The goldsmith's apprentice
(Poet's title: Der Goldschmiedsgesell)
Set by Schubert:
D 560
Schubert did not set the stanzas in italics[May 1817]
Es ist doch meine Nachbarin
Ein allerliebstes Mädchen!
Wie früh ich in der Werkstatt bin,
Blick ich nach ihrem Lädchen.
Zu Ring’ und Kette poch ich dann
Die feinen goldnen Drätchen.
Ach denk’ ich, wann, und wieder, wann,
Ist solch ein Ring für Käthchen?
Und tut sie erst die Schaltern auf,
Da kommt das ganze Städtchen
Und feilscht und wirbt mit hellem Hauf
Um’s Allerlei im Lädchen.
Ich feile; wohl zerfeil’ ich dann
Auch manches goldne Drähtchen.
Der Meister brummt, der harte Mann,
Er merkt, es war das Lädchen.
Und flugs wie nur der Handel still,
Gleich greift sie nach dem Rädchen.
Ich weiß wohl, was sie spinnen will:
Es hofft, das liebe Mädchen.
Das kleine Füßchen tritt und tritt;
Da denk ich mir das Wädchen,
Das Strumpfband denk ich auch wohl mit,
Ich schenkt’s dem lieben Mädchen.
Und nach den Lippen führt der Schatz
Das allerfeinste Fädchen.
O wär ich doch an seinem Platz,
Wie küßt’ ich mir das Mädchen!
There is something about my neighbour,
She is such a loveable girl!
However early I take up my post at work
I look over towards her little shop.
I then tap away at rings and chains
Fitting delicate golden threads.
Oh, I think, when, and again, when
Is a ring such as this going to be made for Kathy?
And as soon as she opens the shutters
The whole town comes along,
They haggle and swarm about in large numbers
As they descend on the shop.
I file away; I even file so hard
That I cut through a number of gold threads.
The master grumbles, he is such a strict man!
He realizes it was because of the shop.
And when the customers have gone away
She immediately reaches out for her spinning wheel.
I know very well what she is going to spin:
The dear girl is spinning her hopes.
Her little foot keeps on pressing:
I then think about her calf,
And along with that I think about the garter
Which I gave as a present to the dear girl.
Then my treasure takes up to her lips
An amazingly fine piece of thread.
Oh if only I were in its place,
How I would kiss that girl!
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:
Buying and selling / Shops and markets Clothes Feet Gold Hope Kissing Legs Lips Smiths and metalwork Spinning Workers and working songs
According to Goethe’s assistant Riemer, the poet wrote this text on a journey from Hof on 12th September 1808 and based it on an English ballad, presumably Henry Carey’s ‘Sally in our Alley’.
Of all the girls that are so smart,
There’s none like pretty Sally!
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley!
There’s not a lady in the land
That’s half so sweet as Sally,
She is the darling of my heart
And she lives in our alley.
Her father he makes cabbage nets,
And through the street does cry’ em;
Her mother she sells laces long
To such as please to buy’ em
How could such folks the parents be
Of such a girl as Sally!
She is the darling of my heart
And she lives in our alley.
When she is by, I leave my work,
I love her so sincerely;
My master comes like any Turk,
And bangs me most severely:
But let him bang his bellyful,
I’ll bear it all for Sally;
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.
Of all the days that’s in the week,
I dearly love but one day,
And that’s the day that comes between
The Saturday and Monday,
For then I’m drest all in my best
To walk abroad with Sally.
She is the darling of my heart
And she lives in our alley.
My master carries me to church,
And often am I blam’d
Because I leave him in the lurch
As soon as text is nam’d;
I leave the church in sermon-time
And slink away to Sally;
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.
When Christmas comes about again,
O, then I shall have money;
I’ll hoard it up, and box it all,
I’ll give it to my honey:
I would it were ten thousand pound,
I’d give it all to Sally;
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.
My master and the neighbours all
Make game of me and Sally,
And but for her I’d better be
A slave, and row a galley;
But when my seven long years are out,
Oh! Then I’ll marry Sally;
She is the darling of my heart
And she lives in our alley.
Goethe had a remarkable capacity to reinvent the texts on which he modelled his own works. Whether he was echoing classical Greek or Latin originals or re-imagining more popular ballads and lyrics in German or English he brought a vividness to them that makes it hard to believe that they are in any sense parodies or pastiches. In this case Sally has become Käthchen, and the narrator has turned into an equally industrious German. Just as the girl wastes no time during the day (she starts spinning as soon as the customers have left the shop), the lad is at his work bench early and is clearly a serious minded apprentice. In this he seems to be rather different from the narrator of Carey’s ‘Sally in our Alley’, who only sees working days as a tiresome interlude between his Sunday assignations with Sally and what they get up to when they should be listening to the sermon.
For Goethe’s apprentice the girl remains untouchable, though. Just the sight of her pressing the foot treadle on her spinning wheel drives his thoughts from her little feet, to her calf, up to the garter he gave her and presumably beyond. When he sees her take the thread to her lips he bursts with longing to kiss them himself, but he knows that this will not be possible until he has completed his apprenticeship and he can offer her one of his rings.
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Original Spelling Der Goldschmiedsgesell Es ist doch meine Nachbarin Ein allerliebstes Mädchen! Wie früh ich in der Werkstatt bin, Blick' ich nach ihrem Lädchen. Zu Ring' und Kette poch' ich dann Die feinen goldnen Drätchen. Ach denk' ich, wann, und wieder, wann, Ist solch ein Ring für Käthchen? Und thut sie erst die Schaltern auf, Da kommt das ganze Städtchen Und feilscht und wirbt mit hellem Hauf Um's Allerlei im Lädchen. Ich feile; wohl zerfeil' ich dann Auch manches goldne Drähtchen. Der Meister brummt, der harte Mann! Er merkt, es war das Lädchen. Und flugs wie nur der Handel still, Gleich greift sie nach dem Rädchen. Ich weiß wohl, was sie spinnen will: Es hofft das liebe Mädchen. Das kleine Füßchen tritt und tritt: Da denk' ich mir das Wädchen, Das Strumpfband denk' ich auch wohl mit, Ich schenkt's dem lieben Mädchen. Und nach den Lippen führt der Schatz Das allerfeinste Fädchen. O wär ich doch an seinem Platz, Wie küßt' ich mir das Mädchen!
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source, Goethe’s Werke. Erster Band. Original-Ausgabe. Wien, 1816. Bey Chr. Kaulfuß und C. Armbruster. Stuttgart. In der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung. Gedruckt bey Anton Strauß, pages 37-38; with Goethe’s Werke. Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand. Erster Band. Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cotta’schen Buchhandlung. 1827, pages 37-38; and with Goethe’s Werke. Erster Band. Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung. 1815, pages 35-36.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 37 [49 von 474] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ223421802