My dearest, happy new year! The new brand calendar has many musical ephemerides, and probably the most significant for us, liedlovers, is related to Hugo Wolf: 22 February marks 120 years since his death. I hope that the anniversary will help to spread his magnificent work, which is not yet sufficiently well known; I also hope that here on Liederabend, his presence would be even more intense (let's see where my erratic 'programming' take us).
To get our year off to a good start, I have chosen a Lied from Hugo Wolf that will close the three Christmas post of this season, Ach, from Knaben Augen [Ah, the eyes of the lad]. It's part of the Spanisches Liederbuch, the sixth song of the Geistliche Lieder [Sacred Songs]; the German text is by Paul Heyse, a version of a poem by Juan López de Úbeda, a 16th-century Castilian poet.
The verses of López de Úbeda tell us about the eyes of the Child Jesus, that steal the poet's heart, just as the eyes of our children steal our heart. The Twelfth Night is coming; let us hope that we have, even for a few hours, the innocent and hopeful look of the little ones. I leave you my little gift before we go back to normal: Ach, des Knaben Augen, performed by contralto Aafje Heynis and pianist Irwin Gage.
Ach, des Knaben Augen sind
Mir so schön und klar erschienen,
Und ein Etwas strahlt aus ihnen,
Das mein ganzes Herz gewinnt.
Blickt' er doch mit diesen süßen
Augen nach den meinen hin!
Säh' er dann sein Bild darin,
Würd' er wohl mich liebend grüßen.
Und so geb' ich ganz mich hin,
Seinen Augen nur zu dienen,
Denn ein Etwas strahlt aus ihnen,
Das mein ganzes Herz gewinnt.
Ah, the eyes of the lad
Have appeared to me so beautifully and clearly,
And something beams forth from them
That captivates my entire heart.
If with those sweet eyes of his
He would only look toward mine!
If he then saw his own image therein,
He well might greet me lovingly.
And thus I give myself to him utterly,
Only to wait upon his eyes,
For something beams forth from them
That captivates my entire heart.
(translation by Sharon Krebs)
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