SOPHIE VAN SAKSEN WEIMAR EISENACH PRINSES DER NEDERLANDEN PROGRAMMA

Concert Kloosterkerk 03-11-2011

F. Mendelssohn /Goethe & Willemer: Suleika

          

Suleika is a setting of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Marianne Willemer-Jung from the 'West-Östliche Divan'. Goethe met Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny in 1821. Mendelssohn was considered a child prodigy, and although he had already experienced success performing and composing, Goethe was the first person to compare his talent to that of W.A. Mozart. He had heard Mozart play many years earlier, and claimed that Mendelssohn's skills far surpassed them to an extent that he did not know was possible at such an early age.

Translation:
Ah, your moist wings,
West wind, how much I envy you for them;
For you can bring him tidings
Of what I suffer in our separation!
The movement of your wings
Awakens in my breast a silent longing;
Flowers, meadows, forests, and hills
Stand in tears from your breath.
Yet your mild, gentle blowing
Cools my aching eyelids;
Ah, from sorrow I would die
If I could not hope to see him again.
Hurry then to my beloved-
Speak softly to his heart;
But don't distress him,
Conceal my pain.
Tell him, but tell him modestly,
That his love is my life,
And that his presence will give me
A joyous sense of both.

SULEIKA

  Ach, um Deine feuchten Schwingen,

West, wie sehr ich Dich beneide:

Denn Du kannst ihm Kunde bringen

Was ich in der Trennung leide!

Die Bewegung Deiner Flügel

Weckt im Busen stilles Sehnen;

Blumen, Wald und Hügel

Stehn bei Deinem Hauch in Tränen.

Doch Dein mildes sanftes Wehen

Kühlt die wunden Augenlider;

Ach, für Leid müßt' ich vergehen,

Hofft' ich nicht zu sehn ihn wieder.

Eile denn zu meinem Lieben,

Spreche sanft zu seinem Herzen;

Doch vermeid' ihn zu betrüben

Und verbirg ihm meine Schmerzen.

Sag ihm, aber sag's bescheiden:

Seine Liebe sei mein Leben,

Freudiges Gefühl von beiden

Wird mir seine Nähe geben.