Curved Air presents:

This is the text that is sung in the finale of Mahler’s ‘Das Lied Von Der Erde (The Song Of The Earth)’, adapted from two Chinese poets, here in translation by Richard Stokes:

AFTER MONG-KAO-JEN:
The sun sinking behind the mountains,
Evening falls in every valley
With its shadows full of coolness.
O look! Like a silver bark
The moon floats up the sky’s blue lake.
I feel a gentle breeze stir
Behind the dark spruces!
The brook sings melodiously through the dark,
The flowers grow pale in the twilight.
The earth breathes full of peace and sleep.
All desire now turns to dreaming,
Weary mortals make for home,
To recapture in sleep
Forgotten happiness and youth.
Birds huddle silently on their branches,
The world falls asleep.
A cool wind blows in the shadow of my spruces,
I stand here and wait for my friend;
I wait to bid him a final farewell.
I long, O friend, to enjoy
The beauty of this evening by your side.
Where can you be? You have left me alone so long!
I wander up and down with my lute
On pathways rippling with soft grass.
O beauty! O world drunk with eternal love and life!
AFTER WANG-WEI:
He dismounted and handed him the stirrup-cup.
He asked him where he was going
And also why it had to be.
He spoke, his voice was veiled: my friend,
Fortune was not kind to me on earth.
Where am I going? I go into the mountains,
I seek peace for my lonely heart.
I am making for home, my resting-place!
I shall never roam abroad again –
My heart is still and awaits its hour!
Everywhere the dear earth
Blossoms in spring and grows green again!
Everywhere and forever the distance shines bright and blue!
Forever… forever…
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    Curved Air    September 21st, 2020

Posted In: Music Shows