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Johann W. v. Goethe
(Frankfurt am Main 1744 - Weimar 1832)
On August 28, 1749, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, probably the best-known representative of Weimar Classics, was born in Frankfurt am Main. His spectrum of activity included poetry, prose, drama and science.
Goethe enjoyed the privilege of private tuition and learned several languages (Latin, Greek, French, English and Hebrew). As was customary in the upper classes, he was also given lessons in dancing, horse riding and fencing. At the age of 19 he began his law studies in Leipzig, which he interrupted at the end of August 1768 due to illness. Young Goethe's recovery period lasted a year and a half until he was able to continue his studies in Strasbourg in 1771. There he also met Johann Gottfried Herder, who was in Strasbourg because of an eye operation. When Goethe returned to Frankfurt after completing his studies in 1775, Duke Carl-August called him to Weimar, where he was to take on an advisory position. As head of the cabinet (Prime Minister), Goethe held an important office from then on.
From 1786 to 1788 Goethe traveled through Italy. It was like a "vacation" for him, where he could indulge his creativity. The post in Weimar was so demanding that two years later he began another trip to Italy, but only to Venice.
He spent the rest of his life in Weimar, where he died on March 22, 1832 of complications from pneumonia.
Source: www.rhetoriksturm.de
Songs
Ganymed D544
Music: Franz Schubert
Text: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ganymede is a hymn by Goethe, which - like Prometheus - was written between 1772 and 1774. Both works can be assigned to the epoch of Sturm und Drang . In addition, nature is particularly emphasized and emphasized ("Nature symbolizes something divine and unpredictable."). The figure Ganymede comes from Greek mythology . Zeus was so impressed by the beauty of Ganymede that he took the form of an eagle and kidnapped him to Olympus , where he served as cupbearer of the gods from then on.
Ganymede was considered the "most beautiful of all mortals" and was loved by Zeus for this alone.
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TEXT
Wie im Morgenglanze
Du rings mich anglühst,
Frühling, Geliebter!
Mit tausendfacher Liebeswonne
Sich an mein Herz drängt
Deiner ewigen Wärme
Heilig Gefühl,
Unendliche Schöne!
Daß ich dich fassen möcht'
In diesen Arm!
Ach, an deinem Busen
Lieg' ich, schmachte,
Und deine Blumen, dein Gras
Drängen sich an mein Herz.
Du kühlst den brennenden
Durst meines Busens,
Lieblicher Morgenwind!
Ruft drein die Nachtigall
Liebend nach mir aus dem Nebeltal.
Ich komm', ich komme!
Wohin? Ach, wohin?
Hinauf! Hinauf strebt's.
Es schweben die Wolken
Abwärts, die Wolken
Neigen sich der sehnenden Liebe.
Mir! Mir!
In eurem Schosse
Aufwärts!
Umfangend umfangen!
Aufwärts an deinen Busen,
Alliebender Vater!
TEXT
Like in the morning shine
You glow at me all around,
Spring, beloved!
With a thousandfold delight in love
Presses against my heart
Your eternal warmth
Holy feeling,
Infinite beauty!
That I want to take you
In this arm!
Oh, on your bosom
I lie languishing
And your flowers, your grass
Crowd on my heart.
You cool the burning one
Thirst of my bosom
Lovely morning wind!
The nightingale calls out
Loving for me from the mist valley.
I'm coming, I'm coming!
Where? Oh where?
Up! It's striving up.
The clouds are floating
Down, the clouds
Lean toward longing love.
Me! Me!
In your lap
Up!
Extensive coverage!
Up on your bosom
All loving father!
Video
Georgia Tryfona, soprano
Danai Vritsiou, piano
Prometheus D674
Music: Franz Schubert
Text: Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe
"Prometheus" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the character of the mythic Prometheus addresses God (as Zeus) in misotheist accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774 and first published in 1789 after an anonymous and unauthorised publication in 1785 by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. It is an important work of the Sturm und Drang movement.
In early editions of the Collected Works it appeared in Volume II of Goethe's poems in a section of Vermischte Gedichte (assorted poems), shortly following the "Gesang der Geister über den Wassern", and immediately followed by "Ganymed", and the two poems together should be understood as a pair. Both belong to the period 1770–1775. Prometheus (1774) was planned as a drama but not completed, but this poem draws upon it. Prometheus is the creative and rebellious spirit which, rejected by God, angrily defies him and asserts itself; Ganymede is the boyish self which is adored and seduced by God. One is the lone defiant, the other the yielding acolyte. As the humanist poet, Goethe presents both identities as aspects or forms of the human condition.
