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Im wunderschönen Monat Mai

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,
Als alle Knospen sprangen,
Da ist in meinem Herzen
Die Liebe aufgegangen.

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,
Als alle Vögel sangen,
Da hab ich ihr gestanden
Mein Sehnen und Verlangen.

This poem by Heinrich Heine (I’m sure I need not tell you) is one of my favorites, and was famously set to music by Schumann. I had intended to post it to herald the beginning of May, but distractions got the better of me, so I am afraid it must herald the month’s departure.

Published at 10:01 pm on Tuesday 29 May 2007. Categories: Germany Tags: .
Comments

One of my favourite Lieder as well! I do hope, though, that your heart isn’t broken as decidedly as that of the poor chap in Dicterliebe!

— Boeciana 1 Jun 2007 7:43 am

Errr, Dichterliebe. Oops.

— Boeciana 1 Jun 2007 7:44 am

Translation, perhaps? I always wanted to learn German, but alas, all I can make out from the poem is that it’s about the month of May!

— Alessandro 1 Jun 2007 9:47 pm

Heine is truly untranslatable. Perhaps even more than even Goethe because Heine uses words which at first glance appear simple. But try and translate them, together with their equivocal meanings, sounds, and nuances and you will soon see that this is impossible. And even for those of us who are lucky enough to read his works in the original, the inner meanings are still equivocal.

— Peter Appelbaum 16 Oct 2008 11:15 pm

A blind man sang this while drinking Dutch beer in a New York bar. Transcendent.

— Des JOhnson 2 Dec 2010 4:04 pm
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