The evil colour
(Poet's title: Die böse Farbe)
Set by Schubert:
D 795/17
[October-November 1823]
Part of Die schöne Müllerin, D 795
Ich möchte ziehn in die Welt hinaus,
Hinaus in die weite Welt,
Wenn’s nur so grün, so grün nicht wär
Da draußen in Wald und Feld.
Ich möchte die grünen Blätter all
Pflücken von jedem Zweig,
Ich möchte die grünen Gräser all
Weinen ganz totenbleich.
Ach Grün, du böse Farbe du,
Was siehst mich immer an,
So stolz, so keck, so schadenfroh,
Mich armen weißen Mann?
Ich möchte liegen vor ihrer Tür
In Sturm und Regen und Schnee,
Und singen ganz leise bei Tag und Nacht
Das eine Wörtchen Ade.
Horch, wenn im Walde ein Jagdhorn schallt,
Da klingt ihr Fensterlein,
Und schaut sie auch nach mir nicht aus,
Darf ich doch schauen hinein.
O binde von der Stirn dir ab
Das grüne, grüne Band,
Ade, ade! und reiche mir
Zum Abschied deine Hand.
I would like to go out into the world,
Out into the wide world,
If only it wasn’t so green, so green
Out there in the woods and fields!
I would like to take all the green leaves
And pluck them off every branch,
I would like to take all the blades of grass
And turn them deathly pale with my weeping.
Oh green, you evil colour,
Why are you always looking at me,
So proud, so insolent, so shameless,
Looking at me, this poor white man?
I would like to lie in front of her door
In storm, rain and snow,
And very gently during the day and night sing
The single little word: farewell!
Listen, when a hunting horn resounds in the forest
You can hear her little window,
And although she is not looking out for me,
I am able to look inside.
Oh remove it from your forehead,
That green, green ribbon,
Farewell, farewell! and give me
Your hand in parting!
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:
Doors and gates Fading and losing colour Farewell and leave taking Fields and meadows Grass Green Hands Horns Hunters and hunting Leaves and foliage Mills Rain Storms Snow Tears and crying White Windows Woods – large woods and forests (Wald)
There is much more looking than talking in Die schöne Müllerin. The young man has a particular obsession with looking up at the miller girl’s window. In Des Müllers Blumen he planned to plant an array of blue flowers underneath that window to act as eyes for him. In Erster Schmerz, letzter Scherz (one of the poems of the cycle that Schubert did not set to music) he decided to present her with a bunch of clover to place in her window so that he cannot see in when the huntsman is visiting her. Yet he appears not to have done so, since here, in Die böse Farbe, he continues to look into her room even though he admits that when she opens the window and puts her head out (as in Eifersucht und Stolz), she is not now looking out for him.
He is such a voyeur that he sees eyes everywhere. Where he previously recruited blue forget-me-nots to be his own look-outs, he now feels threatened by the green leaves that seem to be keeping watch on him. Their colour represents the threat from his rival and the domain of the forest, which has now invaded his own watery world. He wants to shed enough tears to rinse away the green, so that the surrounding world will be as bleached and ‘white’ as he is (everyone knows that millers are white).
The tears coming from his eyes that will remove the green gaze of the leaves of the forest and the grass of the fields recall one of the few occasions when the girl addressed him directly (in Tränenregen):
Es kommt ein Regen,
Ade, ich geh’ nach Haus.
It’s going to rain,
Bye, I’m off home.
Now he wants to lie by her door in the rain (crying?) and singing that one word: bye! Ade / adieu / farewell.
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Original Spelling and notes on the text Die böse Farbe Ich möchte ziehn in die Welt hinaus, Hinaus in die weite Welt, Wenn's nur so grün, so grün nicht wär' Da draußen in Wald und Feld! Ich möchte die grünen Blätter all' Pflücken von jedem Zweig, Ich möchte die grünen Gräser all' Weinen ganz todtenbleich. Ach Grün, du böse Farbe du, Was siehst mich immer an, So stolz, so keck, so schadenfroh, Mich armen weißen Mann? Ich möchte liegen vor ihrer Thür, In Sturm und Regen und Schnee, Und singen ganz leise bei Tag und Nacht Das eine Wörtchen Ade! Horch, wenn im Walde ein Jagdhorn schallt1, Da klingt ihr Fensterlein, Und schaut sie auch nach mir nicht aus, Darf ich doch schauen hinein. O binde von der Stirn dir ab Das grüne, grüne Band, Ade, Ade! und reiche mir Zum Abschied deine Hand! 1 Schubert changed Müller´s 'ruft' (calls) to 'schallt' (resounds)
Confirmed with Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten. Herausgegeben von Wilhelm Müller. Erstes Bändchen. Zweite Auflage. Deßau 1826. Bei Christian Georg Ackermann, pages 37-38; and with Sieben und siebzig Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten. Herausgegeben von Wilhelm Müller. Dessau, 1821. Bei Christian Georg Ackermann, pages 39-40.
First published in a different version with the title Das böse Grün in Der Gesellschafter oder Blätter für Geist und Herz. Herausgegeben von F. W. Gubitz. Zweiter Jahrgang. Berlin, 1818. In der Maurerschen Buchhandlung. Sonnabend den 6. Juni. 90stes Blatt, page 357.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 39 Erstes Bild 49 here: https://download.digitale-sammlungen.de/BOOKS/download.pl?id=bsb10115224