Refreshing drink of love
(Poet's title: Labetrank der Liebe)
Set by Schubert:
D 302
[October 15, 1815]
Part of Selam (putative cycle)
Wenn im Spiele leiser Töne
Meine kranke Seele schwebt,
Und der Wehmut süße Träne
Deinem warmen Blick entbebt:
Sink ich dir bei sanftem Wallen
Deines Busens sprachlos hin;
Engelmelodien schallen,
Und der Erde Schatten fliehn.
So in Eden hingesunken,
Lieb mit Liebe umgetauscht,
Küsse lispelnd, wonnetrunken,
Wie von Seraphim umrauscht:
Reichst du mir im Engelbilde
Liebewarmen Labetrank,
Wenn im schnöden Staubgefilde
Schmachtend meine Seele sank.
When, during the playing of gentle music,
My sick soul hovers,
And the sadness of sweet tears
Is shaken off under your warm gaze:
I sink onto the gentle heaving
Of your breast, settling down wordlessly;
The melodies of angels ring out,
And Earth’s shadows flee.
Having settled down in Eden in this way
Exchanging love for love,
Whispering kisses, drunk with delight,
As if surrounded by Seraphim
With angelic features, you hand me
A refreshing drink that is warm with love,
At the point when the base field of dust
Was about to receive my languishing, sinking soul.
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:
Angels Chest / breast Drinking Dust Eden Fields and meadows Fleeing Flying, soaring and gliding Gazes, glimpses and glances Kissing Melancholy Melody Noise and silence Shade and shadows Soul Sweetness Tears and crying Whispering
Sadness and gratitude are unusual themes for a love poem, yet the experience evoked here is clearly recognisable and fully believable. The speaker’s soul was ‘sick’ and about to collapse into the ‘dust’, which means that even after the reassurance and comfort offered by the ‘refreshing drink of love’ the mood is not one of elation or total bliss. What the lover offers is ‘warmth’ (a ‘warm’ look and refreshment that is ‘lovewarm’) and security not just bliss or frenzy (‘drunk with delight’).
The love that is on offer is ‘drink’ since it mitigates the drought experienced by the speaker (hinted at in the reference to sinking into the ‘field of dust’). Everything is quiet and restrained (kisses are ‘whispered’, the speaker settles down ‘wordlessly’); there is music, but these gentle tones and angelic melodies probably ring out in their emotions rather than in the external world. Love has turned a bleak, shadowy world into the garden of Eden.. The speaker’s partner has held out a drink rather than an apple, and the fall has been reversed.
NB The other Stoll text set to music by Schubert, D 303 An die Geliebte, could be read as the lover’s response to (or version of) Labetrank der Liebe.
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Original Spelling Labetrank der Liebe Wenn im Spiele leiser Töne Meine kranke Seele schwebt, Und der Wehmuth süße Thräne Deinem warmen Blick entbebt: Sink' ich dir bey sanftem Wallen Deines Busens sprachlos hin; Engelmelodien schallen, Und der Erde Schatten fliehn! So in Eden hingesunken, Lieb' mit Liebe umgetauscht, Küsse lispelnd, Wonnetrunken, Wie von Seraphim umrauscht: Reichst du mir im Engelbilde Liebewarmen Labetrank, Wenn im schnöden Staubgefilde Schmachtend meine Seele sank.
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source, Selam. Ein Almanach für Freunde des Mannigfaltigen. Herausgegeben von I.F.Castelli. Dritter Jahrgang 1814. Wien, gedruckt und im Verlage bey Anton Strauß, page 204.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 204 [248 von 384] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ255496805