המתת השור

By Paul on July 29, 2006 8:20 AM | No Comments
It is said that everybody has a favorite song. I hope this is true, but sadly, I doubt it is.

I like many many pieces of music, but few of them have words, and fewer still are songs. But if I had to pick a favorite song there would be no contest. Every time I hear it, I fight back tears; tears of joy for its beauty and tears of melancholy for its sentiment.
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

I am lost to the world
with which I used to waste so much time,
It has heard nothing from me for so long
that it may very well believe that I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me
Whether it thinks me dead;
I cannot deny it,
for I really am dead to the world.

I am dead to the world's tumult,
And I rest in a quiet realm!
I live alone in my heaven,
In my love and in my song!

-Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)
Set to music by Gustav Mahler

My favorite recording is by Janet Baker with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Halle Orchestra. Of course, Mahler has something to do with my love of this song, as his brand of romanticism taps into a jugular vein of emotion for me. If the word "masterpiece" has any meaning, it certainly applies to this sublime piece of music.