (general) Spring (season) Springs, sources and fountains Summer Swan songs Weaving
Even harps have a voice, and that voice changes with age and experience. In youth the harp is played to express exuberance and joie de vivre, but it is difficult for such a naive or ‘pure’ sound to continue in the face of what life throws at us (whether or not we are musicians). It does not take long (‘late youth’ is as early as ‘March’ according to the poet’s schema in this text) for us to lose our early optimism, for us to realise that not all of the buds that appear in spring are going to blossom or that not all the birds that are singing in the dawn chorus are going to find a mate. The harp begins to sound correspondingly ‘anxious’.
In high summer or human maturity the harp falls silent on all but rare occasions. This might be because we are fulfilled and have no need for the solace of art, or it could be that we are so busy and (consequently) disillusioned with our own earlier hopes that we close ourselves up and no longer pay attention to the aesthetic and spiritual dimension of life. It is only as we approach death that we reach out again for the instrument and urge it to play our swan-song. In this ‘late style’ it now sounds totally transformed; what had started out as the voice of hope and joy has now become a cry of anguish and loss, albeit with the potential to awaken a longing for immortality.
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Original Spelling Abschied von der Harfe Noch einmal tön', o Harfe, Die nur Gefühle tönt! Verhalle zart und leise Noch jene Schwanenweise, Die auf der Fluth des Lebens Uns mit der Noth versöhnt! Im Morgenschein des Lebens Erklangst du rein und hell! Wer kann den Klang verwahren? Durch Forschen und Erfahren Verhallet' und versiegte Des Liedes reiner Quell. In spätern Jugendjahren Hallt es schon zart und bang, Wie Finkenschlag im Märze; Mit des Entknospens Schmerze Erbeben Herz und Saiten Voll Liebe und Gesang! Am Sommertag des Lebens Verstummt das Saitenspiel! Aus sehnsuchtsvoller Seele Lockts noch, wie Philomele, Schon seltner, aber rührend, Nur Schwermuth und Gefühl. O schlag' im dunklen Busen Der ernsten Abendzeit! Will um das öde Leben Des Schicksals Nacht sich weben, Dann schlag' und wecke Sehnsucht Nach der Unsterblichkeit!
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Gedichte von J.G. von Salis. Neue Auflage. Zürich, bey Orell Füßli und Compagnie. 1808, pages 151-152; and with Schubert’s source, Gedichte von J. G. von Salis. Neueste Auflage. Wien 1815. Bey B. Ph. Bauer, pages 139-140.
First published in Iris. Ein Taschenbuch für 1806. Herausgegeben von J. G. Jacobi. Zürich, bey Orell, Füssli und Compagnie, pages 275-276, with the title Abschied an die Harfe.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 139 [153 von 192] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ160622604