Although the setting is classical, the address to the Biblical God is suggested by the section beginning "Da ich ein Kind war..." ("When I was a child"): the use of Da is distinctive, and by it Goethe evokes the Lutheran translation of Saint Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, 13:11: "Da ich ein Kind war, da redete ich wie ein Kind..." ("When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things"). Unlike Paul, Goethe's Prometheus grew up to disbelieve in the divine heart moved to pity for the afflicted. Prometheus's reference to making man in his image draws ironically, and strongly, on Luther's translation of the words of God in Genesis 1:26 ("Laßt uns Menschen machen, ein Bild, das uns gleich sei").
The poem was set to music by J. F. Reichardt, Franz Schubert (see "Prometheus", 1819), Hugo Wolf (1889) and F.M. Einheit (1993).
Der Text
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Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus,
Mit Wolkendunst,
Und übe, dem Knaben gleich,
Der Disteln köpft,
An Eichen dich und Bergeshöhn;
Musst mir meine Erde
Doch lassen stehn
Und meine Hütte, die du nicht gebaut,
Und meinen Herd,
Um dessen Glut
Du mich beneidest.
Ich kenne nichts Ärmeres
Unter der Sonn' als euch, Götter!
Ihr nähret kümmerlich
Von Opfersteuern
Und Gebetshauch
Eure Majestät,
Und darbtet, wären
Nicht Kinder und Bettler
Hoffnungsvolle Toren.
Da ich ein Kind war,
Nicht wusste wo aus noch ein,
Kehrt' ich mein verirrtes Auge
Zur Sonne, als wenn drüber wär'
Ein Ohr, zu hören meine Klage,
Ein Herz, wie mein's,
Sich des Bedrängten zu erbarmen.
Wer half mir
Wider der Titanen Übermut?
Wer rettete vom Tode mich,
Von Sklaverei?
Hast du nicht alles selbst vollendet,
Heilig glühend Herz?
Und glühtest jung und gut,
Betrogen, Rettungsdank
Dem Schlafenden da droben?
Ich dich ehren? Wofür?
Hast du die Schmerzen gelindert
Je des Beladenen?
Hast du die Tränen gestillet
Je des Geängsteten?
Hat nicht mich zum Manne geschmiedet
Die allmächtige Zeit
Und das ewige Schicksal,
Meine Herrn und deine?
Wähntest du etwa,
Ich sollte das Leben hassen,
In Wüsten fliehen,
Weil nicht alle
Blütenträume reiften?
Hier sitz' ich, forme Menschen
Nach meinem Bilde,
Ein Geschlecht, das mir gleich sei,
Zu leiden, zu weinen,
Zu genießen und zu freuen sich,
Und dein nicht zu achten,
Wie ich!
text
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Cover thy spacious heavens, Zeus,
With clouds of mist,
And like the boy who lops
The thistles' heads,
Disport with oaks and mountain-peaks;
Yet thou must leave
My earth still standing;
My cottage, too, which was not raised by thee;
Leave me my hearth,
Whose kindly glow
By thee is envied.
I know nought poorer
Under the sun, than ye gods!
Ye nourish painfully,
With sacrifices
And votive prayers,
Your majesty;
Ye would e'en starve,
If children and beggars
Were not trusting fools.
While yet a child,
And ignorant of life,
I turned my wandering gaze
Up toward the sun, as if with him
There were an ear to hear my wailings,
A heart, like mine,
To feel compassion for distress.
Who helped me
Against the Titans' insolence?
Who rescued me from certain death,
From slavery?
Didst thou not do all this thyself,
My sacred glowing heart?
And glowedst, young and good,
Deceived with grateful thanks
To yonder slumbering one?
I honour thee, and why?
Hast thou e'er lightened the sorrows
Of the heavy laden?
Hast thou e'er dried up the tears
Of the anguish-stricken?
Was I not fashioned to be a man
By omnipotent Time,
And by eternal Fate,
Masters of me and thee?
Didst thou e'er fancy
That life I should learn to hate,
And fly to deserts,
Because not all
My blossoming dreams grew ripe?
Here sit I, forming mortals
After my image;
A race resembling me,
To suffer, to weep,
To enjoy, to be glad,
And thee to scorn,
As I!
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(Source)
Video
Nathaniel Kondrat, bass baritone
Ana Maria Lupu, piano
An Schwager Kronos D369
Music: Franz Schubert
Text: Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe
"To brother-in-law Kronos" is a poem by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In the autumn of 1774, Klopstock stayed with Goethe's parents in Frankfurt for two weeks. Goethe himself had just published his first novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), which was to become a Europe-wide success. Goethe accompanied Klopstock for a while on his onward journey and then returned to Frankfurt alone. The poem was written on the way back. Goethe added by hand to the manuscript: “In der Postchaise d. October 10, 1774 ".
With his work, Goethe introduces the time of new and better life. The carriage ride listed in the poem can be interpreted as a journey through life. This trip is supposed to be symbolic of the “trip of the new way of life”. Young artists of the Sturm und Drang took this poem as a guide, which represents the ideals of life. The poem “To Brother-in-Law Kronos” is definitely a moving work that illustrates the thoughts of the time and the change in life. The poem points to human limitations and thus asks not only to accept life, but to strive for the desired life. The work is held as a prime example of the Sturm und Drang. With regard to the time the poem was written, it can be viewed as a retrospective of the poet, Johann Wolfgang Goethe interpret. Because he was on his way back to Darmstadt when he wrote the poem, it can be assumed that he was questioning his own life.
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Franz Schubert, who set 62 texts by Goethe, some of them several times, set An Schwager Chronos to music in 1818. The song (D 369 - Opus 19/1, in D minor) was published on June 6, 1825 in Vienna by Anton Diabelli & Comp., Together with two other Goethe settings and a dedication to Goethe ] Schubert did not use the text from the first version from 1778, but rather the smoothed text of the later editions. In 1860, at the request of the baritone Julius Stockhausen, Johannes Brahms wrote an arrangement for solo voice and piano, and later another arrangement for male choir and orchestra, which was performed in a concert by the Vienna Academic Choir in 1871.
Der Text
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Spute dich, Kronos!
Fort den rasselnden Trott!
Bergab gleitet der Weg:
Ekles Schwindeln zögert
Mir vor die Stirne dein Zaudern.
Frisch, holpert es gleich,
Über Stock und Steine den Trott
Rasch ins Leben hinein!
Nun schon wieder
Den eratmenden Schritt
Mühsam berghinauf,
Auf denn, nicht träge denn
Strebend und hoffend hinan!
Weit, hoch, herrlich
Rings den Blick ins Leben hinein;
Vom Gebirg zum Gebirge
Schwebet der ewige Geist,
Ewigen Lebens ahndevoll.
Seitwärt des Überdachs Schatten
Zieht dich an
Und ein Frischung verheissender Blick
Auf der Schwelle des Mädchens da
Labe dich! – Mir auch, Mädchen,
Diesen schäumenden Trank,
Diesen frischen Gesundheitsblick!
Ab denn, rascher hinab!
Sieh, die Sonne sinkt!
Eh sie sinkt, eh mich Greisen
Ergreift im Moore Nebelduft,
Entzahnte Kiefer schnattre
Und das schlotternde Gebein,
Trunknen vom letzten Strahl
Reiss mich, ein Feuermeer
Mir im schäumenden Aug’
Mich geblendeten Taumelnden
In der Hölle nächtliches Tor.
Töne, Schwager, in’s Horn,
Rassle den schallenden Trab,
Dass der Orkus vernehme: wir kommen,
Dass gleich an der Tür
Der Wirt uns freundlich empfange.
The text
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Hurry up, Kronos!
Away from the rattling routine!
The path slides downhill:
Ecle's dizziness hesitates
Your hesitation in front of my forehead.
Fresh, it bumps right away
The rut over sticks and stones
Quickly into life!
Well again
The breathing step
Laboriously uphill,
Up then, not lazy then
Striving and hoping to get there!
Far, high, wonderful
Round the gaze into life;
From the mountains to the mountains
The eternal spirit floats,
Eternal life punishing.
Shade to the side of the roof
Get dressed
And a fresh, promising look
There on the threshold of the girl
Enjoy yourself! - me too, girl,
This frothy potion
That fresh health look!
Then go down faster!
See the sun is going down!
Before it sinks, before me old age
Seizes the scent of mist in the moors,
Toothed jaw chatter
And the trembling bones
Drink from the last stream
Tear me, a sea of fire
In my foaming eyes
I stumbled blinded
Nocturnal gate in hell.
Sounds, brother-in-law, in the horn,
Rattle the resounding trot
That the orcus should hear: we are coming,
That right at the door
The landlord receives us kindly.
Video
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Jörg Demus, piano
Anacreon's tomb
Music: Hugo Wolf
Text: Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe
Goethe wrote the poem in 1827.
Hugo Wolf set around 51 Goethe songs (1891) to music. This has the number 29
Der Text
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Wo die Rose hier blüht,
wo Reben um Lorbeer sich schlingen,
Wo das Turtelchen lockt,
wo sich das Grillchen ergötzt,
Welch ein Grab ist hier,
das alle Götter mit Leben
Schön bepflanzt und geziert?
Es ist Anakreons Ruh.
Frühling, Sommer und Herbst
genoß der glückliche Dichter;
Vor dem Winter hat ihn endlich
der Hügel geschützt.
The text
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Where the rose is in flower,
where vine interlaces with laurel,
Where the turtle-dove calls,
where the cricket rejoices,
Whose grave is this that
all the gods have decked with life
And beautiful plants?
It is Anacreon’s resting place.
The happy poet savoured spring,
summer and autumn;
This mound has at the last
protected him from winter.
